What’s the story?
Those who are in tune with the WWE are well aware that Mauro Ranallo has been missing from Smackdown Live for several weeks now. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer recently released some new details about the situation.
In case you didn’t know...
Mauro recently returned to the play by play booth for the Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN last weekend. He will also call boxing for Showtime this weekend on April 22nd. Regarding calling pro wrestling again, Mauro tweeted the following:
The heart of the matter
The new information from Meltzer included a rib early in Mauro’s WWE tenure by Jerry Lawler when he called Mauro by his initials “M.R.”. For guys like Vince McMahon and Lawler, “M.R.” stood for mental retard during the time they were growing up.
The bullying of Mauro was far more than just from JBL. Meltzer said that Mauro would be the butt of jokes for being different. The production room would be filled with employees who were mentally still in high school.
The last straw was on a recent episode of Bring It To The Table where they buried Mauro. JBL was upset at the fact that Mauro tweeted out that he was the Wrestling Observer Announcer of the Year; while on the other side, JBL didn’t make the top ten.
What’s next?
There is a good chance that Mauro returns to New Japan Pro Wrestling as the play by play announcer soon. However, Ring Of Honor and Impact Wrestling could use an announcer the caliber of Mauro as well. It appears that the WWE is not going to take any action against JBL as he is still on Smackdown Live and is rumored to turn into a face announcer.
Author’s take...
There is more than enough proof for a house cleaning in the WWE. Unfortunately, that will not happen until Vince is gone and Triple H is in charge. The fact that JBL blocks everyone on Twitter that Mauro retweets shows enough proof that he can’t take the heat, but he can dish it out.
For those with knowledge of the situation, I am probably in the majority that wants JBL fired from the WWE. It wouldn’t have been a chant during last week’s Smackdown Live if the issue was a minor one. Let’s also not forget the guy who had the “JBL Bullied Me” sign, security didn’t just take his sign, they ejected him from the building.
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