Corey Graves says there's just one rule of thumb when it comes to receiving direction on commentary from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
"When he says it, you better say it," Graves said, during an interview on a recent episode of E&C's Podcast of Awesomeness.
During a lengthy interview with Edge and Christian, Graves touched on a number of topics, including the challenges of transitioning to a commentary role on the main roster after spending time commentating primarily taped events for NXT. Graves came up to the main roster in the summer of 2016 when WWE revived the brand extension, and took a role as color commentator on both Raw and Smackdown last year after JBL stepped down.
Graves specifically discussed the difficulty of having multiple voices coming through his headset as he commentated live:
"I went from NXT where it was obviously a taped show so I had my producer in my ear and I had my partner. Every once in a while [Michael] Cole would produce and jump in and say something but generally, it was very easy. You didn't have to worry about hitting counts to live commercial breaks or anything like that. So fast forward to Raw, now I've got Booker, I've got Cole, I've got [WWE producer] Kevin Dunn, I've got any number of people sitting in gorilla who have information they want to pass on to me. Then we've got the wacky 71-year-old billionaire who decides to spew things out when he feels like it, and when he says it, you better say it. That was the hardest thing because I think on a human level when you have someone talking in your ear you stop. You stop talking. That's your instinct."
Graves said, like anything, adjusting to that came with repetition.
"[Now] I can almost parrot something out as they're still saying it to me," he said. "I'm like a word or two behind the phrase that they're spitting into my ear."
Graves discussed his transition from an in-ring career to commentary and much more during his appearance on the podcast. Click here to listen.
