Corey Graves on the WWE announcers who helped him as a broadcaster
Current WWE commentator Corey Graves recently named the individuals in the company who aided him and mentored him to become a broadcaster.
Corey Graves started in the wrestling industry as an in-ring performer in 2000, making his name on the independent scene before signing for WWE in 2011. His career in the ring was cut short in 2014 after a series of concussions.
Despite the setback, Graves would begin training as an announcer, eventually leading him to work on NXT, RAW and SmackDown.
In a recent conversation with Chris Van Vliet, Corey Graves spoke on how people like Tom Phillips and Michael Cole helped him transition away from the ring and into the broadcast booth.
"It's really crazy that, that much time has passed as a broadcaster that now that's actually overtaken my, my wrestling career, but I've had so many people along the way that have helped me. Going back to Tom Phillips, when we were in NXT working together, he helped me a lot. Michael Cole has been instrumental in most of my success, It was actually after I first got injured, I had a conversation in New Orleans with Michael Cole and I mentioned to him that I had done some local radio and he went, maybe you should get broadcasting a try." said Graves From (9:30 to 10:02)
With his fingers well and truly on the pulse of the wrestling business, it could be argued that Corey Graves is one of the best commentators that WWE has had in recent years.
Corey Graves on his working realtionship with Vince McMahon
twitter.com/SKWrestling_/s…
Here Twitter, I’ll handle this.
-None of them.
-He always sucked.
-He sucks at commentary too.
-He should be fired. And set on fire.
Did I miss anything? 😘 twitter.com/SKWrestling_/s…
During his time as a WWE announcer, Graves has come to have a close professional relationship with the Chairman of the board, Vince McMahon.
Continuing his conversation with Chris Van Vliet, Corey spoke of how incredible it is that he gets to learn the tricks of the trade from McMahon himself.
"I get to learn from Vince McMahon, Vince McMahon, sometimes in the middle of a show in the middle of a match, we'll go on a two-minute dialogue about while why I just did something wrong or why he liked it or what he's trying to accomplish." Graves added: "But in the moment it's easy to forget, you're getting advice from THE GUY. The guy who is responsible for all of this." noted Corey. From (10:52 to 11:15)
Given his vast experience in the wrestling business, it could be argued that Vince knows more than anyone about what works and what doesn't work for a wrestling commentator.
When using quotes from this article, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling.