54-year-old WWE veteran is glad for Corey Graves' return after his child's birth; had too much "responsibility" last week
Corey Graves returned to his commentating duties on WWE SmackDown this week, and at least one pro wrestling veteran is glad to see him back.
Graves and Carmella welcomed their son, Dimitri Paul Polinsky, into the world on November 8th. While Carmella has been out of action while pregnant, the company had given two weeks of paternity leave to Graves, as he missed SmackDown on November 10th and November 17th. He was replaced by "Road Dogg" Brian James and Kevin Owens on those episodes.
Road Dogg often live-tweets the weekly wrestling TV shows, and tonight's Survivor Series go-home edition of SmackDown was no different. WWE's current Senior Vice President of Live Events took to X and gave his reaction to Graves returning to the blue brand announcer table, as a father of three himself.
"Glad to have @WWEGraves back! Too much responsibility 4 me! What a crowd….#SmackDown #SurvivorSeries @youdidntknowpod #OUDK," he wrote.
There is no word yet on when Carmella will return to work for the company now that she has welcomed her first child. The former SmackDown Women's Champion has not wrestled since March 12th, but she recently provided an update to fans.
Road Dogg makes case for veteran wrestler to return to WWE
"Road Dogg" BG James discussed the October 31st, 2011 edition of RAW on a recent episode of his podcast. The RAW main event that night saw Zack Ryder defeat Dolph Ziggler.
James praised Matt Cardona, who is the man behind the Ryder gimmick, and said he can still be valuable to the biggest sports entertainment company in the world.
"Still, to this day, I think they could bring him back, and he brings value. I would argue without the WWE and his time there, no matter what he uses as a name, he wouldn't have flourished on the indies without being Zack Ryder and winning the Intercontinental Championship at 'Mania and stuff like that," he said.
The former DX member went on to talk more about how Cardona's run helped him on the indies. He stated that Cardona was able to make a name for himself, even with how poorly the Zack Ryder character was utilized, and for how long it was used poorly.
Where does Corey Graves rank on your list of all-time great commentators? Sound off in the comments section below!