Source: f4wonline.com

-- Ahead of their new television schedule going into effect next week, WWE has revealed new commentary teams for Raw and SmackDown.

Michael Cole is moving to SmackDown and will call the show with Corey Graves, with Renee Young also being a "special contributor" on SmackDown. Young and Booker T are hosting WWE's weekly Backstage studio show on FS1. The studio show will officially debut on Tuesday, November 5, with a preview episode also airing on October 15.

Vic Joseph will be doing play-by-play for Raw, and he'll be joined by Jerry "The King" Lawler and Dio Maddin on the commentary team.

Maddin (real name Brennan Williams) debuted on the 205 Live commentary team earlier this month. He's a former NFL offensive lineman who signed with WWE and joined NXT as a wrestler in 2016.

Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Beth Phoenix will remain the commentary team for NXT.

Next week is being billed as WWE Premiere Week. The season premiere of Raw will be on USA Network on Monday, NXT will air on USA Network on Wednesday, and SmackDown will premiere on FOX on Friday.

NXT will be live on USA Network for the full two hours starting next week. The show had been split across USA and WWE Network for its first two live episodes.


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WWE has confirmed the hosts of their studio show on FS1.

Renee Young and Booker T will be the hosts of the show, which is called WWE Backstage. It will air on FS1 at 11 p.m. Eastern time/8 p.m. Pacific on Tuesdays every week starting on November 5. There will also be a preview show after game three of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series on Tuesday, October 15.

A press release stated that Young and Booker T will "weigh in on the biggest stories in WWE, and are joined by a rotating cast of guests and personalities, including current and former WWE Superstars."

For the preview show, Young and Booker T will be "joined by special guests to reveal the WWE Backstage set at the FOX Studios Lot in Los Angeles, and to break in their brand-new ring."

“WWE Backstage is a wrestling show for wrestling fans. From hardcore fans to people new to wrestling, we’ll give them a little bit of everything,” Young said. “It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be loud, we’re going to give them a ton of opinions and I can’t wait to help spread the word about SmackDown coming to FOX.”

“It’s awesome being part of the FOX family and part of this movement of Friday Night SmackDown to FOX,” Booker T said. “FOX Sports has always been the one-stop shop for sports and now it’s going to be the one-stop shop for sports and entertainment. I think this is going to be a tag team that’s going to last for a long time, and one that cannot lose. As I always say, now can you dig it, sucka?”

WWE having a weekly studio show on FS1 was first reported in May 2018. This April, Triple H confirmed the show would be debuting in the fall.

SmackDown is making its FOX debut next Friday (October 4). The premiere will feature Brock Lesnar challenging for Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship, a ladder match between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley, and appearances by legends for SmackDown's 20th anniversary celebration.

The Owens vs. Shane ladder match has a stipulation where both of their careers are on the line.

The press release announcing WWE Backstage hyped that more information -- including additional on-air personalities and special guests -- will be announced at a later date.

cero2k wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 09:48
Vic Joseph will be doing play-by-play for Raw, and he'll be joined by Jerry "The King" Lawler and Dio Maddin on the commentary team.

For all the shit I've slung at Renee on commentary, I'd take her over Jerry any day. This is, on paper, a terrible idea. But hey, maybe Vic and Dio can counterbalance the inevitable half-assery to come?

Renee Young AND Saxton are gone? Ok, I can tolerate Cole.

KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 10:26 Renee Young AND Saxton are gone? Ok, I can tolerate Cole.

I feel like Renée would be fine if Graves wasn’t always sh*tting all over her on commentary and she can’t even get a word in edgewise.

Serujuunin wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 16:15

KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 10:26 Renee Young AND Saxton are gone? Ok, I can tolerate Cole.

I feel like Renée would be fine if Graves wasn’t always sh*tting all over her on commentary and she can’t even get a word in edgewise.

Another big part of the problem with her, though (and I think Saxton would have suffered from the same fate) is that she and Cole were basically making the same points 90% of the time (and often in the same WWE-mandated language), so half the time she said something it was a point we had already heard someone make in the exact same way. And the times that she did try to side with the heel, she often came off as a ridiculous hypocrite, which at least Saxton and Cole were able to avoid by just being total babyfaces.

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 17:54

Serujuunin wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 16:15

KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 10:26 Renee Young AND Saxton are gone? Ok, I can tolerate Cole.

I feel like Renée would be fine if Graves wasn’t always sh*tting all over her on commentary and she can’t even get a word in edgewise.

Another big part of the problem with her, though (and I think Saxton would have suffered from the same fate) is that she and Cole were basically making the same points 90% of the time (and often in the same WWE-mandated language), so half the time she said something it was a point we had already heard someone make in the exact same way. And the times that she did try to side with the heel, she often came off as a ridiculous hypocrite, which at least Saxton and Cole were able to avoid by just being total babyfaces.

Which is why it’s so messed up to me to have three person tables. There was nothing wrong with the two person formula as long as they were good! There’s so much redundancy with three.

Serujuunin wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 21:06

Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 17:54

Serujuunin wrote: ↑Sep 26th, '19, 16:15

I feel like Renée would be fine if Graves wasn’t always sh*tting all over her on commentary and she can’t even get a word in edgewise.

Another big part of the problem with her, though (and I think Saxton would have suffered from the same fate) is that she and Cole were basically making the same points 90% of the time (and often in the same WWE-mandated language), so half the time she said something it was a point we had already heard someone make in the exact same way. And the times that she did try to side with the heel, she often came off as a ridiculous hypocrite, which at least Saxton and Cole were able to avoid by just being total babyfaces.

Which is why it’s so messed up to me to have three person tables. There was nothing wrong with the two person formula as long as they were good! There’s so much redundancy with three.

You don't get chemistry with three people and I really feel like it's what's lacking now, or at least I haven't seen anyone get it right yet. McMahon and Ventura, Gorilla and Heenan, Ross and Lawler... WCW came close with Heenan, Schiavone, and Zybysko - but that third wheel usually kills the chemistry, especially on a fresh set of announcers.

Could you imagine trying to enjoy a match called by Monsoon and The Brain (my all time favorite tandem) with Renee Young piping in her two cents every other sentence? It doesn't work. A pre-show panel, yes. But as my segway to the action? I've always felt like it's hard to "get to know" three of them.

There's rumours out that CM Punk will be part of this...

KILLdozer wrote: ↑Sep 28th, '19, 09:46 There's rumours out that CM Punk will be part of this...

My understanding is that WWE wants Punk to do it, Punk also wants to do it, but both parties agree that there really isn't a way to get Punk on the FS1 Show without him wrestling, which he doesn't really want to do.

Neither party wants the show to be about Punk, which it absolutely would be without some sort of cool down.

From what I've read, Punk seems to be in a spot that if WWE wants it bad enough they might make it happen. I could see him coming back for that AJ Styles dream match/payday and slipping into a broadcast role...