#8 – Corey Graves on Commentary
I feel awful for Corey Graves. When he first came to NXT, he immediately became a front-runner for main event star. Virtually everyone who took one look at him assumed he’d one day make the WWE roster, and he had an amazing career in front of him.
After hearing him on commentary Thursday night, he still might have a great career in front of him. Graves was comfortable on the mic, adding color when it was needed, and getting out of the way when it wasn’t. In this day and age, when John Layfield can’t shut up for two seconds, and Lawler adds nothing of significance to the booth, knowing when to close your mouth is a rare gift.
Graves came across with a lot of intelligence, a deep knowledge of the wrestling business, and worked well with both men in different ways. CM Punk had a very similar talent, being able to sit in on at the desk and make the product better, without making the show all about him. Jim Ross was the master of that, and ultimate is why he’s the best of all time.
WWE announced that they’d offered Corey Graves a two-year contract to stay on with them, following his career-ending injuries, and will remain at the NXT announce desk going forward. I was sincerely impressed by his work at Takeover, and I look forward to him being a consist part of the broadcast team for a long time to come.
