Is JBL the Reason for Mauro Ranallo’s Recent Absence and Depression?

JBL may be the reason for Mauro’s recent absence, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

JBL has consistently taken shots at Mauro live on the air about his pop culture references and his prolific use of Twitter, but it usually seems like “in-character” ribbing. However, things may have gotten “too real” recently.

Mauro Ranallo recently won the 2016 Wrestling Observer Award for “Best Commentator” and posted a “thank you” message on Instagram:

THANK YOU Wrestling Observer readers! 👊

A post shared by Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) on Mar 2, 2017 at 4:40am PST

However, there is apparently some sort of “unwritten rule” in wrestling where people are not supposed to mention awards that they won outside of their own promotion, and JBL, who apparently takes dumb things like that extremely seriously, seemed to really take issue with Mauro acknowledging the award.

On the WWE Network show “Bring It to the Table” (the night before the first SmackDown Mauro missed), JBL went on a mean-spirited angry rant about Mauro mentioning the award and about him using pop culture non sequiturs and retweeting his fans a lot. He was clearly playing it up a bit, but there was also obviously a lot of truth behind his ranting and JBL has apparently been known to be a dickhead bully to others backstage in the past.

Mauro then tweeted, “JEALOUSY IS ONE HELLUVA DRUG! 😎” and retweeted a bunch of comments from fans making fun of JBL and defending Mauro. There’s also the possibility that JBL said something to Mauro personally (via private messages on the internet or via text).

The next night was the first SmackDown he missed three weeks ago and Mauro has been out since, suffering from depression.

As mentioned yesterday, he tweeted out that he felt “stronger” and thanked fans for their support. It seems like he may also miss WrestleMania, but he should hopefully be back soon.

F JBL