Ranking WWE's First Ever NXT Class - From Worst To Best

12. Corey Graves

NXT Roster 2012
WWE

The former 'Saviour Of Misbehaviour' broke down when announcing his retirement from in-ring action in December 2014, but has gone from strength to strength as an announcer ever since.

After a decade on the independent scene, Graves was ring and gimmick-ready in Florida Championship Wrestling. Working television tapings from the off, he fought just about everybody on this list and from the existing generation of top stars in a stacked schedule between 2012 and his 2014 retirement. 

The work was decent, the misanthropic gimmick was good to go, but nobody expected him to transition to commentary as smoothly as he ended up doing. A partnership with Tom Phillips on NXT was an instant hit, and he tapped into something upon getting the call-up to Raw in 2016 because he's been a feature on Mondays and Fridays ever since. 

While not the voice of WWE, he's a massive one all the same, juggling play-by-play with colour commentary across both shows and Premium Live Events. 

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett