12 Ups And 15 Downs For WWE In 2016

11. Corey Graves

Corey Graves Commentary
wwe.com

As much as Byron Saxton has been a plague on WWE announcing, Corey Graves has been a breath of fresh air.

A former NXT Tag Team Champion (with Neville), Graves was forced into early retirement in 2014 and quickly grew into his role as a color commentator on NXT before being promoted to the main roster commentary desk. Graves has been the closest thing to a heel commentator in the vein of Jesse Ventura that WWE has had in eons. He will defend heels but give kudos to babyfaces when storylines dictate it.

Unlike fellow heel announcer JBL, Graves doesn’t constantly yell about how much fun everyone’s having while spouting off ancient wrestling history. Graves – if allowed to grow and not be stifled by Vince McMahon in his headset – could be a solid fixture on WWE broadcasts for the foreseeable future.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.