10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About JBL

10. Triggering Mauro Ranallo's Bipolar Disorder

Recently, all of JBL's past actions have come back to haunt him. Mainstream media outlets have been publishing articles about the SmackDown color commentator's history of bullying, while WWE fans have gotten #FireJBL to trend on Twitter. Some have even cancelled their WWE Network subscriptions in response to Layfield's continued employment.

The reason for the surge is JBL's latest unconscionable act: his verbal harassment of Mauro Ranallo. Since joining WWE in early 2016, Ranallo has won widespread acclaim as a play-by-play announcer who sounds less homogeneous than WWE's usual style. For far longer than he's been in the company, though, Ranallo has been a mental health advocate who's been open about his own battle with bipolar disorder.

JBL was always rude to Ranallo on TV, but that was just the tip of the iceberg, as the former WWE Champion's bullying has caused his broadcast partner to take a (possibly permanent) leave of absence from WWE. After tweeting about his win in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards' Best Announcer category, Ranallo was excoriated by JBL on a WWE Network show. Even after Ranallo first took his hiatus, this continued on Twitter, as did JBL's pokes at Ranallo for being absent from commentary.

Making the story more than conjecture is the fact that Ranallo's close friend, MMA legend Bas Rutten, has alluded to the fact that Layfield is indeed responsible for the announcer's health battle.