After Pat McAfee’s success at WrestleMania 38, Corey Graves has hinted that he’d be interested in facing the SmackDown announcer in the future.
While Pat McAfee and Corey Graves might not instantly seem like they have that much in common, they in fact grew up within a few miles of each other in the Pittsburgh area. However, while McAfee embraces his natural accent on commentary, Graves’ is much more neutral.
Speaking with Nick Hausman of Wrestling Inc at WWE’s WrestleMania 38 Media Row, Graves revealed that one of the first things he did when he started broadcasting was work to drop his accent.
“If you close your eyes, they’ve both (McAfee and his brother Sam Adonis) got that deep Pittsburgh accent, the Yinzer. It’s so funny to me, I laugh about it all the time,” he said. “How McAfee is this broadcasting juggernaut right now, and when I first started doing commentary, the first thing I had to unlearn was a Pittsburgh accent.
The Monday Night Raw announcer admitted that the process of unlearning his natural accent was something he found difficult, and it made him self-conscious.
“It took me a while,” he admitted. “And I was very, very self-conscious about pronouncing words a certain way, because I wanted to sound like a broadcaster. Then Pat comes along and blows the whole thing up. I am like, ‘man, I should have unlearned it, maybe I will be in McAfee’s position.’”
In recent posts on social media, Graves has hinted that he might be interested in squaring off against McAfee in the ring. When asked about the comments he said he was unsure as to whether a match had been seriously discussed, although Survivor Series would provide a perfect platform for the clash.
“Not to my knowledge was it ever discussed with any sense of legitimacy. But you’ve got to remember, there’s only one night a year Raw and SmackDown competes in head-to-head competition, Survivor Series. I hope, I am going to start politicking now,” he said on a possible match. “I think McAfee and Graves at Survivor Series, I think we have to pass the bar that was set by Cole and Lawlor at WrestleMania.”
Despite already having on eye on facing him in the squared circle, Graves also praised McAfee for his work at the SmackDown announce desk.
“As over the top as Pat is, he loves this, that’s why Pat’s here. Pat doesn’t need the money, Pat doesn’t need the exposure, he is wildly successful on his own. Pat loves WWE, so more power to him the fact that he’s living his dream I think is very cool.”
Pat McAfee was most recently in action at WrestleMania 38 where he defeated Austin Theory before being taken out by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon himself.
Meanwhile, Corey Graves recently revealed that he has been medically cleared for a return to the ring, should he want to compete.
H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.