WWE pushed out the announcement that they are changing up their broadcast teams for Raw, NXT and SmackDown. On the Raw front, it is going back to a two-person booth with Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves at the helm. Byron Saxton is moving to a interviewer role alongside the returning Cathy Kelley.
Jimmy Smith, who had been the lead announcer for Monday Night Raw for over a year is finished with the company. Smith tweeted that he was blown away by how fans treated him and he appreciated the enthusiasm.
Just wanted to say, now that the story is officially out, that my time with the WWE is officially done. Had a lot of fun and met some great people. Really and truly blown away by the acceptance from the WWE fans! You folks make it work every week and your enthusiasm was amazing!
Just wanted to say, now that the story is officially out, that my time with the WWE is officially done. Had a lot of fun and met some great people. Really and truly blown away by the acceptance from the WWE fans! You folks make it work every week and your enthusiasm was amazing!
Other changes to the broadcast teams include Booker T joining NXT with Vic Joseph and starting tomorrow on SmackDown, Wade Barrett will be Michael Cole’s partner.
Interesting…love the Wade Barrett pairing with Cole, and love that the Byron/Cory/Smith team is no more as that team just felt as generic as a team can be.
Don’t like Patrick as the lead on Raw, would have preferred someone else, it a perfect world I’d want Mauro brought back, but it is what it is. But Ill give him a shot, maybe he proves me wrong. The one time I did listen to him, he just sounded generic. I do like him backstage though.
Stupid move on Raw. Jimmy Smith is actually pretty good for someone coming from outside of WWE and actually would have probably been great in the Fight Pit match. I also enjoy the banter with Graves and Saxton. Kevin Patrick works well backstage.
Love the Smackdown move, though I wonder what will happen when McAfee is available again.
I don’t get too worked up about broadcasters unless they’re really good or really bad. But Jimmy was solid and inoffensive, which is pretty good for WWE. Like the idea of the two-man booth, though. Hope it works out.
I actually like the 3 man team on Raw. The show is 3 hours. What I don’t understand is Kevin Patrick leading Raw. Why not Vic Joseph? I have listened to Corey Graves’ podcast a lot and Vic Joseph is on there all the time and they have incredible chemistry. Also what happens when Pat McAfee comes back? If he comes back at all to commentary. Maybe then they’ll move Barrett to Raw.
I like Jimmy Smith. But he’s not a loss by any means.
Nah he was fired he said as much. Something about how he had a perfect line to deliver for Jon Jones Matt Riddle and Daniel Cormier and he was told to tell Cole so he knew he would be fired