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WWE’s Corey Graves Addresses Absence and Critical Comments on NXT

WWE’s Corey Graves addresses his absence on tonight’s NXT

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There was a key person missing from last week’s episode of WWE NXT, but tonight they were back in action, addressing their previous absence right up front. That would be WWE commentator Corey Graves, who made a lot of people question whether he was part of a work or shoot with his comments on social media last week. That was because Graves was moved from SmackDown to NXT, but tonight he made it clear he was where he wanted to be.

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Vic Joseph introduced Booker T and Graves, and joked that it was indeed Graves and not some sort of A.I. Graves then said, “I am right where I want to be. Where passion is everything and only the hungry survive and pro wrestling never stopped being cool.”

The “right where I want to be” and “only the hungry survive” lines are definitely references to what happened last week, and it would seem any issues between Graves and WWE have been smoothed over in the time since his initial comments. Graves also deleted those previous tweets, so it’s not likely part of any sort of storyline.

Corey Graves stated at the start of #WWENXT "I am right where I want to be. Where passion is everything and only the hungry survive and pro wrestling never stopped being cool."

PWUnlimited (@pwunlimited.bsky.social) 2025-01-22T01:04:34.681Z

That was part of why people were intrigued, as it could have been a storyline push to have Graves return to the ring. That doesn’t seem to be the case now though, as anything related to that has been deleted and it didn’t continue to play a role throughout tonight’s NXT either.

The initial tweet from Graves went as follows. โ€œImagine chasing your dream. Then being TOLD (not deciding) that youโ€™re no longer physically able to pursue your dream. Then you dedicate your life to something โ€œdream adjacentโ€ and being pretty f awesome at it. And then, when itโ€™s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, being told youโ€™re not famous enough for your own job. Just in case youโ€™ve wondered where Iโ€™ve been,” Graves wrote.

Graves later added to that initial tweet with another that teased he would address it later on TV. Graves wrote, โ€œIโ€™ve got a lot to say. Donโ€™t miss #WWENXT tonight on @TheCW TONIGHT.โ€ Since then both tweets have been deleted, and at least for a little while, Graves is setting up shop on NXT.

What did you think of what Graves had to say? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!