Ranallo signed a contract with professional wrestling company WWE on December 15, 2015, and made his WWE debut as the play-by-play commentator for the "SmackDown" broadcast team for its premiere on USA Network on January 7, 2016, thus being dubbed "The Voice of SmackDown". Ranallo has had many commentary partners while calling SmackDown: Jerry Lawler, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole, Tom Phillips, David Otunga, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Additionally, Ranallo commentated the Cruiserweight Classic alongside Daniel Bryan; the tournament aired from July 6 to September 14, 2016. Ranallo continued to commentate for the cruiserweights on their weekly "WWE 205 Live" show which first aired from November 29, 2016. His partners were Corey Graves and Austin Aries. For WWE pay-per-view events, Ranallo was assigned to calling the pre-show of WrestleMania 32 in April 2016, but later commentated on the main cards of several WWE PPVs: the SmackDown or cruiserweight matches on 2016's SummerSlam, Survivor Series and 2017's Royal Rumble, and SmackDown PPVs such as 2016's Backlash, No Mercy, and 2017's Elimination Chamber.