Former Raw commentator Jimmy Smith has revealed how Triple H accidentally told him of his impending release during a conversation before Monday’s Raw.
Triple H has not been afraid to ring the changes since being promoted to Chief Content Officer in WWE. His latest overhaul has been a shake-up of the commentary teams.
WWE revealed new announce teams across all three brands that will become effective immediately. Jimmy Smith has been replaced on Raw by Kevin Patrick, who will call the action alongside Corey Graves.
Elsewhere, Wade Barrett has been called up from NXT to join Michael Cole on the SmackDown commentary team, while Booker T and Vic Joseph will serve as NXT’s announce team.
Following the announcement, Jimmy Smith appeared on SiriusXM’s ’Unlocking The Cage’ show and revealed how a conversation with Triple H before Monday’s Raw unintentionally clued him in about his imminent release from the company:
“Triple H accidentally told me before the show Monday. He screwed up and told me [about the commentary changes]. He didn’t mean to… I go, ‘Hey, I just talked to Riddle and he gave me this line about how he out-wrestled Jon Jones twice’ and Triple H goes, ‘Okay, cool. Give that note to Cole’”
Jimmy Smith continued:
“I went, ‘why would I have to give that note to Cole if I’m calling the match on Saturday?’ Oh. I’m not calling the match on Saturday. Oh, I’m probably fired. In about two seconds, my brain went, that’s so — okay… and I was like, all right. So I knew basically the whole show on Monday night that I wasn’t coming back so when I got the call Tuesday, I was not particularly surprised,”
It was also revealed that Michael Cole and Corey Graves will be the announce team at Premium Live Events, beginning this Saturday at Extreme Rules.
H/t to POST Wrestling for the transcription.