Pat McAfee's return and RAW's move to Netflix saw WWE make some big changes to its commentary teams. McAfee has been paired with Michael Cole on Monday nights, while the popular team of Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett has been shifted to SmackDown.
Where does that leave Corey Graves? Well, with the main roster focusing on two-man booths now, he's been sent - demoted, essentially - back to NXT where he'll join Vic Joseph and Booker T. It's widely believed that when McAfee returns to covering the NFL, Graves will be back on RAW.
However, he's understandably unhappy with losing his spot on the main roster.
"Imagine chasing your dream. Then being TOLD (not deciding) that you’re no longer physically able to pursue your dream," Graves said on X. "Then you dedicate your life to something 'dream adjacent' and being pretty f***ing awesome at it."
"And then, when it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, being told you’re not famous enough for your own job. Just in case you’ve wondered where I’ve been."
According to PWInsider.com, Graves isn't happy with how he's been positioned in the company in recent weeks. It's said that, while he's aware he's not currently as popular as McAfee and Tessitore, there's a great deal of unhappiness with having a spot he's worked hard being taken from him.
Last year, Graves praised Triple H and talked about how he differs as a producer from Vince McMahon:
"Triple H is another guy that I owe a great deal, if not everything in my career, to. He’s the one that took a chance on me as a wrestler in NXT. I know we’ve had a few conversations since then. Him having to shut me down broke his heart as much as it broke mine. He’s always been sort of silently supportive. He’s always been in the back. If I need something, I’ve never hesitated to go to him and ask. He also is really cool and sort of refreshing in the sense of, he gives us space when he’s in Gorilla, like where the old boss sat."
"Instead of being told and promoted, ‘Hey, you have to say this, you gotta do it this way, you have to use this verbiage,’ I think understands that we are all fans and we all love this in different ways, and as the business grows and evolves, you kind of have to let go of the reigns a little bit. I still have my guide rails. I just feel like they’re a little wider on each side now, where rather than trying to stay on a particular path and walk in a certain rhythm and do things a certain way, I have a little bit more leeway to be me and develop my own style, as long as all the boxes that need to be are checked, I don’t have to do them the same way that the six guys before me have done, or that Michael Cole does, et cetera."
Do you think Graves is right to be frustrated with how he's being used by WWE? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.