WWE NXT TakeOver: Respect - 7 Major Talking Points

7. Corey Graves Is An Excellent Commentator

Throughout the evening, Graves was doing outstanding work as a commentator. He puts so much heart into his work, and you can tell how passionate he is when he speaks. In particular, he did an amazing job of making every bump and injury appear to be much worse than it really was, which made each match more dramatic.

The way he framed each statement (i.e. Balor might be injured; Joe might have to compete alone) added so much more curiosity to each match. Graves also did a great job of adding history and context to the matches he was calling, such as when he referenced the origin of Asuka’s name (the highly-popular Crush Gals of 1980s Japan), or suggesting that the Ironman match would go into overtime if it ended in a tie (like HBK/Bret Hart did at WrestleMania XII).

Finally, Graves added so much emotion into moments of shock and excitement that you couldn’t help but relate to how he was feeling. Indeed, a major reason why viewers watching at home would enjoy the matches was because Graves was doing a fantastic job of selling them.

He was, in a sense, the opposite of how the RAW commentators behave: he was focused and intelligent, he referenced history, and he used regular psychology to get fans to love each match more.