Renee Young spent around a year working as a
RAW colour commentator but that's now come to an end and she's currently serving as the host of WWE Backstage on Fox Sports 1. Now, she's revealed why it was never a role she wanted and the stresses which came with doing that each week.
"I never felt comfortable doing the job. It was a very stressful year to be quite honest. You look at that situation, I'm here in WWE, kind of like the first female to come into that role, and obviously, that role has grown exponentially since with so many women we have backstage doing shows and hosting shows etc. But at the time I had kind of done everything so I thought to myself, what is it that I need to do? I need to do something else. I can't just sit back here and do these backstage interviews any more I need something else to chew on."
As for how she ended up being told that she was joining the RAW announce team, it sounds like it was a last minute decision and while she was happy to agree to it at the time, it sounds like it didn't take Young long to realise that it might not have been a role she was particularly well suited for.
"So one week Michael Cole and Triple H pulled me aside and said that I am going to be doing commentary on Monday Night Raw next week. I was like, what? Why? Whose idea was this? With anything, you're like, alright, this opportunity is in front of me I am going to try and figure this out. I consider myself really talented in being able to talk. I know the ins and outs of the wrestling business; this should work. I am sure I can make something work of this. To go out there and call three hours of wrestling... coming from my background I am a host. I like to be able to have more of a bubbly personality, which is what fans were more drawn to, or they're drawing to my sarcastic side where I can be a smart ass. It is really hard to do that on commentary, especially when you have Corey Graves who is great at that but also stepping in as that third person. I am used to being that A-person. I am used to driving that ship.
"So, to have Michael Cole and Corey Graves in their rhythm I'm trying to jump in there and everything has already been said, so it was odd. I tried to come at it from a standpoint but then that doesn't always work because that doesn't always seem to be necessarily what they want you to be saying or doing so I just always felt a little misdirection of what my purpose was out there. And on top of that, trying to call my husband's matches when he was still with WWE, so there is a lot of different weird factors. I'm not trying to make any excuses but it just wasn't the right gig for me. People that excel at that, it is a tough job, man. To be out there and talking with soundbites, you have to talk specific points in the match, whether you are talking about somebody's comeback or someone's heat, that for me to try to get in a bit of information just in somebody's entrance where it felt like a normal time for me to talk. We've got promo segments; it was a doozy."
Young did frequently come under fire from fans for her work on the show but it's clear that she gave it her all and a shame she didn't have longer to prepare. WWE enlisted her for SmackDown on Friday night while Cole and Graves were travelling back from Saudi Arabia but she's definitely better suited for something like WWE Backstage and appears to be having a lot more fun there.
Unfortuantely, with ratings for that in the toilet, it may not be around for very much longer!