Corey Graves reflects on some of his best days at the commentary table.
When Corey Graves was forced into retirement, he immediately had a second career waiting as a commentator on NXT. It only took Corey Graves about a year-and-a-half to grow that job into a full-time color commentary position on Monday Night Raw. Now, Corey Graves is the color analyst on Friday Night SmackDown, the most viewed wrestling show per week.
Speaking on the Out of Character podcast with Ryan Satin, Corey Graves reflected on his favorite call in all of his career and he says that it is whenever he has the pleasure of calling Shinsuke Nakamura’s finishing maneuver, the Kinshasa.
"It's gotta be Kinsasha, right? It was a Nakamura thing. I was a huge Shinsuke Nakamura fan from his days in Japan and I always loved how the Japanese announcers, when something big would happen, would just scream it. I know it's not the norm over here, but I got to try it in NXT and it kinda stuck. If that's my legacy in WWE, I'll take it. "
Regarding his all-time favorite moment on commentary, Corey Graves picked the first WrestleMania he ever called, WrestleMania 33 in Orlando. Graves says that's when the job became "real" and he is forever trying to replicate that feeling.
"My first WrestleMania because I think that's when it became real to me. I believe it was Orlando, I was sitting ringside, and it was when the jets flew over the stadium. I had watched every WrestleMania and was the kid like, 'Someday, I'm going to be there.' I remember going as a fan and going, 'I'm in the building, I need to be in the ring. It needs to be about me.' Finally, I stood there, I think Tom Phillips and I had called the kick-off match, and then the official broadcast began. The stadium started shaking, the Air Force jets flew over and in that moment is when I went, 'Oh my God, I'm about to call WrestleMania.' I got a lump in my throat and a little emotional for about 10 seconds because the countdown in my headset hit one and I went, 'Alright, time to go, we're calling WrestleMania.' There wasn't a whole lot of time to enjoy it, but that sight, I'll never forget that moment and that feeling. I hope I never lose that feeling. I'm always trying to replicate it."
Elsewhere in the interview, Corey Graves spoke about a recent commentary call he made about Dana Brooke's lack of accolades. Read more here.
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