List of WWE SmackDown on-air personalities

This is a list of on-air personalities from the professional wrestling television series WWE's SmackDown. On-air personalities include the wrestlers themselves, ring announcers, commentators, and on-screen authority figures. The show also features recurring on-air segments hosted by various personalities.

Authority figures

Authority figures	Position	Date started	Date finished	Notes
Mr. McMahon	Owner, chairman, and CEO	August 26, 1999	present	McMahon assigned new General Managers to Raw and to SmackDown after Ric Flair lost his position on Raw. Stacy Keibler served as "Personal Assistant" through McMahon's term.
Shawn Michaels	Commissioner	August 26, 1999	June 26, 2000	Relinquished role to Mick Foley
Mick Foley	Commissioner	June 26, 2000	December 18, 2000	Fired by Mr. McMahon
Debra	Lt. Commissioner	October 30, 2000	March 5, 2001	Resigned as Lieutenant Commissioner to pursue managing again.
William Regal	Commissioner	March 8, 2001	October 11, 2001	Fired by Linda McMahon for joining The Alliance
Mick Foley	Commissioner	October 11, 2001	November 19, 2001	Decided to leave the company
Ric Flair	On-screen co-owner of the company	November 19, 2001	April 2, 2002	Upon the beginning of the brand extension, McMahon was given sole control of SmackDown, while Flair was given control of Raw. Between November 2001 and the brand extension, Flair had as much power over all shows as McMahon.
Stephanie McMahon	General Manager	July 18, 2002	October 19, 2003	Lost her position as per an "I Quit" match stipulation against Mr. McMahon at No Mercy.
Paul Heyman	General Manager	October 23, 2003	March 22, 2004	Resigned after being drafted to Raw.
Kurt Angle	General Manager	March 25, 2004	July 22, 2004	Returned to the active roster when no longer confined to a wheelchair.
Theodore Long	General Manager	July 29, 2004 April 10, 2009	September 21, 2007 April 1, 2012	Left position due to health complications. Served as "Assistant General Manager" from November 2007 to May 2008. Long was reassigned from ECW to SmackDown. Lost the position to John Laurinaitis as a result of the Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy match at Wrestlemania XXVIII.
Vickie Guerrero	General Manager	September 28, 2007 January 21, 2011 July 19, 2013	April 6, 2009 February 18, 2011 June 23, 2014	Served as assistant general manager from May to September 2007. Opted to fully take over the position on Raw and resigned as general manager of SmackDown. Took over in place of the injured Teddy Long. Announced new general manager of SmackDown on July 19, 2013 by Mr. McMahon; lost position on June 23, 2014 edition of Raw in a match against Stephanie McMahon.
Triple H	Chief operating officer	July 25, 2011	present
John Laurinaitis	General manager	April 2, 2012	June 17, 2012	Won position, Team Johnny vs Team Teddy at Wrestlemania XXVIII. Fired at No Way Out by Mr. McMahon as per pre-match stipulation when John Cena defeated Big Show in a Steel cage match.
Interim General Managers	Guest GM	June 22, 2012	July 20, 2012	Following Laurinaitis' firing, the Board of Directors invited past GMs and Commissioners to run SmackDown on a weekly basis until a new full-time GM was named, such as Mick Foley, Vickie Guerrero and Zack Ryder.
Booker T	General Manager	August 3, 2012	July 12, 2013	Mr. McMahon announced Booker T as the new general manager of SmackDown.
Theodore Long	Senior Advisor	August 3, 2012	July 12, 2013	Was named Booker's advisor after he asked for his help. Served as general manager during Booker's injury.
Eve Torres	Assistant to general manager	August 17, 2012	January 14, 2013	Won the position in a match against Kaitlyn. Left position after she quit WWE.
Kane	Director of Operations	November 4, 2013	November 23, 2014	Lost position after The Authority lost at Survivor Series.
Shane McMahon	Commissioner	July 11, 2016	October 4, 2019	Lost a Loser Leaves WWE Ladder match to Kevin Owens.
Daniel Bryan	General Manager	July 18, 2016	April 10, 2018	Shane assigned Bryan as his general manager.
Paige	General Manager	April 10, 2018	December 18, 2018	Shane assigned Paige as general manager after Bryan resigned from the position to return to in-ring action. After the announcement on the December 17, 2018 edition of Raw that the McMahons (Vince, Stephanie, Shane, and Triple H) were, as a united group, taking over both Raw and SmackDown, Paige was effectively removed as general manager.
Adam Pearce	WWE Official	January 17, 2020	present	For the bulk of 2020, Pearce has been an on-screen WWE Authority figure for SmackDown, making the majority of the matches.

Commentators

Commentators	Dates
Michael Cole and Jim Cornette	April 29, 1999 (Pilot)
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler	August 26, 1999 (Network Premiere) January 10, 2002
Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler	September 2, 1999 – September 16, 1999 September 30, 1999 – February 22, 2001 November 22, 2001 – March 28, 2002 March 31, 2005 October 23, 2009 March 26, 2015
Michael Cole and Michael Hayes	September 23, 1999
Michael Cole and Tazz	February 22, 2001 March 8, 2001 – May 3, 2001 May 17, 2001 – June 14, 2001 June 28, 2001 – July 5, 2001 August 2, 2001 – August 9, 2001 August 23, 2001 – September 4, 2001 September 20, 2001 October 11, 2001 November 1, 2001 November 15, 2001 April 4, 2002 – November 21, 2002 December 5, 2002 – March 24, 2005 April 7, 2005 – June 9, 2006
Michael Cole and Jim Ross	September 21, 2000 March 1, 2001 July 12, 2001 – July 26, 2001 September 20, 2001 November 8, 2001 – November 15, 2001
Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson	July 5, 2001
Jim Ross and Paul Heyman	June 21, 2001 September 13, 2001 (Live 9/11 Tribute Show) October 4, 2001
Michael Cole and Paul Heyman	May 10, 2001 June 21, 2001 August 16, 2001 September 27, 2001 October 18, 2001 – October 25, 2001
Michael Cole and Ernest Miller	November 28, 2002
Michael Cole and Jonathan Coachman	January 4, 2008 – April 25, 2008
Michael Cole and Mick Foley	May 2, 2008 – June 16, 2008
Jim Ross and Mick Foley	June 23, 2008 – August 1, 2008
Jim Ross and Tazz	August 8, 2008 – April 3, 2009
Jim Ross and Todd Grisham	April 10, 2009 – October 9, 2009
Todd Grisham and Michael Cole	October 16, 2009
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker	October 30, 2009 – September 24, 2010
Todd Grisham, Michael Cole, and Matt Striker	October 1, 2010 – December 3, 2010
Josh Mathews, Michael Cole, and Matt Striker	December 10, 2010 – January 28, 2011
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker	March 30, 2012
Michael Cole and Booker T	April 27, 2012
Josh Mathews, Michael Cole, and Booker T	February 4, 2011 – November 25, 2011 December 16, 2011 – December 30, 2011 January 13, 2012 – April 23, 2012 May 4, 2012 – July 27, 2012
Michael Cole and various guest commentators	August 24, 2012
Josh Mathews and Michael Cole	November 29, 2011 – December 9, 2011 January 6, 2012 August 3, 2012 – August 17, 2012 August 31, 2012 – October 5, 2012
Michael Cole, Josh Mathews, and Jerry Lawler	March 1, 2013
Michael Cole, Josh Mathews, and Brad Maddox	March 8, 2013 – March 15, 2013
Josh Mathews and Jerry Lawler	April 5, 2013
Michael Cole, Josh Mathews, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield	December 21, 2012 March 22, 2013 – March 29, 2013 April 12, 2013 – May 24, 2013
Michael Cole and Alex Riley	August 2, 2013
Michael Cole, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and The Miz	January 17, 2014
Josh Mathews and John "Bradshaw" Layfield	October 12, 2012 – February 22, 2013 January 24, 2014
Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Layfield	June 16, 2006 – December 21, 2007 May 31, 2013 – July 26, 2013 August 9, 2013 – January 10, 2014 January 31, 2014 – August 15, 2014
Tom Phillips and Michael Cole	October 31, 2014
Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield[1]	August 22, 2014 – October 24, 2014 November 7, 2014 – January 9, 2015
Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Byron Saxton[2]	January 15, 2015 – March 19, 2015 April 16, 2015 February 18, 2016
Tom Phillips, Jerry Lawler, and Byron Saxton	April 2, 2015 – April 9, 2015 April 23, 2015 – June 18, 2015
Tom Phillips, Jerry Lawler, and Jimmy Uso	June 25, 2015 – July 16, 2015 July 30, 2015 – August 20, 2015
Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Jimmy Uso	July 23, 2015
Rich Brennan, Jerry Lawler, and Jimmy Uso	August 27, 2015 – September 3, 2015
Rich Brennan, Jerry Lawler, and Booker T	September 10, 2015 – December 17, 2015 December 31, 2015
Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Booker T	December 22, 2015
Mauro Ranallo and Jerry Lawler	March 31, 2016
Mauro Ranallo, Jerry Lawler, and Byron Saxton	January 7, 2016 – February 11, 2016 February 25, 2016 – June 16, 2016 July 7, 2016 – July 12, 2016
Mauro Ranallo, Byron Saxton, and David Otunga	June 23, 2016 – June 30, 2016
Mauro Ranallo, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Byron Saxton	July 19, 2016
Mauro Ranallo, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and David Otunga	July 26, 2016 – November 1, 2016
Mauro Ranallo, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, David Otunga, and Tom Phillips	November 8, 2016 – March 7, 2017
Tom Phillips and John "Bradshaw" Layfield	March 14, 2017
Tom Phillips, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and David Otunga	March 21, 2017 – April 4, 2017
Tom Phillips, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and Byron Saxton	April 11, 2017 – August 29, 2017
Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton	September 5, 2017 – October 10, 2017 October 31, 2017 – December 11, 2018 December 25, 2018 – July 16, 2019 July 30, 2019 – August 13, 2019 August 27, 2019 – September 24, 2019
Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton	October 17, 2017 – October 24, 2017
Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and David Otunga	December 18, 2018
Tom Phillips, David Otunga, Big E, and Xavier Woods	July 23, 2019
Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, and David Otunga
Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and David Otunga	August 20, 2019
Michael Cole and Corey Graves	October 4, 2019 – March 6, 2020 April 10, 2020 – present
Tom Phillips, Renee Young, and Aiden English	November 1, 2019
Tom Phillips, Renee Young, and Pat McAfee
Michael Cole and Triple H	March 13, 2020
Michael Cole	March 20, 2020 – April 3, 2020

• ^ Filled in for Jerry Lawler, who was absent at the time.
• ^ Filled in for Tazz, who was absent at the time.
• ^ Cole and Booker was absent at the time during WrestleMania week, so both men were replaced by Striker to call the event.
• ^ Mathews was absent at the time after being attacked by Brock Lesnar on the April 23, 2012 episode of Raw, so only Cole and Booker called the event.
• ^ Booker was absent at the time, so only Mathews and Cole called the event.
• ^ Following the absence of Josh Mathews, Michael Cole was joined by various guest commentators for one night on SmackDown. The following is a list of the guest commentators who joined Michael Cole on the August 24, 2012 episode of SmackDown:

Commentator
Theodore Long
Kaitlyn
Cody Rhodes
The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil)
Sheamus

• ^ Cole and JBL was absent due to the live report from WrestleMania Axxess, so both men were replaced by Lawler to call the event.[3]
• ^ Filled in for JBL, who was absent at the time.
• ^ JBL was absent at the time, so only Phillips and Cole called the event.
• ^ Saxton was absent due to a live prediction about the upcoming matches at WrestleMania with Renee Young, so only two men called the event.[4][5]
• ^ Filled in for Michael Cole, who was recovering from injury after being attacked by Brock Lesnar on the March 30, 2015 episode of Raw.[6]
• ^ Filled in for Byron Saxton, who joined Raw as a color commentator since June 8, 2015.
• ^ Replaced Booker T as announced on Raw on January 4, 2016.
• ^ Ranallo was absent due to suffering from influenza and was filled in by Michael Cole from Monday Night Raw on February 18, 2016.
• ^ Due to Lawler being suspended, he was filled in by David Otunga from Main Event and Superstars for two weeks.
• ^ Michael Cole was representing Raw for the 2016 WWE draft.
• ^ Announced as the new commentary team following the 2016 WWE Draft Lottery.[7]
• ^ When Ranallo was absent due to suffering from depression, Tom Phillips filled in for him as play-by-play.
• ^ Saxton temporarily joined the commentary team following the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up.
• ^ When Tom Phillips was on assignment, he was filled in by Raw's Michael Cole.
• ^ Otunga filled in for Byron Saxton, who was absent at the time.
• ^ On November 1, 2019, due to significant flight delays returning from the Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, more than 100 WWE employees were not able to travel to Buffalo, New York in time to appear on Smackdown Live on Fox. In response, WWE featured multiple NXT superstars who did not travel to Saudi Arabia. McAfee was among them as guest color commentary, joining Renee Young and Tom Phillips, while replacing Aiden English.

Ring announcers

Ring announcers	Dates	Notes
Tony Chimel	April 1999 – October 7, 1999 October 21, 1999 - December 23, 1999 January 2000 - April 20, 2000 May 4, 2000 - December 21, 2000 January 4, 2001 - June 28, 2001 July 12, 2001 - September 13, 2001 September 27, 2001 - February 21, 2002 March 2002 - June 13, 2002 - June 27, 2002 - August 2007 October 2009 – December 2, 2011 November 2, 2012 – November 30, 2012 April 5, 2013 September 13, 2013 November 15, 2013 November 15, 2016	Transferred to the ECW brand in August 2007. Transferred back to Smackdown following Lilian Garcia's first retirement from WWE. Removed on December 2, 2011. Filled in from November 2, 2012 to November 30, 2012 while Garcia was on medical leave after a car accident. Was ring announcer for one night as Garcia had gone to WrestleMania Axxess, with various other SmackDown workers. Continued to make occasional appearances as Edge's personal ring announcer. Made a one-night return on November 15, 2013 to fill in for Garcia, who was unavailable at the time.
Lilian Garcia	October 14, 1999 December 30, 1999 April 27, 2000 March 15, 2001 February 28, 2002 December 23, 2004 December 9, 2011 – October 26, 2012 December 7, 2012 – March 29, 2013 April 12, 2013 – November 8, 2013 November 22, 2013 – October 17, 2014 November 5, 2015	Returned to WWE to take over for Tony Chimel. Made a one-night appearance on November 5, 2015. Substituted for Chimel on certain nights between 1999 and 2004.
Howard Finkel	December 28, 2000 July 5, 2001 September 20, 2001 December 27, 2001 June 20, 2002	Filled in for Chimel except December 27, 2001, when Finkel and Chimel served as co-announcers.
Justin Roberts	September 19, 2002 April 23, 2003 December 4, 2003 September 15, 2006 April 6, 2007 September 2007 – October 2009	Transferred to the Raw brand following Lilian Garcia's retirement from WWE. Made one-night appearances on December 10, 2010, March 11 and September 16, 2011.
Josh Mathews	January 2, 2003	One night only.
Eden Stiles	July 15, 2011 November 11, 2011 October 24, 2014 – May 26, 2016	Stiles served as the dual-branded ring announcer for WWE Superstars and substitute ring announcer for both shows until December 22, 2011 when she left WWE. Stiles became the permanent ring announcer after Lilian Garcia returned to Raw on October 20, 2014. On May 24, 2016 during SmackDown tapings, Stiles was released by WWE after she requested for her release.
JoJo	April 9, 2015 – May 28, 2015 June 18, 2015 July 2, 2015 – October 15, 2015 June 2, 2016 – June 23, 2016 July 7, 2016 – July 19, 2016	Served as interim ring announcer while continuing her role as a dual-branded backstage interviewer, but did not do the latter on the selected dates she does ring announcing for SmackDown. Replaced Eden Stiles who was released by WWE. Moved to Raw following Lilian Garcia's second departure due to family emergency.
Greg Hamilton	June 30, 2016 July 26, 2016 – October 25, 2019 November 8, 2019 – present	Filled in for JoJo when she worked WWE's tour in Hawaii and when she filled in for Lilian Garcia on Raw during that same week. Promoted to full-time announcer when JoJo was moved to Raw.
Kayla Braxton	November 1, 2019	One night only.
Mike Rome	November 6, 2020-November 13, 2020	Subbed for Hamilton when he couldn't be here to announce

Recurring segments

Segments	Hosts	Years	Notes
Piper's Pit	Roddy Piper	2003 2005 – 2006 2010 2012 2014	In-ring interview segment.[8] Discontinued after Piper's death in 2015.
$1,000,000 Tough Enough	Al Snow	2004	WWE Tough Enough competition segment.
Kurt Angle Invitational	Kurt Angle	2004 – 2005	Three-minute match challenge for Angle's gold medal. Discontinued after Angle was drafted to Raw.
Cafe de René	René Duprée	2004	In-ring interview segment.
Carlito's Cabana	Carlito	2005 2008 – 2009	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Carlito was drafted to Raw.
Peep Show	Christian	2005 2010 – 2014	In ring interview segment.
Diva Search	The Miz	2006	Diva Search competition segment.
Miz TV	The Miz	2007 2012 – 2017 2018 – 2019 2019 – 2020	In-ring interview segment.
Masterlock Challenge	Chris Masters	2007 2010 – 2011	Submission challenge to break Masters' Masterlock hold. Discontinued after being drafted to Raw.
The Cutting Edge	Edge	2007 – 2011 2013 2016	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Edge was forced to retire from professional wrestling. Occasionally makes a couple appearances.
VIP Lounge	Montel Vontavious Porter	2007 – 2010 2020	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued following MVP's release from WWE. Restarted during build to WrestleMania 36
Khali Kiss Cam	The Great Khali Ranjin Singh	2011	In-ring fan interaction segment. Khali kisses a female member of the audience. First person to keep show after changing brands.[9]
Highlight Reel	Chris Jericho Kevin Owens	2010 2012 2013 2016 2017 – 2018	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Jericho was drafted to Raw. Began again when Jericho returned in 2013. Discontinued again when Jericho was drafted to the Raw brand when WWE re-introduced the brand extension in 2016. Re-introduced by Kevin Owens in 2017 without Chris Jericho. Discontinued after Owens was fired and drafted to Raw.
Grooming Tips	Cody Rhodes	2010 – 2011	Cody Rhodes gives some vanity tips. Discontinued after Rhodes' facial injury (*caused by the exposed metal brace of Rey Mysterio).
Str8 Outta Brooklyn With JTG	JTG	2010 – 2011	Backstage shoot segment. Discontinued after JTG was drafted to Raw.
The Ambrose Asylum	Dean Ambrose	2016 – 2017	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after being drafted to Raw.
King's Court	Jerry Lawler	2017	In-ring interview segment.
The Fashion Files (later The Fashion X Files, then Fashion Peaks)	Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango)	2017 – 2018	Video segment. Discontinued after Breezeango was drafted to Raw.
U. S. Open Challenge	Kevin Owens A.J. Styles Bobby Roode Jeff Hardy R-Truth	2017-2018, 2019	A United States Championship match challenge pitting anyone on the roster against the incumbent champion of the time. Originally called the Face of America challenge under Kevin Owens, it has been held under four different champions. After A.J. Styles won, it was renamed the U.S. Open Challenge, but was discontinued after Hell in a Cell after Baron Corbin won the championship. It was revived in 2018 after Bobby Roode won the aforementioned championship. It was revived in 2019 after R-Truth won the aforementioned championship. Under Styles, Roode and Truth's reigns, their names were included in the official title of the U.S. Open Challenge title. Discontinued after then-United States Champion Samoa Joe was drafted to Raw.
Truth TV	R-Truth Carmella	2018–2019	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after R-Truth was drafted to Raw.
The Kevin Owens Show	Kevin Owens	2019 2020 – present	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Owens was drafted to Raw. Returned after Owens was drafted to SmackDown.
Firefly Fun House	Bray Wyatt	2019 – 2020	Video segment. Discontinued after Wyatt was drafted to Raw.
A Moment of Bliss	Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross	2019 – 2020	On-stage interview segment. Discontinued after Bliss and Cross were drafted to Raw.
The Dirt Sheet	John Morrison and The Miz	2020	In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Morrison and Miz were drafted to Raw.
Ding Dong Hello	Bayley	2021 – present	In-ring interview segment.

See also

• List of WWE Raw on-air personalities
• List of current champions in WWE

References

1. "The next voice of WWE? Tom Phillips joins SmackDown announce team". WWE. August 22, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
2. "New announce teams revealed for Raw and SmackDown". WWE. January 8, 2015. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
3. Burdick, Michael (April 1, 2013). "SmackDown Results: Ryback ran over Primo & Epico on The Road to WrestleMania". WWE. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
4. Burdick, Michael (March 25, 2015). "SmackDown Results, March 26, 2015: Reigns, Cena, Bryan & Henry triumphed in pre-WrestleMania 8-Man Tag Team slugfest". WWE. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
5. Taylor, Scott (March 31, 2016). "SmackDown stepped inside AT&T Stadium". WWE. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
6. "Medical updates on Michael Cole, Booker T and JBL in the wake of Brock Lesnar's attack on Raw". WWE. April 1, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
7. "WWE commentary gets a facelift for the New Era". WWE. July 19, 2016.
8. "SmackDown! results - April 10, 2003". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
9. "SmackDown! results - August 17, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 17, 2007.