WWE's Corey Graves Talks Going Unfiltered With New Podcast After The Bell

WWE is entering the world of podcasting in a big way with its first official show After The Bell, and we had a chance to speak to the man leading the charge Corey Graves. Graves will be hosting the new weekly show that will not only tackle what happens on Raw and SmackDown but also offers up candid and unfiltered interviews with a variety of your favorite superstars. The first episode is now live, and while WWE has dabbled in the podcast pool before with partnerships with shows like the Stone Cold podcast or Talk is Jericho, Graves broke down why this one is a different beast entirely.

"I think finally the company has realized how they can utilize the podcasting world, as opposed to before it was just kind of, 'hey Steve Austin, he's our guy, he has a podcast that does traffic, let's see how it fits.' There was an unsureness about how to utilize the platform," Graves said. The same thing with anybody that has had podcasts that we've sort of partnered with. I know Bruce and Conrad did a thing on our WWE network for a little while, and it just was not quite to the level of... WWE holds its standards of everything from production, to marketing, everything, at the highest possible standard., and I think it was a lot of just trial and error. Now they've partnered with Endeavor Media, which is a full-time podcasting platform, and they've really kind of kicked all the tires and figured out exactly what we want to do."

Now that WWE is all-in, unfettered access to all the company's talent follows, and that allows the show to really dive into hot topics of the moment and get immediate answers.

"I think it has the company's full attention now, whereas before it was this ancillary, 'oh, let's give that a shot. Let's try that out.' I think what's exciting to me about After the Bell is the amount of access that I know that I'm being given to the superstars," Graves said. "And if you know anything about our business, especially you who fancy yourself a hardcore wrestling fan, we know that there's a whole big section of the world that loves some internet rumors, and hot takes and things like that, which is cool. And that's a great part of the business, but it's always second and third and fourth hand information. A source says, 'So-and-so is in trouble for this, or whatever.' It's cool from my perspective to be able to go, 'Oh hey, I heard a great rumor about Seth Rollins this week. Hey Seth, why don't you call in on Wednesday and we'll chat about it' and give them the platform, whether it be to clear the air or whether it's just to be entertaining."

"So many of our superstars, you only get to see what they let you see on television in a five, six-minute segment on Raw or SmackDown," Graves said. "So, to be able to give them a platform to really kind of open up and show who they are, not only as people but as performers, or how much more entertaining they can be, that's really exciting for me."

One of the big appeals of a podcast is to talk freely without the feeling of everything being controlled. Graves wants After The Bell to be an unfiltered show with real conversations, but how unfiltered will it be? We asked how Graves is balancing walking the line between a show for the fans and a show that WWE will still approve of.

"So, in 2019, we have a lot different way of doing things than necessarily we have done in the past," Graves said. "And obviously it's WWE, it's a publicly-traded company. There are certain parameters and guidelines. I can't go on there and start dropping F-bombs and talking about X, Y and Z all the time. But when they first approached me with the concept, I said straight up 'We have to have credibility,' and I said, 'if this is just going to be a fluff piece, then I'm not interested.' And they said, 'Absolutely not. This is not going to be a fluff piece. This is not just, let's talk about how great the match was on Raw.' If that's where the conversation goes and it's organic, totally cool, we're going to take it there."

"Whenever this was announced, I of course on social media got plenty of, 'Oh great. Overproduced, this, that, and the other thing. Not going to be able to mention certain things.' Look, the bottom line is I had this conversation with my team internally at WWE, and I said, 'If it comes down to talking about something that is edgy or controversial as far as with a different company, the hot topic right now is there's a Wednesday night war. We'd be remiss not to address it.' You know what I mean?"

That said, don't expect it to get a lions' share of the time or anything, but it won't be ignored. "Am I going to give somebody undo airtime and promote their brand just because I have a platform by saying their name ad nauseum? No. But if it's relevant to something that's happening, and it's a hot topic situation, then yeah, I'm going to go there," Graves said. "Like I said, the business right now is all about Wednesday night, and if I have a guest on, my first guest on the launch date on October 30th is going to be Triple H. Who better to get an opinion on what's going on here then from the guy that runs NXT, the guy that's in charge, and he does his conference calls from time to time, but it's going to be a different format. It's going to be a little more in-depth, and I have a different relationship with Triple H than yourself would, or somebody from X media outlet."

" I'm planning on pushing the boundaries," Graves said. "Can I make promises that I'm never going to be slapped on the wrist? Probably not. This is probably what's going to get me fired one day. But I'm going to try. Because I think our fan base is educated enough, and there is a need for that and we have the best machine in the world, the ability to give them exactly what they want. So, it's just a matter of taking the handcuffs off and running."

You can check out the first episode of After The Bell right now on Endeavor Audio.