January 7th of next year will comprise of Smackdown moving to a new home on the USA Network with its sister show, RAW. Not only is Smackdown moving to a new location, but it is also getting a new voice. That’s right, reported earlier in the media, most notably Sports Illustrated, Maure Ranallo has been hired by WWE to take Michael Cole’s place on Smackdown.
Maure Ranallo began his broadcasting career in Canada at the age of 16 and worked throughout the world since. Ranallo is an advocate for mental-health awareness and is well known among MMA fan. Ranallo has stated that it’s always been a dream of his to join WWE and can’t wait to start his new gig.
This is an improvement for WWE to make since most fans don’t enjoy hearing from Michael Cole on both RAW and Smackdown. Cole tends to be a butt of jokes and fans criticize his commentating. (Don’t forget how Dean Ambrose’s Dirty Deeds is no longer a headlock driver thanks to him, just saying.) This is also a major step up for WWE to hire someone with a resume like Ranallo since Mike Adamle, who was actually much much worse than Michael Cole. Cole has been with the WWE since 1997 and has worked his way up from backstage interviewer to now working Pay-Per-Views and RAW.
Ranallo is loved by fans for his energetic style that he brings to color commentating. Ranallo has called every major combat sport on national television. He is even the voice that fed fans the international feed for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight. He is no stranger to pro-wrestling, being one of the voices of New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV. Here’s to hoping that Ranallo is given a warm welcome from WWE fans and has a long tenure with the company.