BREAKING: Starting tonight, @ReneeYoungWWE will be the first woman to join the #RAW announce team full-time! https://t.co/UOG4FaAOxI
— WWE (@WWE) September 10, 2018
After making her debut as a commentator on WWE Raw a few weeks ago, fans were wondering what the future held for Renee Young. Stephanie McMahon announced via Twitter earlier today that she would be taking her place on the Raw Commentary permanently going forward.
This marks the first time that a woman will be a full time commentator on WWE Raw since it’s inception in 1993. Renee Young has been working with WWE since 2012, when she left Sportsnet, a channel in Canada, to join them as an on air personality. She was seen as a host, backstage interviewer, and briefly sat at the commentator booth in NXT. Young has thrived in every position that WWE gave her, and this seems to be the natural direction of things for her.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Coachman will be moving to the pay-per-view kickoff shows, according to WWE.com. Coachman will replace Young on these shows, in a position that Young has held for several years now. For some, this will come as a relief, as Coach’s commentary has been panned by fans and critics alike since he rejoined the WWE earlier this year.
Analysis
This absolutely was the right call by WWE. Simply said, Coach was awful. He frequently made mistakes in his commentary, including one that I will personally never forget: He claimed Ronda Rousey was resting when she was in a bear hug by Nia Jax. He then defended this repeatedly when Cole and Graves pointed out that Nia was crushing her, driving the wind out of her with a bearhug. Coach basically called it a rest hold, accidentally calling the whole thing fake.
Fans on Twitter have shared a similar reaction to my own:
https://twitter.com/DaniloNavarro85/status/1039153295221121024
The sentiment seems to be almost universal. Many people are happy that Renee is getting a chance that she deserves, and that Coach is being removed from the position. This call looks to be one that is almost universally praised. This is especially important as WWE heads into their Evolution PPV, which will likely feature Renee on commentary for the show. There is no better way to be prepared for it than working on Raw beforehand. Congratulations Renee!