When Corey Graves announced in December that he had to retire from in-ring competition due to concussions, it was a bittersweet moment. He was doing well for himself in NXT and had a unique look that could have translated on the main roster. Instead, Graves turned his attention to the announcers desk, where he has to have turned some heads. Graves seems extremely comfortable calling matches and offering color commentary in the heel former wrestler role. In some ways, hes reminiscent of Jesse Ventura, drawing attention to the moves, cheering on the heels but not afraid to compliment a good guy or call out a villain for doing something stupid. (Maybe The Body isnt the best comparison. Paul Heyman during the Invasion angle would be a good comparison.) During Rival, Graves got on Tyler Breeze for wasting time and not covering Hideo Itami multiple times, pointing out that just because he kicked out once doesnt mean he will again. Graves also argued with Jason Albert about components of a match without detracting from the match itself. Its little insights and comments like that that add to the program, rather than JBL yelling about how great the Authority is to get over that hes a heel.
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.
