The landscape of WWE has changed dramatically across all three of the company’s brands, at least at the commentary desk.
This week, WWE will begin their ‘season premiere’ week of programming, starting with tomorrow night’s SmackDown on FOX. Next week’s Raw and NXT will also serve as the season premieres of the red and gold brand.
The following three shows of WWE programming will be stacked for the season premieres and will feature brand-new commentary teams.
Wrestle Votes were the first to report that changes were expected to Raw’s commentary team before more information was provided by Variety. Their report, later confirmed by WWE, announced that the company is returning to two-person commentary teams across all three of its brands.
Smackdown
For tomorrow night’s SmackDown, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett will be calling the action, with the former Intercontinental Champion moving from NXT.
Raw
Next week’s Raw will see Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves behind the table, with Patrick being promoted as a full-time member of the Raw commentary team.
The Irish announcer had previously served as a backstage interviewer and provided commentary on the July 24, 2022, Raw.
Byron Saxton, who had been on commentary for Raw, has been moved to a role as an onscreen interviewer.
NXT
For NXT, the new commentary team will see Vic Joseph returning to the role, now working with Booker T.
The two-time WWE Hall of Famer has previously served as a commentator for Raw and SmackDown, and regularly makes appearances on kick-off show panels.
Premium Live Events
For major WWE events such as WWE Premium Live Events, Cole and Graves will be the commentary team.
