Former NXT commentator Mauro Ranallo made his return to the pro wrestling world at Impact Wrestling‘s Rebellion event this past Sunday, calling the action for the Title vs. Title match between AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact World Champion Rich Swann. Ranallo ended his second run with WWE back in August, 2020, deciding to step away from the business to focuss on other projects. But in an of his podcast, the Maurologue, he revealed this week that the match “reignited” his love for commentating wrestling matches and left the door open to doing more in the future.
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“I just got home from a whirlwind trip to Music City, USA, Nashville, where I made my return to professional wrestling commentary last night. Making my debut for Impact Wrestling during the historic main event of the Rebellion pay-per-view. And I’ve got to tell you, I had a blast working with D-Lo Brown and Matt Striker and what a match between AEW Champion Kenny Omega and Unified Impact Wrestling belt-holder Rich Swann in a title-for-title mega main event,” Ranallo said. “… A big thank you to my friend Scott D’Amore and everyone at Impact Wrestling for making me feel so welcome. It reminded me. honestly, of when I started my career at 16. Yeah, last night reignited my passion for professional wrestling. Very chill, relaxed atmosphere, a lot of support, a lot of respect, and a lot of hungry and determined roster comprising some decorated vets and some very talented up-and-comers.”
“Man, they had their working boots on last night,” he continued. “I thought everyone delivered and from what I understand, the pay-per-view is getting rave reviews, and even more importantly, the pay-per-view buyrate should be one of the best that Impact Wrestling has done in some time. Yeah, it was great to see so many familiar faces and I do hope to get to do it again.”
Ranallo explained why he departed from WWE back in December.
“WWE is one of the most mentally grueling places — and that’s not necessarily a criticism by any means — there’s a reason Vince McMahon has built a multi-billion dollar empire,” Ranallo told POST Wrestling. “Is it perfect? Not by any means, but neither am I. I chose to go to WWE and it was a dream come true. I wanted to work with WWE because I thought it would be an affirmation of my achievements as a broadcaster, but because of the connection I had with pro wrestling. I thought Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton and I had instant chemistry, but they made the changes they felt they had to make. I’ve proven I can work with almost anyone as a broadcaster, but there were many times I was like, ‘what is going on here?’ Four-man booth, an eight-man booth. I get it, but that’s not what I want as a commentator.
“I get the stressful situations and the changes on the fly and the system, but for my mental health, even moving to NXT — when we were live, it was the best experience I could ask for, and that’s a testament to what Triple H and everyone in NXT has done,” he continued. “I just felt, for my own mental health, even doing the show from home, it was to the point where I would have a panic attack in the morning of the recordings in the last few months. All respect, I didn’t like what was happening and who was involved. All respect to all announcers, I believe in chemistry. Maybe I was the problem.”
