Mauro Ranallo issued the following statement over on his official Instagram account on Thursday afternoon announcing that he will now be part of WWE’s NXT broadcasting team going forward after coming to terms on a new agreement.
“THE NXT CHAPTER BEGINS! WWE and I mutually agreed to end my responsibilities on SmackDown having nothing to do with rumors about disputes. As I remained under contract with WWE, we discussed a variety of options. Despite originally agreeing to part ways, there was always a desire to continue working together. We have come to terms on a new agreement that benefits both WWE and me, and I am thrilled to announce I will now be part of the NXT broadcasting team.”
It was reported just last week that Ranallo had signed a deal with Bellator MMA to join the company’s broadcasting team starting with Bellator NYC PPV this Saturday in New York City at Madison Square Garden. This was in addition to Ranallo’s already active gig with Showtime boxing, a gig that will see him call unquestionably the biggest fight of the entire year this August between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
Much like his statement on Instagram today, Ranallo told Newsweek back in April that his initial departure from WWE’s broadcasting team as part of Smackdown Live had nothing to do with John Layfield (JBL) or the reports online surrounding it. He had remained under a deal with WWE through August and we, incorrectly, assumed that meant a future with relationship with WWE beyond that point would be out of the question.
That is clearly no longer the case. When Ranallo will be officially starting with NXT’s commentary team remains to be seen. The current commentary team features Tom Phillips (the lead commentator for Smackdown Live), Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson.
You can check out Ranallo’s Instagram post and a comment from Triple H below.
.@mauroranallo and @WWENXT…#LikeAGlove#MegaPowers#WeAreNXT https://t.co/B8vBxKLzdc
— Triple H (@TripleH) June 22, 2017