Corey Graves says some of WWE’s biggest stars make a point to speak with the commentary team before their matches.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio (see video below), Graves discussed the importance of wrestlers communicating with the announcers about the story they are trying to tell. According to Graves, having that information allows commentary to reinforce the intended story and potentially help when something does not go according to plan.
“I cannot overstate how important it is for talent. Hopefully some of them are listening to this right now. I know that I sort of appear to be kind of a grumpy guy. I’m really not hard to get along with, especially when I’m sitting at the commentary desk all day while rehearsals are happening or walkthroughs, etc.
“If you tell me what you want your story to be, I will tell it for you, and I will most likely enhance it for you. I will put my spin on things and maybe do it my own way, but I will make sure that what you want conveyed is conveyed,” Graves said.
Despite the benefits, Graves said the number of WWE talents who regularly seek out members of the commentary team is “remarkably low.” He noted, however, that many of those who do are performers who have reached the top of the card.
“With that said, there’s a remarkably low number of talents who make sure they seek out myself or Michael Cole or Wade Barrett or Joe Tess or even Vic and Booker. And it’s funny because those are always the stars that populate the top of the card.”
Graves specifically named John Cena, AJ Styles and Roman Reigns as examples of wrestlers who consistently made sure he had the information he needed before calling their matches.
“Off the top of my head, I will tell you every match of his I ever called: John Cena found me, AJ Styles found me, Roman Reigns finds me. They make sure it, obviously it’s pro wrestling, right? It’s not rocket science. There likely isn’t something that’s going to be totally missed, but better safe than sorry.”
Graves added that providing commentary with that information can become particularly valuable when something goes wrong during a match, as the announcers can help steer the audience back toward the intended story.
“And if you arm us as the commentators with the information that you want the audience to know, we’re sort of that last line of defense. If something doesn’t go right, which God knows happens all the time, if I know where you’re trying to go or what your goal was, nine times out of ten, I can spin something to get the train back on the track.
“It’s not necessarily going to clean up all the mess as a whole, but it will, you know, smooth down some of the sharp edges of what’s going wrong at the moment,” Graves said.
