Michael Cole & Corey Graves to call WWE SmackDown on USA
Michael Cole & Corey Graves will be the broadcast team for WWE SmackDown when it returns to USA Network next month.
Cole & Graves announced during Monday’s WWE Raw show that they will be at the commentary desk for SmackDown as it returns to USA Network with the Friday, September 13 episode. Graves substituted for Pat McAfee on Monday’s Raw as McAfee is on hiatus from WWE until the conclusion of college football season in January.
Joe Tessitore will join the Raw commentary team on the Monday, September 2 episode. It remains unclear if Tessitore will be paired with Graves on Raw or Wade Barrett. Graves & Barrett have been the SmackDown commentary duo on Fox since February of this year.
Reports indicate that Tessitore will be moving to SmackDown in January, also after college football season, as Tessitore calls football for ABC/ESPN, and that Cole will shift back to Raw at that point as the program moves from USA to Netflix.
Tessitore was introduced as the newest member of WWE’s commentary team at SummerSlam earlier this month.
An F4WOnline Editor since 2019, Ethan has been covering wrestling and MMA since 2011. He has hosted The Wrestling Life Podcast since 2014, and is a former Baltimore Sun TV/Tribune Media contributor. He is also a Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles fan.