Seriously. These guys can be funny. They can be insightful. They play well off each other. They don’t have Vince in their ear the entire show. Makes the show that much better.
And when you look at their competition, you’ve got the 3 stooges on Raw with Vince in their ear for 3 hours. Mauro and Lawler are good together but they also have Saxton on their team so that drags them down. TNA? Josh Matthews sucks, end of story. Lucha Underground? I like Striker and Vampiro but Vampiro is pretty much there for the LOL’s rather than great calls. I haven’t watched enough of NJPW or ROH to comment on those.
So again, for me, best duo in wrestling right now.
Except for him shitting on Samson... He turns face faster than JBL during a Big Match John match whenever Samson is there and it's so jarring because of how heelish he is for the rest of the show.
Asuka vs. Eva Marie on this last NXT, Eva does that awful move where they pull the other girl's hair and slam them to the ground and Graves just JIZZES all over going "WHAT GREAT WHEREWITHAL! WHAT TECHNICAL PROWESS BY EVA MARIE!" in the most dead serious, genuinely impressed tone he could muster :lmao
I don't think Phillips is that great, but he's nowhere near unpleasant to listen to and he certainly doesn't detract from the actual wrestling going on like the Raw stooges. He does, however, share some pretty nice chemistry with Graves, so I end up quite enjoying both.
I love Graves and Phillips they remind me of a Vince/Ventura type of commentary. They are great as a team, I think they have a genuine friendship backstage which also helps on stage.
Both have great wit and great timing in comedy, but are both very different, its the type of chemistry I been looking for from a commentary team.
Graves as a commentator is absolutely magnificent. Some of his off handed comments towards the talent are hilarious, especially when he's talking about the likes of Enzo. His hatred of Becky was hilarious when she was down there too. But at the same time he knows what he's talking about, he does a great job of putting people over even when he 'doesn't like them' so to speak. He's excellent at what he does.
Phillips has also surprised me, he's a perfect face commentator to play off of Graves.
I love them. I like how Graves puts people over without sounding like an annoying brat like JBL does, his heel work is awesome and actually knows the moves and calls the matches. I also like Tom, he's the perfect face counterpart for someone like him.
My dream announce table right now would be Graves, Mauro and Tom on RAW without that old fart Vince yelling at them every second, even though I'm not a fan of 3-way announce team, fuck if I care.
Corey Graves is awesome. Definitely best color commentator to come around in a long time. He has those Heenan/Ventura/King classic heel vibes, and not only that, but he executes those traits very well. He would be welcome with open arms to the main roster any time in my book. But I'm also not bothered keeping him in NXT for a long time as he really helps shape the mood there as well. And the more I think about it, yeah, keep it that way, because Vince would ruin him.
I've been begging for him to come up and work Smackdown with Mauro, but he's great with Phillips as well. Him geeking out over Eva actually reminds me of Heenan for some reason.
On paper with Mauro would be a lot better but Phillips is the perfect dweeby wet company guy for Graves to pick on.
I love that Graves isn't a straight heel /colour commentator. He's a workrate mark heel commentator and his appreciation impacts his calls.
Evident in his commentary,
Hates Enzo and Hype Bros more than other faces
Hates Sampson despite both being heel.
Still likes Bayley, Asuka, Balor and American Alpha
Shame he presumably has been told not to do it with pet project Eva.
What I love about Graves is how he manages to put EVERYONE over, while at the same time never breaking his character. As others have said, his character is consistent in hating some workers and liking overs, even when their face/heel alignment doesn't quite match up, and that just makes you believe him as a character so much more, so you actually listen to his opinions. And even when he shits all over someone, he does it in a way that doesn't diminish them but helps them get their character over - calling out Samson for being a phony, or the Hype Bros for being obnoxious air-headed jocks.
It's no surprise this thread pops up now following yesterday's episode - It was easily Tom's best showing to date and you could tell they were having a lot of fun. And Graves was just as fantastic as always.
Graves doesn't do JBL flip flopping- he's being consistent with his character. It makes sense that Graves, the loner, tattooed punk "rage against the machine" kinda guy can't stand an arrogant busker (Samson), a "poser" rock chick (Becky- Graves' opinion not mine!) and the frat boy douches (Hype Bros). Oh, and he likes Eva because no one else does, so he's being non-conformist. Or he really wants to fuck her.
Corey Graves seems to have a real personality, rather than sticking to the tired heel commentator formula of, "I love the bad guys and hate the good guys."
And Tom Phillips complements that well by being more straight laced and by the book, while still being quick witted enough to be a smartass/troll towards Graves.
Graves is the best commentator in the company, and not just because he is all red everything!
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