While WWE Friday Night SmackDown won’t move from Fox to USA Network until later this year, changes are already coming to the weekly show.
As first reported by SEScoops’ Aaron Varble, Kevin Patrick is being removed as SmackDown‘s play-by-play announcer, effective immediately. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s Dave Meltzer confirmed the change on Tuesday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.
SmackDown set for a change.
Kevin Patrick is out.
No replacement named yet.
Reason I was given: “It just wasn’t working out.”— Aaron (@AaronVarble) January 23, 2024
Patrick (real name: Kevin Egan) first joined WWE as a backstage interviewer in 2021. The Dublin, Ireland, native became the lead play-by-play broadcaster of WWE Raw alongside color commentator Corey Graves in October 2022 before the duo was moved to WWE Friday Night SmackDown last August.
While Patrick and Graves initially joined longtime WWE play-by-play announcer Michael Cole on SmackDown, Cole was removed from the SmackDown booth at the start of 2024. It has yet to be announced who will be replacing Patrick alongside Graves on SmackDown moving forward, although Cole (who still calls Raw) and NXT‘s Vic Joseph (who previously served as the lead announcer on Raw) stand out as logical options.
It’s also unclear what the change means for Patrick’s status with the company. A return to his previous role as a backstage interviewer on Raw might make sense if he remains with WWE, as Jackie Redmond is currently the only person in the position on a full-time basis on the three-hour show.
In addition to his duties with WWE, Egan has worked as a play-by-play for Major League Soccer broadcasts on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass since last year. His resume includes previous stops at the Big Ten Network, the Chicago Fire Soccer Club, beIN SPORTS, CNN International and Sirius XM, as well as Ireland’s National Broadcaster, RTE, where he covered high profile soccer events, including the 2004 Olympics.
Having aired on Fox since 2019, SmackDown will move to USA Network in October as a part of WWE’s new TV rights deal.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.