Why WWE Is Shifting Corey Graves Out Of Recent Role

WWE is making a big change to its announce team but with Corey Graves being shifted out of his most recent role, the reason for the shake-up has come to light.

For most of 2024, Raw has seen Michael Cole and Pat McAfee calling the action from ringside, while Corey Graves and Wade Barratt have been the voices of SmackDown. In July, WWE announced that changes were coming to the commentary teams with ESPN’s Joe Tessitore joining one of the broadcast teams.

While it was originally reported that Tessitore would lead a three-man announce team with Graves and Barratt, those plans appear to have changed. The Sports Business Journal has confirmed that Tessitore will be part of Raw, and will join Wade Barratt at the announce booth starting September 2nd.

Meanwhile, on the August 26th edition of Raw, Michael Cole announced that he and Corey Graves were SmackDown-bound. The duo will be the announce team for the blue brand for its return to the USA Network on September 13th.

The switch sees Corey Graves return to colour commentary instead of the play-by-play role he has held on SmackDown over the past several months and now more has come to light on why the switch has been made.

WWE Not Unhappy With Corey Graves

PWTorch has reported that WWE were not unhappy with Graves’ performance but the company’s Head of Media & Production Lee Fitting is a big supporter of the incoming Joe Tessitore who he is said to have been friends with for years.

Fitting began pitching a role for Tessitore soon after his hiring by WWE and Tessitore is said to have been at WrestleMania and gave a good impression of an informed fan of the company.