In light of WWE adding an unprecedented fourth man to the SmackDown announcing team in the form of Tom Phillips, it was natural that rumors would start cropping up about the significance of the change. On Monday morning, SmackDown play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo took to Twitter to make it clear up said rumors, which picked up steam after a since-retracted tweet from UpGruv’s Justin LaBar that his contract is about to be up.
I have YEARS left on my contract. ? https://t.co/VT3ZQ9M5rO
— Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) December 5, 2016
Nope.
— Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) December 5, 2016
Since Phillips was made part of the SmackDown team, his role has been tweaked a bit so as not to be redundant to Ranallo’s. As it stands right now, Phillips has been taking on more of a “host” role instead of being a second play-by-play announcer, staying quiet during matches and primarily speaking to introduce video packages, during on-cameras, and so on. John Layfield and David Otunga continue to fill out the team as heel and babyface color commentators, respectively.
