New Report On The WWE Release Of Ray Rougeau And Jean Brassard
A new update has been provided surrounding the release of long-time WWE French language announcers Ray Rougeau and Jean Brassard.
Jean Brassard broke the news on April 8th when he posted to Twitter, revealing their departure was “due to restructuring” via Peacock and the WWE Network.
“My heart is heavy having to share that due to restructuring via the Peacock Network, Raymond Rougeau and I are no longer commenting for WWE as of today. Thank you for all these wonderful years! I will continue to entertain you one way or another!”
Rougeau and Brassard originally began working on the headset together between 1994 and 1999 before their contracts came to an end. The pair were back together in WWE as of 2017.
A new report by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has stated that the release of Brassard and Rougeau was nothing to do with Peacock. According to Meltzer WWE officials have also confirmed that no other international announce teams have changed.
Brassard and Ray Rougeau have since been replaced by a new commentary duo who debuted at WrestleMania. Christophe Agius and Nadir Mohammedi, who are both based in France called the action for the French-speaking audience.
The rights to show WWE Network content in the US were acquired by NBC Universal in a billion-dollar deal. Elsewhere in the world, the WWE Network continues to air and be the home of WWE pay-per-view events. With the French-speaking audience predominantly outside the US, the Peacock deal should have no bearing on the French-language commentary.