Corey Graves Admits He Had A Chip On His Shoulder After Being Replaced By Pat McAfee

In January 2025, it was revealed that Pat McAfee will be doing commentary on WWE Raw alongside Michael Cole. McAfee would be replacing Corey Graves.

After the announcement was made, Graves tweeted, “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 fucking 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.”

Grave was moved to WWE NXT, before eventually making his way back to Raw, replacing McAfee, who stepped away from the job in the summer of 2025.

Speaking to Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Graves commented on being replaced by McAfee and if they caused him to have a chip on his shoulder.

“Definitely. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. If anything else, that whole period in my career I looked at it and thought, “This isn’t where I want to be. This isn’t what I want to be doing. I’m going to show them.” This goes back to the outworked next guy. I will be the hardest worker in the room. I will say yes to stuff people don’t want to do. Sure, it gets me in trouble with my wife from time-to-time. I’ve missed a lot of events in life that I’m not super excited about. At the end of the day, this is what I have done with my life. This is my life’s work. Yeah, when I got bounced so to speak, from that very first time, I intended to say, “I’m coming into NXT and will reinvent myself and show you guys I’m the best in the world at this.” I kind of approached this with that mentality. It was very much a chip on my shoulder situation. I like to think I still have some of that chip on my shoulder because I’m still not quite back to where I want to be,” he said.

Graves is now the lead color commentator on Raw alongside Cole, and does commentary for AAA events.