Post by flame3169118 on Apr 13, 2017 15:39:36 GMT -5
WWE released a brief statement regarding Mauro Ranallo's status with the company:
“Mauro Ranallo remains under contract with WWE until August 12, 2017.”
As previously noted, Ranallo has removed all references to WWE on his Twitter account. Ranallo has started actively tweeting again but he's made no mention of WWE.
There has been talk about JBL playing a role in Ranallo being gone
A video was posted recently from the 1998 Brawl For All match where Bart Gunn knocked out JBL, who was known as Bradshaw at the time. Ranallo responded to the video by saying, "loved it when it first happened. Love it even more now."
The accusations that bullying from JBL played a role in Mauro Ranallo no longer being on WWE television continues to make headlines. Several mainstream publications are picking up the story including Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso:
I spoke with 10 different former WWE wrestlers & all declined to discuss JBL/bullying. I'll keep pursuing to shed more light on situation.
— Justin Barrasso (@justinbarrasso) April 10, 2017
JBL is apparently blocking anybody that has been using the #FireJBL hashtag on Twitter. There are some people that are claiming they were blocked by JBL just for following Ranallo on Twitter. Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks tweeted out the following in support of Ranallo
Mauro Ranallo was asked on Twitter if he will be calling wrestling matches again and Ranallo responded with, "It is a big world." Ranallo also told fans to not worry about him.
Please support the men & women who put their bodies on the line. I am gonna be fine. No one buys a ticket for an announcer.
Former ring announcer Justin Roberts, in his new book Best Seat In The House, describes being bullied by JBL back in 2003 - 04. One specific incident involved Roberts’ passport being stolen on an overseas trip. Rather than just being able to fly back to the United States with the rest of the WWE crew, the “prank” left Roberts needing to go to London to have his documents reissued at the U.S. embassy before getting a flight to Boston and travelling cross-country to catch up with SmackDown in Tucson, Arizona.
Layfield yesterday (Friday, April 7) Tweeted a denial that he was the one who took Roberts’ passport, but in a way which didn’t exactly refute his reputation as a bully. A post on Deadspin from last night won’t do much to help him shed that label, either.
While David Bixenspan’s report explains why JBL could technically claim he didn’t steal anything from Roberts, an account of the incident by John Hennigan, who worked in WWE at the time as Johnny Nitro before later going by John Morrison (he currently is featured on Lucha Underground as Johnny Mundo), still indicates Layfield was involved:
JBL asked me and my partner to steal [Justin’s] passport, and we didn’t. JBL was one of the main event guys at the time and I don’t remember exactly what Justin Roberts did to become the target for the hazing of this specific oversea trip, but JBL asked me and Joey [his MNM tag partner at the time, Joey Mercury, who recently worked as a producer & occasional on-air talent for WWE until sometime in 2016] to snag Justin’s passport.
I remember it “being a thing,” you know? We were looking at Justin, he was a few rows ahead of us on this plane, sleeping. We were like, “What do we do?” It’s enticing.
The reason Hennigan found it “enticing” is because he and Mercury were also JBL “targets” at the time - an example of hazing MNM experienced being having the sleeves cut off their robes, resulting in ring gear they paid for themselves being destroyed and their getting in trouble for not having the robes for their entrance. Helping Layfield “prank” Roberts could have led to their being spared from future incidents themselves.
Ultimately, we considered the options, and wound up deciding to not do it. This is a weird thing for a wrestler to say, especially in that era, but I usually went by the golden rule. I wouldn’t have appreciated someone doing that to me, especially someone I considered a peer.
According to what Hennigan told Deadspin, he continued to be a focus of JBL’s hazing and insults until he finally stood up to Layfield in 2009 - when he knew he was high enough on the card to do so without fear of retribution.
Roberts’ account of the passport incident closes with an interaction which lines up with something Dave Meltzer wrote in the most recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required but recommended) about WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s close relationship with JBL and “the belief across-the-board” that “Layfield’s weeding out those who can’t take it comes from above.”
Per Roberts:
I was sitting in the production meeting, Vince is running the meeting, and when it ends, he’s the first to leave.
I was sitting there, and as he walked by me, he just whispered to me: “Don’t forget your passport! Ha-haa!” and walked away. That’s when I knew there was no sympathy in that company. This stuff is encouraged.
They like humiliating people. They like laughing at people. The way wrestling is entertainment to us wrestling fans, humiliating people was just entertainment to the bosses.
“Mauro Ranallo remains under contract with WWE until August 12, 2017.”
As previously noted, Ranallo has removed all references to WWE on his Twitter account. Ranallo has started actively tweeting again but he's made no mention of WWE.
There has been talk about JBL playing a role in Ranallo being gone
A video was posted recently from the 1998 Brawl For All match where Bart Gunn knocked out JBL, who was known as Bradshaw at the time. Ranallo responded to the video by saying, "loved it when it first happened. Love it even more now."
The accusations that bullying from JBL played a role in Mauro Ranallo no longer being on WWE television continues to make headlines. Several mainstream publications are picking up the story including Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso:
I spoke with 10 different former WWE wrestlers & all declined to discuss JBL/bullying. I'll keep pursuing to shed more light on situation.
— Justin Barrasso (@justinbarrasso) April 10, 2017
JBL is apparently blocking anybody that has been using the #FireJBL hashtag on Twitter. There are some people that are claiming they were blocked by JBL just for following Ranallo on Twitter. Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks tweeted out the following in support of Ranallo
Mauro Ranallo was asked on Twitter if he will be calling wrestling matches again and Ranallo responded with, "It is a big world." Ranallo also told fans to not worry about him.
Please support the men & women who put their bodies on the line. I am gonna be fine. No one buys a ticket for an announcer.
Former ring announcer Justin Roberts, in his new book Best Seat In The House, describes being bullied by JBL back in 2003 - 04. One specific incident involved Roberts’ passport being stolen on an overseas trip. Rather than just being able to fly back to the United States with the rest of the WWE crew, the “prank” left Roberts needing to go to London to have his documents reissued at the U.S. embassy before getting a flight to Boston and travelling cross-country to catch up with SmackDown in Tucson, Arizona.
Layfield yesterday (Friday, April 7) Tweeted a denial that he was the one who took Roberts’ passport, but in a way which didn’t exactly refute his reputation as a bully. A post on Deadspin from last night won’t do much to help him shed that label, either.
While David Bixenspan’s report explains why JBL could technically claim he didn’t steal anything from Roberts, an account of the incident by John Hennigan, who worked in WWE at the time as Johnny Nitro before later going by John Morrison (he currently is featured on Lucha Underground as Johnny Mundo), still indicates Layfield was involved:
JBL asked me and my partner to steal [Justin’s] passport, and we didn’t. JBL was one of the main event guys at the time and I don’t remember exactly what Justin Roberts did to become the target for the hazing of this specific oversea trip, but JBL asked me and Joey [his MNM tag partner at the time, Joey Mercury, who recently worked as a producer & occasional on-air talent for WWE until sometime in 2016] to snag Justin’s passport.
I remember it “being a thing,” you know? We were looking at Justin, he was a few rows ahead of us on this plane, sleeping. We were like, “What do we do?” It’s enticing.
The reason Hennigan found it “enticing” is because he and Mercury were also JBL “targets” at the time - an example of hazing MNM experienced being having the sleeves cut off their robes, resulting in ring gear they paid for themselves being destroyed and their getting in trouble for not having the robes for their entrance. Helping Layfield “prank” Roberts could have led to their being spared from future incidents themselves.
Ultimately, we considered the options, and wound up deciding to not do it. This is a weird thing for a wrestler to say, especially in that era, but I usually went by the golden rule. I wouldn’t have appreciated someone doing that to me, especially someone I considered a peer.
According to what Hennigan told Deadspin, he continued to be a focus of JBL’s hazing and insults until he finally stood up to Layfield in 2009 - when he knew he was high enough on the card to do so without fear of retribution.
Roberts’ account of the passport incident closes with an interaction which lines up with something Dave Meltzer wrote in the most recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required but recommended) about WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s close relationship with JBL and “the belief across-the-board” that “Layfield’s weeding out those who can’t take it comes from above.”
Per Roberts:
I was sitting in the production meeting, Vince is running the meeting, and when it ends, he’s the first to leave.
I was sitting there, and as he walked by me, he just whispered to me: “Don’t forget your passport! Ha-haa!” and walked away. That’s when I knew there was no sympathy in that company. This stuff is encouraged.
They like humiliating people. They like laughing at people. The way wrestling is entertainment to us wrestling fans, humiliating people was just entertainment to the bosses.
