Mauro Ranallo will not be calling the action at NXT TakeOver: Chicago this Saturday due to a scheduling conflict with Showtime Boxing.
When Mauro Ranallo departed SmackDown Live a lot of fans were left disappointed. Ranallo is one of the most talented and unique announcers in combat sports today, so for WWE to land him was quite rightly considered a massive coup. Thankfully, Triple H kept in touch with Ranallo and offered him the chance to come at work at NXT, and he accepted.
Since then, Ranallo has become the unmistakable voice of WWE's black and yellow and brand and unquestionably adds another dimension to the action. He gets dragged into the action as much as any fan and considering how good the action currently is in NXT right now, that makes for some pretty entertaining and exuberant commentating from the veteran play by play guy.
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Sadly Ranallo will not be in attendance at NXT TakeOver: Chicago this Saturday, and he is probably just as disappointed about that as the fans. The announcer revealed via Twitter on Thursday that due to a scheduling conflict, he will not be able to call the action for NXT. Instead, he will be working on a tripleheader Showtime Boxing event. 205 Live's Vic Joseph will be stepping in to take his place for the evening.
Those of you who love Ranallo's work with WWE won't have long to be disappointed though. NXT and the promotion's UK division take over the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday and Tuesday next week and Ranallo will be back by then to call all the action, something he is very excited about judging by his comments on Twitter. He'll need to keep an eye on TakeOver though as some of the matches in London will be directly affected by what happens in Chicago.
A documentary detailing Ranallo's issues with bipolar disorder, aptly named Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller, was released recently, and it is an incredible look into the announcer's life and what he has to deal with on a daily basis. Fans may have been worried that his mental health may have had something to do with him missing TakeOver this weekend but thankfully it is simply because he is in such high demand.