Peter Rosenberg stuck up for his WWE co-host JBL during a recent episode of his podcast.
The backstage behavior of JBL has been all over the news as of late, but Rosenberg defended the former WWE champion turned commentator during an episode of his Cheap Heat podcast.
Rosenberg and JBL co-host the Bring It To The Table discussion panel show on the WWE Network, along with Paul Heyman.
"I am going to defend JBL because he is the first person that I’ve worked with since I got to WWE," Rosenberg said. "JBL has also given me a hard time during 'Bring It To The Table' and at no point did I take any of that seriously. And when he does it on-air and off-air, I laugh and I smile back and he starts laughing. That is the kind of guy he is. Do I know everything he has ever done? No, I don’t. I’m just telling you that my experience has been nothing but positive. I came into it as an outsider expecting a bit of ball-busting. Bullying is a real issue, especially when it comes to children. Children being bullied is a real issue and nothing to joke about. I am not going to live in a world where a grown man making jokes to another grown man at his workplace, if it was simply jokes, is enough reason for someone to leave his workplace. I can’t subscribe to that.”
Rosenberg also addressed the reported dispute between JBL and Mauro Ranallo, which has led to Ranallo leaving as lead commentator of Smackdown and reportedly has WWE and the broadcaster seeking a buyout on his contract. Part of the reported issue stemmed from Ranallo acknowledging winning Announcer of the Year honors from The Wrestling Observer, which led to JBL making jokes about it on a subsequent episode of Bring It To The Table.
"Do I know everything that has ever transpired between JBL and Mauro Ranallo? Absolutely not. The idea that Mauro Ranallo is leaving WWE because of a joke on 'Bring It To The Table' is crazy and there are a lot of people on Twitter that believe that is it," Rosenberg said. "Are you a fan of professional wrestling and you think that would be a valid reason to leave? Being teased on a show? You know what it used to be like back in the day, in the Blackjack Mulligan era, and you think someone making a joke leads to someone missing WrestleMania? Let’s just assume that can’t be a reasonable reason to leave WWE."
Rosenberg also took a few shots at Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, who he described as "the number one person pushing the story."
"It was not that he [JBL] teased Mauro, it was that he didn’t even recognize The Observer at all," Rosenberg said. "JBL utterly buried Meltzer and The Observer. That has to be noted because who has been the number one person pushing this story? Dave Meltzer and The Observer. So are you going to tell me, Dave, because you think people like me and everyone else that speaks on this is a cooperate shill… and Jonathan Coachman who you said falsely was the target of JBL’s bullying which just isn’t true. You are going to call everyone else a shill and say that they have an agenda, but you don’t have an agenda? Even after JBL buried you? JBL called it a random Internet list and gave no credit to it. I’m sure that bothered Meltzer.”
With an extensive background in radio and TV, Rosenberg started working for WWE late last year. Previously, he is probably best known in wrestling circles for Cheap Heat, which previously was broadcast through podcast on Grantland.com, a now-shuttered ESPN property.
