Renee Young and Mauro Ranallo Say They Won’t Be Replacing JBL on SmackDown

When John ‘Brashaw’ Layfield made the surprise announcement that he’d be leaving SmackDown’s broadcast team the entire wrestling world had the same question: Who’s replacing him?

Well, 2 names that were thought be in the mix as JBL replacement publicly recused themselves from the running.

Mauro Ranallo beat the WWE Universe to the punch, effectively killing the speculation he’d leave NXT for SmackDown before it could begin:

Next, it was Renee Young who took her name off of candidates list:

It looks like WWE may have its work cut out in trying to find JBL’s replacement. Could they bring back Jim Ross or Jerry Lawler? Or maybe they WWE sticks with the traditional 2-man team of Byron Saxton and Tom Phillips. As of now, there has yet to be a peep on what the plans may be.

All we do know is that JBL is gone. He took to Twitter this Friday to make the announcement:

In the subsequent tweet, JBL attached a link that provided a better format for longer texts. Here was his message:

“After much consideration, I will be stepping back my weekly role as Smackdown Announcer to dedicate more continuous time on the work I have done since 2010 with at risk kids and communities. My new schedule will allow me to continue to be a part of the WWE family and also continue my work that I feel is the most important thing in my life. I will continue my 20+ year relationship with WWE and will appear on such marquee shows as Tribute to the Troops, WrestleMania, amongst others.”

“With the help of Beyond Sport, I founded Beyond Rugby Bermuda in 2010–which has been recognized as one of the world’s best charities for work with at risk, gang focused, youth intervention. Beyond Rugby Bermuda won the 2014 NACRA Fair Play Award out of 7,000 programs and 17 countries for its work with at risk kids. I was named as a Beyond Sport Global Ambassador–an organization backed by all major sports leagues in the U.S.”

“I’m proud to say that in addition to being Smackdown’s longest reigning WWE Champion, I inspired WWE’s Tribute to the Troops over 10 years ago. WWE has been my partner in all my philanthropic works and this new deal with WWE ensures that will continue. WWE has made my dreams come true and helped me become a global name. And now, WWE is helping me use that name to make a difference.”

Wow. This comes as a shock as there were no indications of JBL ever wanting to leave his role on SmackDown. However, his decision seems like a personal one. Not to mention, JBL’s move for leaving is incredibly novel.

As mentioned JBL will still be hanging around WWE, but in what capacity we do not know. However, we can expect him to make appearances at WWE’s mega shows. For now, there’s quite the void left at Tuesday Night’s announcers’ table. The question of who steps in will be the sources of heavy speculation in the coming days.

Thanks and good luck to JBL!