WWE Making MAJOR Changes To Its Announce Teams

Ahead of SmackDown's move to Fox, a major shake-up is on the way.

Sep 11, 2019 September 11th, 2019

Corey Graves Byron Saxton Tom Phillips — WWE

According to the ever-reliable WrestleVotes Twitter account, it looks as if WWE will be making some major changes to its announce teams in the foreseeable future.

Given how SmackDown Live’s impending move to Fox is said to be the start of a definitive and clear roster split, many had been expecting some sort of change to the Raw and SmackDown announce teams to further give each brand its own identity and a sense of exclusivity.

At this stage, it’s not full known which announcers will end up where, although it seems likely that a two-person announce team will be the blueprint for Raw and SmackDown.

One of the big decisions that WWE has to make, is where exactly they put Corey Graves. Currently, Graves appears on both Raw and SmackDown – meaning that the drive for brand exclusivity will see the snarky colour commentator restricted to calling the action on just one show moving forward.

Another change could well involve Renee Young, as there’s already been talk of making her exclusive to SmackDown due to the fact that she’ll be hosting the FS1 studio show that will air on Tuesday nights.

Elsewhere, Nigel McGuinness has departed the 205 Live announce booth and will instead concentrate on calling NXT alongside Mauro Ranallo and Beth Phoenix. McGuinness’ 205 spot has already been filled, mind, as NXT superstar Brennan Williams was given the new name of Dio Maddin and put on the 205 Live announce table at last night’s edition of the cruiserweight show. Maddin joins Vic Joseph and Aiden English on 205 Live.

October 4th is the date that SmackDown Live begins airing on Fox, so that leaves WWE just three weeks to iron out the announce teams for each of the company’s brands.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.

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