Word has gotten out that Todd Grisham, who has been with WWE since 2003, has left the company to take a job with ESPN. He then becomes the 3rd WWE announcer to make the move, all within the last 3 years.
Grisham had been moonlighting the last couple of years, working part-time for the Fox Soccer Channel, so speculation is already rampant that he may be in line to do some soccer for ESPN, where he joins Jonathan Coachman, who was with WWE from 1999-2008, and Max Bretos, who had what amounted to a cup of coffee with WWE before he signed with ESPN around the same time Coachman did. With NXT: Redemption now seemingly an ongoing series, rather than finite, Will Regal will be looking for a new partner. Scott Sandford and Jack Korpela, who have been working Superstars, will be the likely candidates, although most fans might wish Michael Cole would return to NXT and stay off Raw & Smackdown.
Coachman had come from radio when he signed with WWE during the "Attitude Era", and, like Grisham, began moonlighting, doing college football for CBS College Sports and WNBA basketball and other duties for MSG. Currently, Coachman is confined to the studio on ESPN, appearing mostly on ESPNews, but if his WNBA work, calling NY Liberty games in particular, is any indication, he may be overdue to be in the field.
Bretos is also a studio anchor, and didn't get much face time on WWE-TV, as he was there for a brief period. Like Coachman, he usually turns up on ESPNews.
Past WWE announcers, such as Sean Mooney, have wound up with FSN or elsewhere, so it's really safe to say that the WWE does open up opportunities for announcers outside the business moreso than for the wrestlers themselves.
I wonder what Phil Mushnick, who never has much good to say about WWE, would say about the WWE-to-ESPN pipeline. Given that he has also bashed ESPN in the past----and what media watchdog hasn't----he probably doesn't. His loss, as usual.
Congratulations, Todd. Hope to see you on SportsCenter.
