Mauro Ranallo missed this week’s Smackdown Live, allegedly due to a snowstorm affecting his travel plans. On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer radio however, Dave Meltzer said there’s more to Mauro’s absence than inclement weather, but wouldn’t provide additional details.
Adding to the speculation is that Ranallo, an active social media user, has gone radio silent across his networks for three days. The last tweet he sent out suggested he may miss Smackdown this week.
Maybe. Snow may stop that from happening. https://t.co/Smd7zAQ7i8
— Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) March 14, 2017
Mauro missing SmackDown due to ‘weather conditions’ caught the attention of two former SmackDown announcers, Taz and Josh Mathews. Both of them expressed disbelief with Mauro’s absence, since they did whatever was necessary to make all shows.
With @OfficialTAZ in the car, I once drove us 2 days to Indianapolis to make a TAPED Smackdown show from NYC. #JustSayin'
— Josh Mathews (@realjoshmathews) March 15, 2017
Very dangerous driving conditions, @MichaelCole & myself. U drove the whole way. Gotta make the SHOT! Thats how it use to be… I guess. https://t.co/tFKeBXqwAe
— TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) March 15, 2017
Taz also discussed the situation on his radio show:
Gotta make the shot. #TheTazShow #RTG #WeOver #SDLive pic.twitter.com/RgOZKrkxi4
— TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) March 15, 2017
Taz: “You can not miss a show. You can’t. You can’t miss a show. When you miss a show – in no order of preference – you get heat with the locker room, you get heat with your boss, you get heat with your broadcast colleagues. It’s just not a regular job. You are there once a week, and you are making a lot of money with a massive, massive platform. You’ve got to be there. You’ve got to make the shot. No matter what happens. Mauro is from Canada, okay, so he’s well-versed when it comes to weather and snow. People knew the storm was coming for days. You have to prepare yourself to get to that town early.”
JBL responded to Taz’s rant, “Great video” and told Mauro, “I made the show, everyone made the show, everyone. Maybe he shouldn’t have bashed me if he wasn’t going to show up.” That message was later deleted.
JBL also referenced Mauro Ranallo on this week’s Bring It To The Table show, getting ‘hot’ over the fact that Mauro was named Announcer of the Year by the Wrestling Observer.
The 47-year old Ranallo has a long history of commentating for combat sports. He has called MMA bouts for Pride FC, Strikeforce and EliteXC. Ranallo has called many great boxing matches for Showtime boxing, as well as kickboxing events for Glory. Some believe he is on Dana White’s radar as a potential addition to the UFC commentary team to replace Mike Goldberg.
Mauro Ranallo is one of the best announcers in WWE, so hopefully this blows over and he’s back calling the action from ringside next week.
