Backstage News On WWE's New Announce Teams
Pat McAfee and Michael Cole will call the action on Raw, but who will be doing so on SmackDown?
With Kevin Patrick having been released by WWE last week, and with Pat McAfee becoming a full-time part of the Raw announce team as of last night, there's now an update on how WWE will be moving forward with its commentary teams.
Via PWInsider, Wade Barrett will be moved over to SmackDown to work alongside Corey Graves, essentially filling the gap left by Patrick. Of course, last week's Smackers saw Michael Cole fill in with Graves, although this was always intended to be a temporary fix while WWE lined up a proper replacement for KP.
As seen on Raw, Cole and McAfee will be the red brand announce team from here on out, and Graves will take on the lead announce role on SmackDown as Barrett provides colour commentary.
In the case of Kevin Patrick, he joined Cole and Graves on SmackDown in August, with the hope that working with Michael Cole would help Patrick grow as a commentator. That meant Cole was pulling double-duty on Raw and SmackDown for a spell, but he was dropped from SmackDown at the turn of the year. WWE officials were keen for Patrick to step up his play-by-play game as part of a two-man booth with Graves, but unfortunately for the Irishman he was let go by WWE last week - bringing an end to a tenure with the promotion which began back in 2021.