Corey Graves is affected by WWE‘s latest announcer shakeup.
The January 6th episode of Monday Night Raw marked the red brand’s move to Netflix, and the new era is ushering in major changes to WWE’s production. Pat McAfee returned to the broadcast booth alongside Michael Cole for the debut episode, and Triple H confirmed back in December that McAfee would be full time with the red brand following the Netflix move.
Corey Graves, who previously commentated alongside Michael Cole on SmackDown, was absent from the Raw broadcast, and fans were surprised when he showed up in the announce booth alongside Vic Joseph and Booker T on January 7th at NXT New Year’s Evil. According to a report from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Graves’ NXT appearance is not a one-off and he will be on the brand until Pat McAfee is needed for the next football season.
“Yep, he’s going to be off [the main roster] until football season, then he’ll come back.”
Dave Meltzer Questions WWE Moving Corey Graves To NXT
Continuing, Meltzer questioned moving Graves to NXT instead of featuring him on Netflix as he’s a talented commentator.
“He was the best color guy that they had, I mean he was the best, and now he’s in ‘NXT’ instead of on Netflix. Look, they’re always going to go with Pat McAfee because these guys are into star power, and man, McAfee’s become a huge star in the sports world so they’re always going to go with him. The choice of Wade Barrett over Corey Graves, and Wade Barrett’s really good, but it was an interesting choice, and that was the choice they made.”
Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore, who previously commentated Monday Night Raw, will now be the broadcast team for SmackDown going forward on USA.
WWE’s ring announcers also recently swapped places.
With WWE undergoing numerous commentary changes, Corey Graves let his feelings be known.
h/t WrestlingInc