10 WWE Wrestlers Who Retired In Their Prime
3. Corey Graves
Corey Graves was forced to tearfully bid farewell to his in-ring career on-air, but it was as much in an effort to aid his rehabilitation and reinvention as an NXT commentator in the aftermath of the devastating news he had to deliver.
It was during the TakeOver: R Evolution special in December 2014 that he explained the extent of the head injuries that had kept him absent from in-ring action for several months, all while suiting up for life behind the desk instead of smashing opponents through it. He was 31-years old at the time, and having already dedicated a decade to his craft, the unexpected shift could have been debilitating.
Graves instead made the change appear seamless. Settling into his spot as a superb colour analyst for what was by then one of the hottest products in the world, he was becoming the voice of every scintillating TakeOver special. Indispensable to the company's output at large, he was stationed on Monday Night Raw's team as part of a 2016 aesthetic overhaul following the relaunched brand spit.
A trusted McMahon solider with a headset, he's remained one of the few to never be assigned a brand. Clearly too valuable a voice, his services across every show have made him omnipresent in a way he most likely never could have been with his Plan A.