Backstage Update on Corey Graves’ Frustrations Over Being Removed from WWE Main Roster Commentary & Pulled from NXT and WWE Speed Shows

As noted before, WWE commentator Corey Graves recently voiced out his frustrations on social media over being removed from WWE’s main roster commentary teams and moved over to NXT’s commentary team due to him being told “he was not famous enough for his own job.” Graves was recently pulled from this past Tuesday’s NXT show and Wednesday’s taped WWE Speed show for reasons believed to be related to recent comments he made on Twitter.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that those initially spoken to within WWE had believed that Graves was trying to get fired for the reason for his tweets. Meltzer reported that others spoken to stated that this was not the case and was just Graves trying to blur the lines and create some buzz over his current situation in WWE.

In regards to the cause of the incident, Meltzer reported that Graves and most people within WWE were working under the belief that Graves would remain on a main roster show in early 2025 when RAW moved to Netflix and Pat McAfee returned to work alongside with Michael Cole. Graves reportedly was informed a few weeks ago that Wade Barrett would be getting his spot on SmackDown and he would be moved to NXT instead.

Meltzer reported that prior to him deleting the tweets, Graves had very adamantly told others that he was not trying to get fired. One reason for Graves’ deleting his tweets reportedly likely was due to WWE’s very strict rules when it comes to their talent using social media. Meltzer reported that WWE officials not suspending or firing Graves over his social media conduct led to the conflicting belief over this being a work or a legit incident.

One high level WWE official spoken to reportedly stated “He may be telling everyone it’s a work. And it may turn into one. But it was a total shoot when it was happening.”

Meltzer reported that those within WWE were not happy with how things turned out and the way it was covered in the media and the online reaction to it because they wanted the whole situation done away with.