In a recent interview as part of the Short And To The Point podcast, WWE SmackDown commentator Corey Graves discussed several topics, including Triple H’s handling of WWE announcers, having more leeway to develop their own style and more.
“Triple H is another guy that I owe a great deal, if not everything in my career to, he was the one that took a chance on me as a wrestler in NXT, and I know that we’ve had a few conversations ince, that him having to shut me down broke his heart as much as it broke mine. He’s always been sort of silently supportive, if I need something I’ve never hesitated to go to him and ask, he also is really cool and sort of refreshing in a sense that he gives us space.
When he’s in Gorilla, right where the old boss sat, instead of being told and prompted hey, you’ve got to say this, you have to do it this way, you have to use this verbiage, he I think understands that we’re all fans and we all love this in different ways, and as the business grows and evolves, you kind of have to let go of the reins a little bit.
I still have my guide rails, I just feel like they’re a little bit wider on each side now where rather than trying to stay on a particular path and walk in a certain rhythm and do things a certain way, I have alittle bit more leeway to be me, and develop my own style. As long as all the boxes that need checked continue to be checked, I don’t have to do them the same way that the six guys before me have done, or that Michael Cole does, etc.
I’ve been on TV for, I think seven years on RAW and SmackDown, and in the last few months, I think my headsets have been as quiet and lucid as they have been ever, I only hear from him if I’m doing something terribly wrong, which knock on wood doesn’t happen too frequently, or the other time I hear from him pretty regularly is if a joke lands. If I say something and it gets him, oh that was really good, or he’ll double down and he’ll follow up on my joke in my headset and sometimes I’m like, oh man I wish I could tell the people this, but it just doesn’t fit.”
The full interview is available at this link.