Joe Tessitore officially joins the WWE Raw Commentary Team

On the September 2nd episode of Raw, ESPN announcer Joe Tessitore made his debut as a WWE commentator, joining Wade Barrett in the ring for the opening segment. Scheduled to call the action on Monday nights for the remainder of the year, Tessitore received a warm reception from the Denver crowd and seemed to have quickly adapted to his new role.

New Commentary Team of Monday Night Raw

In a Raw exclusive after the show wrapped up, Tessitore was asked about his feelings now that the first show was over: “How do I feel? [Points to the fans] This is how I feel. You feel alive. You feel passion, and you feel intensity. You want to live in the red in life. That’s what this is, Raw, live in the red. This was an awesome night.”

The Raw announcer went on to thank the fans for their warm reception and expressed his excitement about future shows: “I was very into them, it was a great reception. It meant a lot to me. I brought out the little kid in me tonight. I went and I grabbed a bunch of t-shirts and merchandise. I spread the love, and I wanted to see smile on these children’s faces. From start to finish, I thought that what was thread this evening was very special, and it was great to see it. Night one in the books, let’s have many more.”

Concluding the interview, Tessitore reflected on his early memories as a wrestling fan and addressed his performance on Raw. He admitted that he "wasn't great" but emphasized that he was "a passionate fan": “It‘s the kid who skipped school in eighth grade to go meet Big John Studd. It’s the kid who was rooting against the faces to root for Paul Orndorff. That’s the kid that you got tonight. I wasn’t great tonight, I wasn’t great tonight, but I was a passionate fan tonight.”



Joe Tessitore brings a wealth of experience to ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow commentator for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN. He also serves as the play-by-play announcer for ABC's Holey Moley, where he teams up with comedian Rob Riggle and NBA star Stephen Curry. Additionally, Tessitore covers college football for both ESPN and ABC. In 2018 and 2019, he was the play-by-play voice for Monday Night Football, working alongside former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten in 2018 and analyst Booger McFarland in both 2018 and 2019.