The Jimmy Smith era on WWE Raw is over.
As originally reported by Variety, WWE is changing up its announce teams on all of its shows, beginning with this past Friday’s season premiere of WWE SmackDown. Michael Cole will remain the play-by-play voice of that program, with Wade Barrett joining him as analyst.
Corey Graves is moving from SmackDown to Raw, where Byron Saxton will now be an interviewer instead of the third man at the announce table. But it’s Kevin Patrick who will move up to do play by play, replacing Smith.
Smith confirmed on Twitter that he is done completely with WWE.
He followed up on his podcast, saying he was not upset about losing his WWE gig, saying, “I didn’t expect to be there at all.”
As noted by Wrestling Junkie’s sibling site MMA Junkie, the 45-year-old Smith was hired by WWE in May 2021, meaning his tenure didn’t even last for 18 months. His extensive background in MMA commentary means he’ll almost certainly land on his feet in the combat sports world.
But Smith’s inability to stick with WWE over the long haul reflects how difficult it can be for announcers who come in from outside the company to make an impact. Adnan Virk, the man Smith initially replaced, was on the job only six weeks. Mauro Ranallo, another play by play person with MMA experience, lasted just over a year on SmackDown in 2016-17, though he stuck around for a while on NXT.
Of course Cole, now the longtime voice of WWE, was once an outsider himself. His success appears more and more to be the exception that proves the rule, with Smith just the latest not to click. Whether it’s simply too difficult for people with experience calling unscripted sports to adjust to the different demands of pro wrestling, or something inherent to the WWE way of doing things that’s hard to integrate for those without internal experience, it’s clear that it was a tough task even for someone who had spent as much time around rings and cages as Smith.
The popular consensus among fans and social media was that Smith seemed to be doing a good job, and in that respect, it’s a shame to see him go. But the reshuffled announce teams are full of WWE veterans, meaning that if nothing else, no one else will be trying to learn on the job for a bit.
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