Corey Graves On Being Cleared to Wrestle, Not Proactively Announcing It

Corey Graves recently discussed his being cleared for a potential in-ring return, why he didn’t announce the news and more. Graves was a guest on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, and you can see some highlights below (per Fightful):

On not announcing the news proactively: “The news for some reason took about eight months to break, which I’m sort of proud of and a little bit surprised in this day and age. I wasn’t necessarily hiding it from anybody, it was just not something I was bringing to the forefront, because I didn’t want everybody to go, ‘Oh my god, Graves is making a comeback.'”

On the possibility of a return now that he’s cleared: “I love what I’m doing now. But there is a part of me that would just love that gratification. I’m a guy who, when I was wrestling, was primarily a villain. To me, the gratification came as soon as the bell rang at the end of the match, because to me, there is nothing more satisfying than taking the crowd on a roller coaster ride, and then losing. As a good guy, usually, you stand up and pose and you have to mug for the cameras, but I would lay there on my back after the ref counted three. I would be looking at the lights and just thinking, ‘We did it.’ That, to me, was always what kind of kept me going it was just like that exhale at the end of all of it. That was the most rewarding to me. So there’s part of me that’s still going to chase that forever and I would be open to it, if the opportunity presents itself, to maybe step back in the ring once in a blue moon or maybe just once.”

On being open to anything: “The important thing is I got medically cleared. Now, I’m just kind of gonna see where the world takes us because if that’s within the stars for me as another match or if it’s a mixed tag team match or it’s me versus Pat McAfee at some point. Whatever it ends up being, at least now I know that I can do it without putting my health at long-term risk, which is above all, the most important. I gotta be there for my kids and my Blushing Bride.”