5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Apr 10)

Ups...

5. Corey Graves Back On Colour

Corey Graves Michael Cole
WWE

Corey Graves takes a lot of flak on social media for his heelish announcing and dry wit. What online trolls fail to acknowledge is that the guy is doing his job. He's supposed to grate, and his Bobby Heenan-meets-Don Callis balance between humour and analysis makes him one of the best colour men in the biz today.

This week, he returned to his rightful position alongside Michael Cole.

As good a job as Cole was doing solo (and with several guests) recently, he did look happy to have his regular partner back again. Cole and Graves have great chemistry, and Corey's affinity for justifying heel behaviour lets Michael breathe as a play-by-play man who doesn't play favourites.

Contrast the performance of Graves here with the one JBL put in at 'Mania; Layfield was fine, but he was understandably off-the-pace with subtle storyline beats. Corey knows the product inside out, and that came across here.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.