Backstage News On Paul Heyman And The RAW Announce Team, SmackDown To Become WWE's "A-Show"

RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman wanted a clean slate for the RAW announce team, according to Dave Meltzer on the Sunday Night's Main Event podcast.

The new red brand announce team will debut tonight with Dio Maddin, Vic Joseph and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler. The new SmackDown team will debut this Friday on FOX with Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Renee Young.

Heyman reportedly saw Joseph on WWE 205 Live, and liked his work. Heyman also met Maddin and thought he was "his guy" for the RAW announce team. Heyman reportedly liked Maddin's personality and really wanted him on the team, despite the lack of experience.

As noted last week, Lawler revealed in an interview that Heyman wanted to put the younger Joseph and Maddin on the RAW team, but Vince McMahon wanted a veteran announcer put with them, which is why they made the call to Lawler.

There's a feeling that Lawler is here for the short-term, and that Heyman and other officials have their eyes on another announcer to eventually replace Lawler in that role. Meltzer speculated that it could be Nigel McGuinness, who currently calls WWE NXT with Mauro Ranallo and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, but that was just speculation on Nigel. However, WWE is looking at another announce to take over Lawler's role down the role.

Regarding the new SmackDown team, it was noted that Vince wanted Cole on SmackDown because that is to be the new "A-Show" for the company. There were no issues with Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, but it was noted that Phillips was just the odd man out. Phillips will reportedly work behind-the-scenes with the company but there's no word yet on official roles for Phillips and Saxton.