Backstage News On Mauro Ranallo's Return To WWE And His New Deal

Mauro Ranallo returned to WWE at last night's NXT television tapings from the campus of Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Ranallo joined Percy Watson and Nigel McGuinness as the new trio for the NXT brand that will debut on next week's episode on the WWE Network.

Dave Meltzer noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE had been working to get Ranallo back since approximately April 20, 2017. Ranallo mysteriously disappeared from his duties as the play-by-play announcer of SmackDown Live since the March 14, 2017 episode, including missing WrestleMania 33. It was later learned that Ranallo was dealing with depression, something that was rumored to have been exacerbated by bullying issues with fellow commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield.

As noted, Ranallo spoke about his return to WWE with The Associated Press and was asked about issues with JBL.

"I was willing to walk away from my dream job," Ranallo said. "Let's leave it at that. In order for me to do that, I had to be true to my convictions and what makes you a human being."

Meltzer noted WWE didn't want Ranallo on the outside, talking about what happened, plus the fact that Ranallo is really good at his job. In addition to his responsibilities with WWE, Ranallo now works for Bellator MMA and is the play-by-play man for Showtime Boxing, which will include calling the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight in August.

"He's on a show that most of the people that run WWE production don't go to. So that's kind of the key right there," Meltzer commented. "So he's in a different world, working the Orlando shows and the TakeOvers and not the high pressure shows, so to speak. And it's a lot of tapings during the middle of the week."

Ranallo and WWE mutually agreed to his departure earlier this year, which ended his agreement with the company. His new deal to do play-by-play for NXT is a new multi-year contract. Meltzer also noted that Ranallo is away from Layfield, which had to happen.

You can read about how WWE re-introduced Ranallo to their audience at this link.

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