WWE Backstage Reaction To Corey Graves Replacing Pat McAfee On Raw

While he had largely been away from the main roster for 2025, Corey Graves has been a full-time announcer on Monday Night Raw since the June 16 edition of the Netflix show, replacing Pat McAfee as the colour commentator alongside Michael Cole.

There had been issues between Graves and WWE at the beginning of 2025 when WWE changed their original plans for the main roster commentary teams, which resulted in Graves being the odd man out and moving to NXT. Graves publicly expressed his unhappiness and was briefly gone from NXT, but any issues have long been forgotten about internally.

Fightful Select has reported that Graves' versatility was considered a gift and a curse by a WWE source they spoke to as the company knew Graves could be assigned to any show and make things work. The expectation was Graves would eventually find his way back to Raw or SmackDown by the spring or summer due to the revolving door on commentary.

Pat McAfee cited burnout as the reason for taking time off from WWE. The former NFL punter remains very well liked within WWE, Fightful noted, and he is said to always approach his work with the company with respect.

McAfee is expected to remain involved with WWE in some capacity, although it is unknown how regularly he will appear on WWE TV. The expectation within WWE was McAfee would be gone from around August or September anyway due to the American football season.

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