Pat McAfee is confirmed to be absent from next week’s episode of WWE RAW, raising questions about how his absence will affect the dynamic on the commentary team.
McAfee’s absence coincides with his return to ESPN for their coverage of the College Football Playoff National Championship MegaCast on January 20 at 7:45 PM.
Meanwhile, tension appears to be brewing in WWE’s commentary ranks. Corey Graves, who was recently reassigned to NXT commentary due to McAfee’s WWE return for the Netflix era, has reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the move, feeling it limits his visibility and influence compared to his former role on the main roster.
Graves publicly criticized WWE for demoting him to NXT by tweeting the following:
“Imagine chasing your dream. Then being TOLD (not deciding) that you’re no longer physically able to pursue your dream. Then you dedicate your life to something ‘dream adjacent’ and being pretty f**king awesome at it. And then, when it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, being told you’re not famous enough for your own job. Just in case you’ve wondered where I’ve been.”
On Tuesday, he tweeted the following:
“I’ve got a lot to say. Don’t miss #WWENXT tonight on @TheCW. TONIGHT.”
However, WWE pulled Corey from NXT after this tweet.
According to the Wrestling Observer, Corey is genuinely unhappy about being demoted to NXT and many in WWE believe he was trying to get fired:
“Everyone in WWE that I’ve talked to said it wasn’t an angle. He hasn’t been fired yet. I’m gonna say this is September-ish, maybe early October. I just remember when they first made the announcement of the announcing changes and that Pat McAfee would be back and everything. Basically, when Michael Cole had moved to SmackDown, but it was only gonna be temporary, and Joe Tessitore was starting with RAW, and we were told it’s only temporary, he’s gonna be moved to SmackDown.
At the time I was told that the RAW announce team would be, in January, Michael Cole and Pat McAfee, and the SmackDown team would be Corey Graves and Joe Tessitore. Maybe a couple of weeks ago, not that long ago, I just kinda asked, ‘So is it Joe Tessitore and Corey Graves that are gonna be the hosts of SmackDown?’ since that’s what I had already been told. And the answer was, ‘To be determined. It’s not determined’.
Now, I guess it was a couple of weeks ago when Corey Graves got the word that Wade Barrett was gonna replace him on that show, and he wasn’t happy. I don’t know if he got the word he was gonna start in January in NXT. I don’t know the situation there. I just know that that’s when he found out that he wasn’t gonna be on SmackDown as he presumed he would be. He was genuinely unhappy.
Now, why you would go on Twitter and do all this? I can’t answer that question. There’s people there who think that he was trying to get fired and that’s why he did it.
If he was trying to get fired, they probably aren’t gonna fire him because I don’t think they want him going to AEW if they give him a release. They could also suspend him, which maybe they’ve done for all we know. It doesn’t have to be announced that they’ve suspended him.”
WATCH: Carmella [Corey Graves’ Wife] Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction At WrestleMania 37:
