Mauro Ranallo To Miss WWE NXT TakeOver: Chicago
Mauro's missing out, but who's taking his place?
Jun 14, 2018
Mauro Ranallo will be missing NXT TakeOver: Chicago, as revealed by the man himself on Twitter today:
https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/1007276521021587457
Ranallo's replacement, Vic Joseph, is the current voice of both 205 Live and Main Event. He previously worked as an announcer for Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore promotion, and was hired by WWE in early 2017.
Joseph will be joined by the regular NXT-announcing duo of Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson.
The reason for Ranallo's absence is due to his commitments with Showtime Boxing, although he will still be in London next week for WWE's double-header at the Royal Albert Hall. The first night will see the conclusion of the WWE UK Championship Tournament, as well as a six-man tag between British Strong Style and the Undisputed Era. The second night will feature a title match between the winner of the UK Championship Tournament, and reigning WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne - as well as a handful of other title matches based around the NXT brand.
The full card for NXT TakeOver: Chicago is as follows:
NXT Championship: Aleister Black (c) vs. Lars Sullivan
NXT Women's Championship: Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Nikki Cross
NXT Tag Team Championship: The Undisputed Era (c) vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch
Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream
Street Fight: Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa
The quality of NXT TakeOver shows in 2018 has been especially high. They have already produced three 5-star matches (according to Dave Meltzer), the first 5-star matches in WWE since CM Punk vs. John Cena in 2011.
The three matches in question were Andrade 'Cien' Almas vs. Johnny Gargano from NXT: TakeOver Philadelphia, and two bouts from NXT TakeOver: New Orleans - the unsanctioned match between Gargano and Ciampa, and the multi-man ladder match to crown the inaugural NXT North American Champion.