– With SmackDown moving to Thursday nights on Syfy, WWE announced changes to the announce teams for both SmackDown and Raw yesterday. Beginning this Monday, Michael Cole, Booker T and John “Bradshaw” Layfield will handle play-by-play and color commentary on Raw. Then, when SmackDown debuts next Thursday on Syfy, Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Byron Saxton will call the action—Tom Phillips is off the announce team. The broadcast team for WWE pay-per-view events will continue to feature Cole, Lawler and Layfield.
While this change appears sudden, in the case of Lawler, WWE officials have wanted to remove him from the broadcast booth at Raw “for a long time.”
“They wanted to get rid of Lawler on Raw for a long time, but after the heart attack, they figured they couldn’t,” stated Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer on the F4WOnline.com message board Thursday night in a thread about the announce team changes. “This relaunch of Smackdown gave them the chance.”
– The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans which fired WWE Superstar they would bring back if allowed. With over 15,000 votes cast, Dolph Ziggler is leading the poll at 68%. Ryback follows at 26% with Erick Rowan following him at 7%.
– Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios will participate in a presentation at the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors in New York City on Tuesday. Their remarks are expected to being around 5:30 pm ET. You can listen to a live audio webcast on the presentation online at ir.corporate.wwe.com under Events & Presentations.
WWE considering another major change for Raw and SmackDown – details ->
