Renee Young Reportedly Leaving WWE

WWE interviewer, host and commentator Renee Young is reportedly leaving WWE, according to multiple sources via PWInsider's Mike Johnson. Young first joined WWE in October 2012 as a pre-show host, eventually becoming a backstage interviewer for both SmackDown and Raw. In the years that followed, she became one of WWE's most recognizable and well-liked non-wrestling personalities, and in late 2018 she made history by becoming the first full-time female commentator for Monday Night Raw. She reportedly gave the company her notice last week, though she has not commented publicly as of this time. The report did not specify when her last day with the company will be.

In late 2019 she stepped away from her commentator role and took over as the host for the WWE Backstage weekly show on Fox Sports 1. That show was recently canceled.

In an interview with the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast in November, Young expressed how she never felt quite comfortable in the commentary role alongside Michael Cole and Corey Graves.

"I never felt comfortable doing that job," Young said. "It was a very stressful year, to be completely honest. You look in that situation, I'm here in WWE and the first female to come into the [backstage] role.... I needed something else to chew on. Michael Cole and Triple H pulled me aside one week and said, 'You're going to do commentary on Raw.' I was like, 'What? Why? Who approved this? Whose was this?' But, like with anything, I was gonna try to figure it out.

"To go out there and call three hours of wrestling, coming from the background I come from, I'm a host, and I like to have more of a bubbly personality and that was what fans have been a little bit more drawn to. Or my sarcastic side, I can be a smartass. It's hard to do that on commentary, especially when you've got [Corey] Graves, who is great at that. But also stepping in there as a third person. I'm used to being the 'A person,' I get to drive the ship. So to have Cole and Graves there be in there rhthym and I'm trying to jump in there and everything has kinda everything already been said, it was odd. I tried to come at it from a fan standpoint, but then that doesn't always work, that doesn't always necessarily seem to be what they want you to be saying or doing. I just always felt a little misdirection about what my purpose was when I was out there."