Corey Graves New NXT Role, Possible In-Ring Return – WWE RAW commentator Corey Graves is now helping out with the WWE NXT brand, and he’s interested in teaming with his wife Carmella.
Graves confirmed in early 2022 that he had been medically cleared for in-ring action. He recently spoke with PopCulture.com and revealed that he’s been working with the NXT roster as of late, and he expressed interest in teaming with Carmella for his ring return.
“I’ve recently started working with the NXT talent on helping develop characters and things of that nature, and I’ve really enjoyed it thus far,” Graves said. “So I’m really looking forward to working with NXT a lot more as the year progresses. I’d like to remind everybody one more time that I have been cleared to compete and I can’t think of a better scenario for me to step back in the ring than alongside my beautiful wife.”
After a run on the indies, Graves signed a WWE developmental deal in August 2011. He suffered two concussions between late 2013 and early 2014, and then announced his in-ring retirement in December 2014. He began doing commentary and interviews shortly after that. After briefly winning the WW 24/7 Title in early November, there were reports of doctors clearing Graves for in-ring action. Graves then confirmed in early 2022 that he was cleared.
Graves spoke about wanting to come out of retirement during an April 2020 podcast, after being inspired by the WWE 24 documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Edge. In May 2020 he then stepped in the ring to train for the first time since retiring, with his brother Sam Adonis. Graves spoke to TMZ in February 2022 and talked about getting cleared.
“I went and spent some time with doctors middle of last year. I kinda got the itch. This is one of the first times I’m saying this publicly. I have been medically cleared to compete. It’s not an immediate goal of mine, it was just something I needed to know for my own sanity. My journey in the ring got cut short and it’s kinda eaten at me for years, always wondering what if, what if there’s a chance, what if there’s an opportunity … so I went and did the necessary steps and it turns out I’m more okay than I thought I was,” he said.
Besides the WWE 24/7 Title angles on November 8, 2021, Graves has not wrestled an actual match since his win over Aiden English (Matthew Rehwoldt) at the March 21, 2014 NXT live event in Fort Pierce, FL. His last TV match came as a win over Sami Zayn on the April 3, 2014 NXT episode, taped on March 13, 2014.
Graves and Carmella have been dating since 2019. They were engaged to be married in October 2021, then they tied the knot on April 7, 2022.
