According to a report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Mauro Ranallo was brought on to the WWE last year because they wanted him to utilize his unique personality to help SmackDown Live feel different from Monday Night RAW. That didn’t last very long.
Soon after, Vince McMahon wanted Ranallo to try and be a little more like Michael Cole. After growing frustrated with Ranallo’s style McMahon, Tom Phillips was added to the announce team. Soon after that Ranallo was then made to be the butt of jokes. Meltzer also stated that Mauro was viewed as being ‘weird’ backstage and that “the production room was filled with a lot of people who were emotionally still in high school.”
Then JBL decided to go off on Ranallo during Bring It To The Table, which was essentially the straw that broke the camel’s back. Apparently, Ranallo being buried on the show was something that was planned ahead of time, as there were prior discussions as to what would and wouldn’t be said.
Meltzer also mentioned another incident involving JBl and a non-wrestler, who’s name was not mentioned. The person had a family member pass away and also had to take a couple of weeks off of work due to a minor operation. JBL reportedly went off on the person for taking such a substantial amount of time off and noted that he didn’t take time off after he had hernia surgery. JBL kept going at the person until they were in tears, even after the person told JBL that this wasn’t the week to do this.
