All of sudden there is this uproar agianst Smackdown Live’s play-by-play guy Mauro Ranallo. The reason for this sudden uproar stems from the fact that Ranallo was not present for Tuesday’s Smackdown Live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to the blizzard that hit the northeast earlier this week. A lot of the criticism has been from several former WWE announcers about the issue. They were current Impact Wrestling announcer Josh Mathews, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, and former WWE and TNA announcer Taz.
[Jon]
The point that they were all making was that Mauro should have been at the show on Tuesday, despite the weather. Then they were talking about how Michael Cole, Taz, and Josh Mathews drove from New York to Indianapolis for a Smackdown taping. However, they made one more final point that makes me agree with them and that is how Mauro does announcing for the WWE once a week. When you have a job, one of the requirements is that you show up if you are scheduled to show up.
I am aware that the comparison I am about to make is a stretch, but it has a point. I work as a cashier at Stop and Shop; If I didn’t show up for work with the excuse of bad weather, I would get spoken to by my manager. My point is unless you have a family emergency or you are not allowed to leave your house, you should be at work. The wrestlers are on the road for most of the week and go from city to city in any weather.
As far as what happens with Mauro Ranallo going further, I don’t think he will be fired (like some sites are suggesting) or gets suspended. He will probably be back next week when Smackdown Live is in CT and go on like nothing happened. This is the first time it happened and personally people need to calm down. Mauro is one of the better announcers in the WWE and people need quite complaining.