WWE News: Corey Graves and Booker T reveal that their feud was a work
What's the story?
Over the past few weeks, Booker T and Corey Graves have been exchanging unflattering comments about each other as it seemed that Booker T was blaming Graves for the fact that he lost his position on the commentary team to Jonathan Coachman. The duo has recently revealed that this wasn't the case at all.
In case you didn't know...
Following WWE Raw's 25th Anniversary a few weeks ago, the company decided to bring back former ESPN commentator Jonathan Coachman because they thought that his experience and knowledge from being part of a huge company like ESPN would give the team some credibility.
Booker T was the man that the company decided to sacrifice in order to bring Coachman back to the commentary booth, but it seemed that he wasn't going to go quietly.
Following his departure, Booker took to his Heated Conversations Podcast where he blamed Graves for forcing him out of his position and then threatened to get into a physical fight with him because of it. Booker then invited Graves onto his show and "The Savior of Misbehavior" gladly accepted as the WWE Universe waited for the fireworks this weekend.
The heart of the matter
True to his word, Graves called in on Booker's Heated Conversation's podcast to clear the air with the former Champion last night and the duo was able to finally come clean and reveal that the entire thing was a work. (transcript via WrestlingInc.com)
"When all of this blew up and I heard it, I was getting phone calls and text messages. 'You gotta hear this, Booker said this.' And as soon as I heard it, knowing you like I know you, I was like, oh that's just Book working. So I figured, you know, just being in the old school mentality, I'm like oh let's have fun with this. Did it take off!"
It seems that Booker wanted to see how far this story would go when he first started making the comments and Graves then decided to play along too. Later, The New Day and Michael Cole even became part of the work.
"First of all, like personally, I was entertained by how we were able to work the entire wrestling industry, somehow, nobody bothered to call or anything, and it just took off like crazy. My Twitter was on non-stop refresh for like two days. Some of the fans were so mad, I was getting some terrible, terrible Twitter and Instagram messages and all that. And I'm laughing about it, [and I'm like], but what do we do with this?"
It seems that this completely paid off for both men because they had Michael Cole fooled to the point where he was ready to step in the ring with Booker to fight for Graves since the former NXT Tag Team Champion is unable to be cleared for action.
What's next?
It is thought that Booker will return to his backstage duties and preshow panel appearances whilst Graves continues to work on commentary on Raw and SmackDown. Booker and Graves now realise that they can work the crowd by using a real-life situation and blowing it out of proportion. This is very similar to the real-life issues between former SmackDown commentator Rich Brennan and Tom Phillips a few years ago which could be why so many fans brought in to it.
Author's take
Where was this really going to go? Booker hasn't stepped in the ring for a number of years and Graves can't be cleared, plus Coachman was the one who replaced Booker, not Graves.
It was a strange situation but it was entertaining and it seems that both men may not technically be wrestlers anymore but they damn sure know how to cut a good promo and make the crowd believe what they're saying.
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