Renee Young On WWE’s Decision To Remove Her From Commentary

Former RAW commentator Renee Young has reflected on WWE’s decision to remove her from the red brand’s announce team. Catching up with Lilian Garcia on Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory, Young confessed the whole transition was “odd” at first.

“It was really odd. You realize how much of your identity is wrapped up in WWE. For me, it wasn’t like ‘Oh, I’m not on TV anymore with the WWE.’ For me, it was like ‘I’m not going to be around my friends.’ Without these people, who are my other adult friends? I don’t really have any. You get plucked out of your life, and then think like oh s–t, what do I do now? You feel a little bit lost at first. You’re like Oh my God, what is everyone up to?”

She added how she doesn’t miss WWE’s demanding touring schedule after having done it for 7 years. Young confessed she feels a lot more comfortable working from a single location, hosting FS1’s WWE Backstage show.

Renee Young Felt She “Didn’t Belong” On Commentary

Renee Young then addressed dealing with fan criticism as she adjusted to her commentary role, highlighting how she felt she “didn’t belong there.”

“I wanted to be like I belong here, I earned this spot. This should be my spot. But, I kept hearing the background chatter, like ‘Why is this woman calling the matches? She’s never been in the ring. What’s she going to bring to the table?'”

Although she received an “immense amount of support,” it was difficult for her to tune out the negativity from her critics. She confessed that she naturally felt insecure about the role because of their reaction. Young spoke about how she was glad when WWE removed her from the commentary role. 

“I was up for the challenge and I really wanted to make it awesome. Like, I really wanted to make it succeed. You get down on yourself and you’re waiting to get the call from the office saying we’re not doing this anymore. They let me stay out there a lot longer than I thought they were going to. It was nice to feel like I got a good opportunity. But honestly, I was relieved to stop doing it.”

Renee Young hosts WWE Backstage every Tuesday night at 11 PM EST on FS1. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.