Mauro Domenico Ranallo was born on December 21,1969 and is a Canadian sports announcer, commentator and mental health advocate.
35 Facts About Mauro Ranallo
2.
Mauro Ranallo is currently signed as a play-by-play announcer with MMA organization Bellator, and performs play-by-play duties for boxing broadcaster Showtime.
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Mauro Ranallo is known for his time with WWE on the NXT and SmackDown brands.
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Mauro Ranallo has experience in Canadian football, ice hockey, professional wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts events.
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Mauro Ranallo signed with WWE as the lead SmackDown announcer in January 2016, making his debut on the brand's premier on the USA Network.
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Mauro Ranallo served as announcer for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and became part of the NXT broadcast team on June 22,2017.
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In 2015, Mauro Ranallo became the first sports broadcaster in history to call boxing, kickboxing, MMA and professional wrestling on US national television.
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Mauro Ranallo was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, the eldest of three sons born to an Italian couple.
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Mauro Ranallo has been a fan of professional wrestling since the age of five.
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Mauro Ranallo graduated from W J Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford.
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Mauro Ranallo began his career as an announcer and manager at the age of 16, when he was offered a job with All-Star Wrestling, a nationally televised wrestling show throughout Canada.
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Mauro Ranallo signed a contract with professional wrestling company WWE on December 15,2015, and made his WWE debut as the play-by-play commentator for the SmackDown broadcast team for its premiere on USA Network on January 7,2016, thus being dubbed "The Voice of SmackDown".
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Mauro Ranallo has had many commentary partners while calling SmackDown: Jerry Lawler, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole, Tom Phillips, David Otunga, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield.
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Additionally, Mauro Ranallo commentated the Cruiserweight Classic alongside Daniel Bryan; the tournament aired from July 6 to September 14,2016.
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Mauro Ranallo continued to commentate for the cruiserweights on their weekly WWE 205 Live show which first aired from November 29,2016.
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For WWE pay-per-view events, Mauro Ranallo was assigned to calling the pre-show of WrestleMania 32 in April 2016, but later commentated on the main cards of several WWE PPVs: the SmackDown or cruiserweight matches on 2016's SummerSlam, Survivor Series and 2017's Royal Rumble, and SmackDown PPVs such as 2016's Backlash, No Mercy, and 2017's Elimination Chamber.
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Mauro Ranallo was absent from WWE commentary beginning with the March 14,2017 episode of SmackDown Live, including missing WrestleMania 33.
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WWE first claimed that Mauro Ranallo had missed a show due to travel issues associated with the March 2017 North American blizzard.
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When Mauro Ranallo missed another show a week later, WWE said he was ill.
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Mauro Ranallo reportedly missed the shows due to depression, with one alleged reason for the illness being bullied by fellow commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield.
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On WWE's Bring It To The Table show, JBL had mocked Mauro Ranallo for tweeting about winning the "Best Announcer" award from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
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Mauro Ranallo's alleged treatment by Layfield as well as revelations from ring announcer Justin Roberts's autobiography resulted in a scandal for WWE because of their refusal to stop backstage harassment.
23.
On June 22,2017, Mauro Ranallo announced that he would join NXT as their lead commentator after mutually coming to new terms on a new contract agreement with WWE.
24.
Dave Meltzer reported that Mauro Ranallo has signed a new multi-year deal which will have him work all NXT tapings and NXT TakeOver specials.
25.
Mauro Ranallo continued to dual work for Bellator MMA as well working the British show at least whilst back on NXT.
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Mauro Ranallo later became most prominently known among MMA fans as the voice of Pride Fighting Championships PPV broadcasts in North America from 2003 until October 2006.
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Mauro Ranallo was initially paired with friend, longtime-PRIDE commentator, and MMA legend Bas Rutten.
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Mauro Ranallo continued to commentate on MMA as part of the EliteXC and ShoXC broadcast team from 2006 until their closure in October 2008.
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Mauro Ranallo continued to be the voice of MMA on Showtime by becoming the mainstay of the commentary team for Strikeforce until that organisation's acquisition and eventual merger with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2013.
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Mauro Ranallo was the lead announcer of the Muay Thai Premier League.
31.
Mauro Ranallo continues to work as a broadcaster for Showtime Networks, and provides commentary for three major combat sports: Showtime Championship Boxing, Glory Kickboxing, and Invicta Fighting Championships MMA.
32.
Mauro Ranallo was one of three analysts on The Score's show Right After Wrestling, now called Aftermath, which airs after The Score's airing of WWE SmackDown and the replay of WWE Raw.
33.
On March 9,2016 in a press release, AXS TV announced that Mauro Ranallo would be joining Inside MMA as Bas Rutten's co-host starting March 25.
34.
Mauro Ranallo appears in the 2010 documentary Bret Hart: Survival of the Hitman, where he is interviewed about Bret Hart's career.
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The film "explores Mauro Ranallo's career, including his work on the two biggest pay-per-view events in television history, and his relentless pursuit of a childhood dream despite seemingly insurmountable odds" and exposes Mauro Ranallo's daily struggle living with bipolar affective disorder.