Reason Behind WWE Shifting Corey Graves’ Commentary Duties

Corey Graves is truly the voice of WWE as he has been a mainstay behind the commentary booth for several years now. In WWE’s latest commentary team shakeup, Graves moved back to color commentary and now the reason for that has been revealed.

During the SummerSlam pre-show, it was announced that ESPN’s Joe Tessitore will make his WWE commentary debut on the September 2 edition of Monday Night Raw, with Michael Cole transitioning to Friday Night SmackDown.

Corey Graves had been the play-by-play announcer on Friday Night SmackDown since February 2024, following Kevin Patrick’s firing. However, Graves has now returned to his role as a color commentator, with Michael Cole taking over as the play-by-play announcer for SmackDown.

This change is part of a larger announce team shake-up. Michael Cole and Corey Graves will stay on SmackDown until the end of the year, while Joe Tessitore will be the play-by-play commentator on Monday Night Raw, with Wade Barrett as the color commentator. Another shake-up is expected in the new year when Raw moves to Netflix. At that time, Michael Cole will return to Raw and be paired with Pat McAfee.

According to PWTorch, WWE wasn’t dissatisfied with Graves’ performance as a play-by-play commentator. Instead, WWE’s Head of Media & Production, Lee Fitting, was a strong supporter of Joe Tessitore. Fitting had been advocating for Tessitore’s involvement with WWE throughout 2024. Tessitore made a strong impression at WrestleMania 40, where he came across as a knowledgeable WWE fan, leading to his hiring.

We will have to wait and see how Corey Graves will fare in his role as a color commentator again for the time being, as WWE is clearly going through a lot of changes already.

What’s your view on the actual reason behind WWE changing up Corey Graves’ commentary duties? Let us know in the comments section below!