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Monday, December 14, 2015

Mauro Ranallo Joins WWE® As The New Voice Of Smackdown®

STAMFORD, Conn., Dec 14, 2015 -- WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced that veteran announcer Mauro Ranallo will be the new voice of SmackDown beginning Thursday, January 7 when the show moves to its new home on USA Network at 8 pm ET. Ranallo brings nearly 30 years of broadcasting experience, and is currently the play-by-play announcer for Championship Boxing on Showtime and former lead announcer for the Strikeforce MMA promotion.

Earlier this year, Ranallo called the international feed for the historic Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. Ranallo is the only sports broadcaster to call every major combat sport on national television, including boxing, kickboxing and MMA, as well as helping to launch New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV.

“Joining WWE has always been a lifelong dream of mine,” said Ranallo. “I am thrilled to add my voice to the SmackDown broadcasts as the show moves to its new home on USA Network.”

With more than 800 original episodes, SmackDown is the second longest-running weekly episodic program in U.S. television history, only behind Monday Night Raw®. Over the past 15 years, SmackDown has been broadcast from 170 different venues, in 148 cities, in seven different countries including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Iraq, Japan, Italy and Mexico. Now the exclusive cable home to WWE’s flagship programs, USA Network will air SmackDown every Thursday night beginning January 7. USA also airs Monday Night Raw live 52 weeks a year.

Prior to joining Showtime, Ranallo was the voice of the Pride Fighting Championships, and spent six years in Toronto where he hosted Canada’s first TV show dedicated to MMA while also hosting a daily combat sports radio show.

Ranallo lives in Los Angeles where he is a social advocate for mental health, an avid hiker and voice artist for commercials, books and film.

About WWE

WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide in 25 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 175 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo.

Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/

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Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks relating to: WWE Network; major distribution agreements; our need to continue to develop creative and entertaining programs and events; the possibility of a decline in the popularity of our brand of sports entertainment; the continued importance of key performers and the services of Vincent K. McMahon; possible adverse changes in the regulatory atmosphere and related private sector initiatives; the highly competitive, rapidly changing and increasingly fragmented nature of the markets in which we operate and greater financial resources or marketplace presence of many of our competitors; uncertainties associated with international markets; our difficulty or inability to promote and conduct our live events and/or other businesses if we do not comply with applicable regulations; our dependence on our intellectual property rights, our need to protect those rights, and the risks of our infringement of others’ intellectual property rights; the complexity of our rights agreements across distribution mechanisms and geographical areas; potential substantial liability in the event of accidents or injuries occurring during our physically demanding events including, without limitation, claims relating to CTE; large public events as well as travel to and from such events; our feature film business; our expansion into new or complementary businesses and/or strategic investments; our computer systems and online operations; a possible decline in general economic conditions and disruption in financial markets; our accounts receivable; our revolving credit facility; litigation; our potential failure to meet market expectations for our financial performance, which could adversely affect our stock; Vincent K. McMahon exercises control over our affairs, and his interests may conflict with the holders of our Class A common stock; a substantial number of shares are eligible for sale by the McMahons and the sale, or the perception of possible sales, of those shares could lower our stock price; and the relatively small public “float” of our Class A common stock. In addition, our dividend is dependent on a number of factors, including, among other things, our liquidity and historical and projected cash flow, strategic plan (including alternative uses of capital), our financial results and condition, contractual and legal restrictions on the payment of dividends (including under our revolving credit facility), general economic and competitive conditions and such other factors as our Board of Directors may consider relevant. Forward-looking statements made by the Company speak only as of the date made and are subject to change without any obligation on the part of the Company to update or revise them. Undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of the Company’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

SOURCE: WWE