Backstage Update On Corey Graves' Presence On WWE NXT Broadcast Team

The New Year's Evil edition of "WWE NXT" saw a number of high-profile moments, but one that caught everyone off-guard was the surprise appearance of Corey Graves, as he joined Vic Joseph and Booker T on commentary. WWE have been shuffling their broadcast teams around a lot as of late due to "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" transitioning between different networks and streaming services, but according to Dave Meltzer on "Wrestling Observer Radio," Graves appearing on "NXT" was not a one-time deal.

"Yep, he's going to be off [the main roster] until football season, then he'll come back," Meltzer said. "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."

Graves had been the play-by-play commentator on "SmackDown" since August 2023, and has been a staple of WWE's broadcast team for over a decade after being forced to retire from in-ring action due to concussion issues. His new tenure in "NXT" will be the first time he calls action on WWE's third brand consistently since 2017, and with him now sitting alongside Joseph and Booker on Tuesdays, Barrett and Joe Tessitore will call the action on "SmackDown," while Michael Cole and McAfee remain as the two-man booth on "Raw" 

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.