Once again, this week’s episode of WWE Raw gave us one of WWE’s primary flaws. In their effort to blur the lines of reality and storylines, WWE has continued to make a troublesome decision and use Renee Young and Dean Ambrose’s relationship as a consistent plot device on commentary.
On August 13, 2018, Dean Ambrose made his long-awaited return to WWE Raw after being on the shelf for several months due to a tricep injury. It was a triumphant moment for The Lunatic Fringe. Not only was he back, but he returned to WWE Raw to aid his former Shield brother Seth Rollins, and received a raucous reaction from the crowd in Greensboro, NC.
Interestingly enough, another big moment happened on August 13, 2018. For the first time in WWE Raw’s illustrious 26-year tenure, they had officially added a woman to the commentary team. Renee Young, who had been with the company since 2012 and primarily worked as an on-screen interviewer, joined the booth on Raw that night.
It was a powerful moment, and Renee Young quickly lived up to expectations and has become a great asset to the commentary team on Monday Night Raw. It’s difficult to imagine the weight of expectations and challenges that Renee Young had to navigate as the company’s first full-time female commentator, but that situation was made even more difficult as WWE chose to bring her off-screen relationship with Dean Ambrose into the mix.
Renee Young was actually interviewed for Richard Deitsch’s Sports Media podcast shortly after her move to commentary, and she spoke about the potential struggles of her relationship with Ambrose coming into the equation. [H/T Geno Mrosko of Cageside Seats]
"”I’m not sure how that’s going to go yet. I’ve definitely been thinking about it but I’m not… I just don’t know. I don’t want it to be a thing that gets in the way or becomes a little bit too like ‘oh my gosh, you’re his wife, let’s take her hostage’ and make me part of the storyline. I think I would prefer to stay away from stuff like that. But, of course, listen, we work for WWE and things happen. I’m game to roll with whatever comes down my way and, like you said, we’ve done that before."
While Renee Young did clarify near the end that she would work around it and with WWE if this was something they chose to introduce, that’s a sign of how professional she is about her line of work. Young doesn’t have much choice but to work with the situation, as WWE gets the final say on things like this. Still, every time their relationship gets wedged into commentary, usually by Corey Graves, it seems to shift the tone and quite clearly makes Renee Young very uncomfortable.
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Graves plays a heel on commentary and often tries to side with the bad guys and do or say despicable things to be disliked, but his continued pressure on Young to talk about Ambrose has been especially cringe-worthy. Corey Graves tends to have no trouble at all being a despised heel character on commentary, which makes his awkward and unwarranted prodding of Young clearly unnecessary.
Perhaps most importantly, Renee Young has zero obligation to answer for the actions of her husband or provide anyone insight on his state of mind. After dealing with this dynamic for a few months, Renee Young finally got blunt with Graves about the situation.
"“Listen, no one is entitled to know what goes on behind closed doors between a husband and wife. How dare you.” – Renee Young"
Young’s words ring true even now, as WWE continues to utilize this on a weekly basis. Just last night, Renee’s attempts to analyze Ambrose’s motivations from a commentary perspective were constantly colored by Graves and Cole bringing up or hinting at her potential bias because of her off-screen relationship with Ambrose.
Despite how uncomfortable the constant introduction of this dynamic is, WWE seems determined to use it on commentary on a weekly basis. Not only is it disrespectful to Renee Young, but it’s adding absolutely nothing to Raw or commentary. Bickering between commentators only distracts from the matches or segments happening on the show.
WWE needs to stop wedging this issue onto commentary. It detracts from Renee Young’s success as the company’s first female commentator, distracts from Dean Ambrose’s own character and actions, pulls fans away from the action happening on screen, and incorrectly acts as if Renee Young is somehow required to answer for or explain her husband’s actions. Then again, WWE may no choice but to stop bringing this up if rumors about Ambrose come to fruition.