As confirmed by WWE last night, Mauro Ranallo and WWE have come to terms and they have shaken hands and walked their separate ways. Mauro, for me, has been my number 1 announcer since he debuted with WWE. So today, I want to say thank you to Mauro for 5 things he has bought to the ring.
His Style
Mauro had his own defining style on the mic. He was able to call the action in the ring and, within seconds, you knew that he was able to put a wrestler over, a finisher over or even acknowledge the antics of the crowd. With his unique style, it made me personally watch SmackDown and NXT even more than I did before. His presentation of what happened in the ring was amazing.
His Pop Culture References
Every one knows that Mauro loved his Pop Culture references when he was on the commentary table. Vince McMahon once told him to “calm it down” when announcing, to which Mauro replied “Everything Is WrestleMania To Me”. That alone is a hell of an internal pop culture reference, but here are my personal top 3 references :
“Shayna Enjoys Popping Bones Like Most Of Us Enjoy Popping Bubblewrap” NXT on December 5, 2018
“Tommaso Ciampa Is So Vile He Makes Thanos Look Like The Cowardly Lion From The Wizard Of Oz” NXT on August 1, 2018
“He Used To Pray For Times Like This, To Rhyme Like This, So He Had To Grind Like That, To Shine Like This” NXT on October 9, 2019
His Legitimacy
Mauro commentates elsewhere outside of WWE, for Boxing, MMA, as well as other wrestling promotions. Bringing in that legit talent for commentary helped launch his time in NXT, and in my eyes, raised the level of not only NXT Commentary, but also spurred on other commentators both within WWE and beyond. You have the calibre of a man who can call a WWE match with the hard hitting style of a UFC commentator, with the greatest knowledge of wrestling (thanks to work with other promotions), and the hype of a boxing commentator. Legitimacy defined.
MAMMA MIA
Just watch the video.
On a personal level
A couple of years ago, I run the Brighton 10km race, raising funds for charity. During training for it, I was struggling to keep the pace going for the entire time, so I tweeted Mauro, asking for some sort of help (who else to ask!). He sent me a DM, asking for my email address and a few days later I had an audio file of him shouting MAMMA MIA and congratulating me on finishing the race. That for me shows the character of the man.
Come back soon Mauro, we’ll leave a seat open for you.
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