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…
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