Jimmy Smith is out at WWE as the pro wrestling promotion revealed an announcing shakeup on all of its shows.
Smith replaced Adnan Virk on play-by-play for “WWE Raw” last May.
“Just wanted to say, now that the story is officially out, that my time with the WWE is officially done,” Smith tweeted. “Had a lot of fun and met some great people. Really and truly blown away by the acceptance from the WWE fans! You folks make it work every week and your enthusiasm was amazing!”
The announce team for “Raw” is now Kevin Patrick — who was previously a backstage interviewer — and Corey Graves. Byron Saxton is moving from color commentator to backstage interviewer, and Cathey Kelley is returning to the company, which she left in 2020, in that role alongside Saxton.
On “Smackdown” it will be Michael Cole and Wade Barrett, at least until Pat McAfee returns to the company. McAfee stepped aside to do “College GameDay” for ESPN, in addition to his other responsibilities hosting a daily show and doing Omaha Productions side-casts for big ESPN college football games. Megan Morant and Kayla Braxton are the backstage interviewers.
Jimmy Smith is out in a WWE announcing shakeup.Instagram / Jimmy Smith
Cathy Kelley is returning to WWE as a backstage interviewer.Getty Images for Pizza Hut
Wade Barrett will be calling “WWE SmackDown” alongside Michael Cole.Getty ImagesThe other news is that, for the major events that stream on Peacock, WWE will no longer rotate between “Raw” and “SmackDown” announcers for the matches. Instead, it will be Cole and Graves for the entire shows.
Vic Joseph and Booker T will be on the call for NXT, with McKenzie Mitchell backstage.
The announcing shakeup was first reported by Variety.
