Corey Graves Was Upset, Professionally, When He Learned Pat McAfee Would Replace Him On WWE SmackDown

In April 2021, WWE announced that Pat McAfee would be the new color commentator for WWE SmackDown alongside Michael Cole. 

The move would send Corey Graves to WWE Raw. 

Speaking to Kurt Angle on the Kurt Angle Show, Graves expressed his frustrations over the move. 

“Believe it or not, I’m blowing up my own stuff here. I think the world of Pat. He is such a strong persona, it is easy for me to play off of, rib him, and get under his skin. I was a little upset, professionally, that I found out, you’re going from Friday Night SmackDown on FOX, the network show that you’ve kicked off with Michael Cole, I took it a little personally. Not because Pat, but I’ve paid my dues here. I’m the guy who shows up week after week, I’m the guy who did both Raw and SmackDown for two years straight, never complained, and this is how you do me. I remember talking to my wife and going, ‘this isn’t right, I have to do something about this, this isn’t fair.’ I really took it hard. It had nothing to do with Pat being Pat, it was just the professional issue. She talked me off the ledge, I had a few conversations with Cole. Michael Cole is my boss/therapist, he talked me off a ledge as well. Looking back, it’s business. Sometimes you have to do the stuff you don’t want to do so you can do the stuff you do,” he said. 

Graves and Cole would eventually reunite on WWE SmackDown in August 2023 as Cole began calling both WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown. 

Elsewhere during the interview, Graves recalled a story of Vince McMahon being in his ear on commentary. You can find his full comments by clicking here.

Graves and his wife Carmella welcomed their son into the world on Wednesday. 

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