Corey Graves Says He Had a Chip On His Shoulder When He Was Sent to NXT

Corey Graves acknowledges that his move to WWE NXT was something he didn’t want, and says it pushed him to be better. Graves was moved to NXT commentary alongside Booker T and Vic Joseph in January of 2025 as part of a commentary shake-up which put Pat McAfee and Michael Cole on Raw, while Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett were put on Smackdown. Graves had expressed his displeasure publicly at the time and remained off WWE TV for a little while.

Graves spoke about the matter in an interview with TV Insider. He acknowledged that he had a chip on his shoulder over it and decided that he would show he deserved to be on a main roster brand. You can see highlights below:

On The Lessons He’s Learned As a Brodcaster:

It’s funny now because it feels like yesterday. We’re around the 10-year mark where I was called up to Raw. I remember I was living in Tampa at the time, but my first Raw was in Pittsburgh. So, to be able to do it in my hometown, I remember waking up and staying in the hotel looking out and seeing Mount Washington with a tear in my eye. Man, I’m on Raw. It wasn’t how I envisioned it. I wanted to be a wrestler for all those years, but I’m on Raw and doing it at home. To your point, I’m just a head-down, grind guy. I will outwork people who are more talented than I am. That has kind of been my MO. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. That’s been my motto. I got it from my mom. My mom is one of the most tireless workers to this day I’ve ever known. My work ethic is second to none. I don’t say no to anything. I rarely did, if I ever have. It’s really been cool that the world has been able to watch and grow and develop.

“Oftentimes they notice things I don’t. To me, it’s just my job. I show up to do what I think I’m doing. When I do go back rarely and listen to what I’ve done in the past, even back to my NXT days. It’s entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. I was pretty rotten. It’s just like anything else. The more repetitions you get, the more comfortable you get the more experience you get, the better you get. It has gotten to the point now where I’m as confident as I’ve ever been and had to occupy different roles throughout my career. I’d like to think I am more of the complete broadcaster on the team now. I can do color commentary and analysis. I can do play-by-play. I’m no Michael Cole, but I’ve been in the chair on SmackDown as the lead broadcaster. The company trusted me, and I didn’t crash the train. So, I take that as a positive. Everything from hosting to all these various events WWE has put on has given me the opportunity to sink my teeth into different aspects of being a broadcaster than I never in a million years have looked for. A million dollars wouldn’t have bought this experience. It’s really on-the-job training. It has been invaluable.”

On If He Had a Chip On His Shoulder Being Sent To NXT:

“Definitely. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. If anything else, that whole period in my career I looked at it and thought, ‘This isn’t where I want to be. This isn’t what I want to be doing. I’m going to show them.’ This goes back to the outworked next guy. I will be the hardest worker in the room. I will say yes to stuff people don’t want to do. Sure, it gets me in trouble with my wife from time-to-time. I’ve missed a lot of events in life that I’m not super excited about. At the end of the day, this is what I have done with my life. This is my life’s work. Yeah, when I got bounced so to speak, from that very first time, I intended to say, ‘I’m coming into NXT and will reinvent myself and show you guys I’m the best in the world at this.’ I kind of approached this with that mentality. It was very much a chip on my shoulder situation. I like to think I still have some of that chip on my shoulder because I’m still not quite back to where I want to be.”