WWE News: Major Shake-Up As New ‘Raw’ And ‘SmackDown’ Announce Teams Revealed, Legend Returns To Booth
This is a huge time for WWE, and next week will be the biggest of them all as it will be premiere week for its television shows. NXT will have its first two-hour episode on the USA Network, while Monday Night Raw will have its first episode of the season. SmackDown will not only move to Friday nights but to FOX as well. On Thursday, the promotion made things even bigger by revealing the announce teams for all shows, and there have been some major changes.
WWE Premiere Week is going to be absolutely huge for the company as they are bringing forth a ton of coverage and big happenings. There will be a grand total of eight hours of primetime programming, which includes Total Divas on E!.
While there will be a ton of WWE programming during next week’s big premieres, the bigger news may be the new announce teams. The Inquisitr previously reported that major shake-ups were rumored to be coming, and it appears as if the majority of that report is coming true.
The new announce team for Monday Night Raw will indeed be the team of Vic Joseph on play-by-play, with Dio Maddin backing him up. In addition to those two taking over the red brand, Jerry “The King” Lawler will be returning to the booth to complete the three-man team, as reported by the official website of WWE.
With that major change happening to Raw, the blue brand is making huge waves for their big move to FOX. Friday Night SmackDown will now be called by the announce team of Michael Cole, Corey Grave, and Renee Young, as the entire three-person team from Raw is moving over to the new network.
On NXT, the announce team will remain as it is and has been for a while now. Mauro Ranallo is staying on lead as the play-by-play announcer, with Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuinness calling the action with him as analysts.
It has been reported for months that FOX had a number of requests after the huge partnership and deal was made between them and WWE. There had been many whispers that the network loved Renee Young, wanting her to call Friday Night SmackDown, and their wish was granted.
Having Jerry “The King” Lawler return to the announce booth is an interesting move for WWE, but it makes a lot of sense. Maddin is very new to being an announcer, and having Lawler there with Joseph will help strengthen him and keep things working well at the beginning of their time on Monday Night Raw. WWE Premiere Week is only a few days away, and it is going to be absolutely huge at a time when competition is just heating up.
