JBL announced on Friday that he’s leaving SmackDown Live to focus on helping at-risk youth in Bermuda, where he lives. Sports Illustrated is reporting that JBL actually informed WWE of his plan to leave the company last October, when his previous contract expired.
This would have been before the Mauro Ranallo situation, so his departure appears to be unrelated.
The reason for JBL leaving SmackDown Live, according to Sports Illustrated, is travel related. JBL lives in Bermuda and flies to SmackDown each week. WWE tells everyone to arrive by Sunday so that there are no last minute issues, but JBL began changing his travel schedule on his own and arriving just in time for SmackDown on Tuesday. After doing this for nearly two months, WWE confronted him about it, and shortly after, JBL reportedly put in his notice. WWE reportedly knew that JBL was burnt out from travel, but his decision to leave still came as a surprise.
WWE just announced that Corey Graves will replace JBL on SmackDown Live, in addition to staying on Raw.
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