This week’s WWE RAW from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado featured the ongoing tournament to determine Bron Breakker’s next challenger and the fallout from Bash in Berlin. We also saw the debut of Joe Tessitore, the veteran sports broadcaster who is the show’s new announcer alongside Wade Barrett.
Michael Cole, who had previously been on RAW, has been moved to WWE SmackDown where he’ll call the action alongside Corey Graves starting next Friday when the show returns to the USA Network.
Joe Tessitore Joins WWE
Tessitore’s signing was confirmed back in July and while he’ll soon be debuting in WWE, he’s no stranger to broadcasting. Tessistore also works with ABC and ESPN, and leads the latter’s world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing. Tessitore has also provided play-by-play for Monday Night Football, preparing him nicely for calling the intense action of WWE. Joe’s deal with WWE will allow him to remain employed with ABC & ESPN.
Tessitore’s passionate announcing was documented in a 2012 feature from Sports Illustrated. In the feature, College Football Live producer Nick Sciallo described Tessitore’s calls as the work of “a hyper, hyper-intense guy who’s passionate about what he does.” Gifted with an encyclopedia-like mind that’ll come in handy every Monday night, Tessitore can recite Heisman winners as if he’s rattling off the alphabet, the feature adds.
Tessitore has been praised for his ability to deliver unique calls, for better and for worse. In 2016, Tessitore declared “Texas is back, folks!” at the end of a Longhorns overtime victory over Notre Dame. The line became something of a meme among football fans as the Longhorns experienced its fair share of struggles after the call.
Raw’s Revolving Door
Joe Tessitore will certainly hope to do better than those who’ve joined WWE’s commentary teams only to fall flat. In May 2021, Adnan Virk was cut by WWE mere weeks after his signing was announced. Many at the time felt that Virk failed to demonstrate the skills needed for a lead WWE announcer and lacked chemistry with Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
Jimmy Smith replaced Adnan Virk in 2021 though he too was not long for WWE and would leave in October 2022. In 2008, WWE did all they could to make Mike Adamle succeed on TV, including giving him roles as an interviewer, as RAW General Manager, and as a commentator. He was gone by July of that year.
