Why WWE Moved Corey Graves Back To Colour Commentary

Corey Graves had been the play-by-play announcer on Friday Night SmackDown since February 2024 following the firing of Kevin Patrick but Graves has since been switched back to colour commentary, with Michael Cole taking over on play-by-play on the blue brand. 

The move comes ahead of an announce team shake-up as Michael Cole and Corey Graves will be on SmackDown until the end of the year, while Joe Tessitore will be the play-by-play commentator on Monday Night Raw with Wade Barrett on colour. There will be another commentary team shake-up in the new year for Raw's move to Netflix and Michael Cole will move back to Monday nights and be paired back up with Pat McAfee. 

According to PWTorch, WWE weren't unhappy with Corey Graves as a play-by-play commentator. WWE Head of Media & Production Lee Fitting, however, was simply a big fan of Joe Tessitore and he had been pitching for WWE to bring Tessitore in throughout 2024. Tessitore then made a good impression at WrestleMania 40 and came across as a knowledgeable fan of WWE which led to his hiring.