Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Thursday, October 6, 2005 at 7:41 PM EST

To follow up on yesterday's story regarding WWE considering some serious changes to the current RAW announce team, it appears now that current UFC lead announer Mike Goldberg is expected to sign with World Wrestling Entertainment and start as soon as this Monday as the new replacement for Jim Ross.

Ross is said to have been aware of this possible change for the last few weeks and although he may appear to be putting on a "brave face" as some have described at the moment, many close to him know that he will be extremely disappointed with the WWE's decision to remove him from TV. Given that Ross has been considered the best wrestling announcer of this era, many within the company are now starting to ponder the WWE's overall presentation in terms of in-ring description each week on RAW.

From what is understood at this point, Goldberg has little to no knowledge of pro wrestling at all. Although not confirmed, many expect that Goldberg will be coached behind-the-scenes by Jim Ross and that Vince McMahon will likely be on the headsets backstage during live events to help feed him lines. Even though reports of the situation are blowing up, the decision hasn't been finalized by WWE management quite yet. However, the decision has been discussed verbally as a done deal at this point. It should be noted that Goldberg's decision to sign with WWE is strictly "money-based" as WWE wanted to deliver some type of blow to there new competitor in UFC.

As for Ross, he will be shifted to the new WWE.com RAW webcasts that started this past Monday night both before and during commercial breaks. A source close to the situation has stated recently that Vince McMahon may attempt to spin this new move in a positive manner by pushing the new webcast feature as "the future" on the Internet and that he needs a strong announcer like Ross to help draw people to the live feed. McMahon is said to be intent on pushing the new "webcast" feature on WWE's website in the next few months and there is even early talk about providing a commercial free version of RAW online for a small weekly fee. This would give fans overseas an opportunity to view the show live and possibly create an even larger market for WWE programming.

There is also said to be another story to this "new decision" by WWE to boot Ross from the current RAW announcing team. According to reports, Ross lost some serious standing with Vince McMahon when he made the decision to move back to Oklahoma from Stamford, CT where WWE Headquarters is located. Since McMahon is considered a workaholic, many felt he took it as a sign that Ross was no longer committed to WWE as he was in the past. Ross' move also caused other requests by staff members within the company to get shot down and simply be flown in to TV events every week. Says on WWE source, "Vince McMahon is a very 'what have you done for me lately' type of person. J.R. got a lot of heat on himself when he moved. Vince saw it as, 'Ross doesn't want to be here anymore.'" It still remains to be seen if both Jerry Lawler and The Coach will remain on the announcing team along with Goldberg, or if a second announcer will join Ross on the weekly webcasts.

News Derived From: Wade Keller @ PWTorch.com