Major Change Coming to WWE SmackDown Commentary Team

Corey Graves will do play-by-play for the first time in his career.

By Liam Crowley

WWE is shaking up its announce teams. This past Monday on WWE Monday Night Raw, Michael Cole revealed that Pat McAfee is back with the company on a full-time basis and will be delivering color commentary on the red brand moving forward. This move reunited Cole and McAfee for the first time on WWE TV since September 2022, as McAfee left WWE SmackDown then to join ESPN College Gameday. Cole and McAfee called the blue brand action for 18 months and quickly established a palpable chemistry, with fans calling them one of the best WWE commentary duos in recent memory. McAfee takes Wade Barrett's seat at the WWE Monday Night Raw announce table.

New WWE SmackDown Commentary Team Revealed

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(Photo: WWE)

Fans won't have to wait long to hear the former Nexus leader on commentary again.

As reported by PWInsider, WWE SmackDown will be called by Wade Barrett and Corey Graves moving forward. This change comes in the wake of Kevin Patrick's firing, as the former play-by-play voice of Friday nights was released on January 25th. 

Both Barrett and Graves have served as color commentators for their entire announcing careers. Barrett will remain in that role while Graves will pivot to play-by-play duties. This marks a first for Graves, as he has been a secondary voice to all of his broadcast partners in the past including Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, Jimmy Smith and others.

Corey Graves's Announcing Experience

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2024 marks Corey Graves's ten-year anniversary as a member of WWE's broadcast team.

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The former independent wrestler signed with WWE in 2011 and reported to then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. Graves mixed it up with future main roster stars Erick Rowan, Bo Dallas, and Bray Wyatt before WWE launched NXT as its new farm system. Graves was immediately positioned as one of NXT's most prominent stars, having substantial feuds with the likes of Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, and The Wyatt Family. Graves's in-ring career would ultimately be halted before it could ever truly begin, as he suffered a concussion in April 2014 that forced him into retirement.

Graves then switched lanes to the NXT broadcast team in December 2014, serving as a pre-show panelist. He would quickly work his way up to the main roster announce table, joining WWE Monday Night Raw's commentary team in 2016. Graves has been a staple of WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE SmackDown broadcasts ever since.

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