Rich Brennan Discusses What Lead to His WWE Release, Mauro Ranallo Replacing Him On Smackdown & More

This WrestleZone Radio exclusive features Nick Hausman interviewing former WWE Smackdown & NXT commentator Rich Boccini (aka Rich Brennan). You can find more info about the interview as well as some transcribed quotes below. Subscribe to WrestleZone Radio on iTunes On what led to his release from WWE:

RB: I was told that it was post-WrestleMania cuts. Did I see it coming? Maybe in some ways but not really. I thought I was doing a decent job. It was definitely a surprise and definitely disappointing but on to the next thing.

On what the transition was like when Mauro Ranallo replaced him at the commentary booth on Smackdown:

RB: It was difficult in some ways but I understood what they were doing. With Smackdown moving to USA they wanted someone with more name recognition. Mauro is a great talent and amazing play-by-play guy. I understood it, I was ok with it. My mantra was, “There’s plenty of work there for everybody.” After I came off of Smackdown I was doing Main Event, Superstars and I was doing backstage stuff on RAW and on Smackdown. It was like you’re on Smackdown, the second biggest show in the company, it’s a spot that you’d want to stay in but on the other hand I understand why they brought Mauro in. It’s cool because Mauro… he’s a good dude. He’s an excellent play-by-play guy.

In the rest of the interview Rich also discusses:

  • What it’s like to be produced via headphones while trying to commentate matches
  • Who was producing him?
  • WWE producers trying to get him to break on camera
  • Not being allowed to use certain words and terms on WWE TV
  • Having more freedom to call the action in NXT as opposed to Smackdown
  • WWE NXT no longer be considered a developmental territory
  • Whether the NXT Championship or the Intercontinental Championship is more important
  • All of the NXT talent that has been called up to the main WWE roster
  • Who he thinks he gelled with best on commentary
  • Helping to get Corey Graves in to a commentary role
  • Why the WWE is so mean to Byron Saxton on camera
  • Some calls he made that riled up people on Twitter
  • His plans for the future
  • More…

You can listen to the full archives from WrestleZone Radio in the embedded audio player below:

TRENDING


X