Backstage News On WWE's New Announce Teams

Pat McAfee and Michael Cole will call the action on Raw, but who will be doing so on SmackDown?

by Andrew Pollard
Wade Barrett Corey Graves Pat McAfee Michael Cole
WWE

With Kevin Patrick having been released by WWE last week, and with Pat McAfee becoming a full-time part of the Raw announce team as of last night, there's now an update on how WWE will be moving forward with its commentary teams.

Via PWInsider, Wade Barrett will be moved over to SmackDown to work alongside Corey Graves, essentially filling the gap left by Patrick. Of course, last week's Smackers saw Michael Cole fill in with Graves, although this was always intended to be a temporary fix while WWE lined up a proper replacement for KP.

As seen on Raw, Cole and McAfee will be the red brand announce team from here on out, and Graves will take on the lead announce role on SmackDown as Barrett provides colour commentary.

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In the case of Kevin Patrick, he joined Cole and Graves on SmackDown in August, with the hope that working with Michael Cole would help Patrick grow as a commentator. That meant Cole was pulling double-duty on Raw and SmackDown for a spell, but he was dropped from SmackDown at the turn of the year. WWE officials were keen for Patrick to step up his play-by-play game as part of a two-man booth with Graves, but unfortunately for the Irishman he was let go by WWE last week - bringing an end to a tenure with the promotion which began back in 2021.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.