WWE News: WWE Makes Major Changes To WWE Announce Teams, Corey Graves Moving to Raw

WWE commentary is something the WWE Universe complains about frequently. The typical WWE fan tends to go from one extreme to the other when it comes to someone at the WWE announce table. They will either have such high praise or such scrutiny for the commentator that nothing can change their minds one way or the other.

Sometimes, a commentator is just not successful, but one person can come in and be the right voice at the right time for WWE programming. WWE fans watching Raw and SmackDown have been asking for that voice for quite some time. If you asked the NXT Universe about commentary, most would have sung you the high praises of Corey Graves without thinking twice.

That’s exactly why, in the months leading up to the WWE Draft, there were a ton of rumors about Corey Graves moving to the main roster to be the heel commentator next to Mauro Ranallo on SmackDown. Those rumors got more intense after Jerry “The King” Lawler got himself into legal trouble. Even in the hours leading up to last night’s WWE Draft, one of the biggest rumors circling WWE was about Corey Graves getting a chance on SmackDown.

Well, for once, the rumors were only half right and pleasantly wrong. After last night’s WWE Draft, which many fans thought was disappointing, WWE announced via WWE.com that there are to be some major changes made to Raw and SmackDown’s announce teams. The following statement was posted by WWE late on Tuesday night.

“It’s a New Era for the entire landscape of WWE, which continues to change and evolve with the WWE Brand Extension Draft. That includes the announce teams for WWE programming. The teams for Raw, SmackDown, ‘WWE Superstars’ and WWE Main Event are all experiencing a major shakeup, including one major voice changing shows and several rising commentators being inserted into the lineup.

The new announce teams for WWE’s New Era will feature Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton Monday nights on Raw, while Mauro Ranallo, JBL and David Otunga handle the commentary for SmackDown Live every Tuesday night.

Also receiving a makeover will be the announce teams for WWE Superstars and WWE Main Event. Both shows will be led by Tom Phillips, and he will be joined each and every week by Graves on WWE Superstars and Otunga on WWE Main Event.”

Unfortunately, the major changes to WWE’s commentary teams on both shows will come at the expense of WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler. Although he’s had his personal problems leak into his professional life more than once, it is important to remember that Lawler was at a WWE announce desk for roughly twenty-five years. Some respect is owed to him if this is to be the end of his commentary career in WWE. His voice will forever be synonymous with multiple generations of WWE fans.

However, WWE has made the decision and announced that JBL would be moving to SmackDown’s announce team moving forward alongside Mauro Ranallo and David Otunga. Meanwhile, Raw will still have Michael Cole and Byron Saxton on the Raw announce team, but they’ll be joined by “Savior of Misbehaviour” Corey Graves starting next week on Monday Night Raw.

The rumors claimed the popular pairing was for Graves to sit alongside Ranallo, but WWE made the choice that Graves sitting in between Cole and Saxton as the heel commentator was a better idea. The majority of the WWE Universe that sang Graves’ praises in NXT were just hoping for him to get a shot on SmackDown. Corey Graves on Raw every week is a dream come true.

[Image via WWE.com]