WWE News: Corey Graves criticises recent segment; says it made his skin crawl

The December 6 episode of WWE SmackDown featured a segment that saw Elias spank and attack Drake Maverick, allowing Dana Brooke to place her foot over the 205 Live General Manager in the middle of the ring to unofficially pick up a 1-2-3 victory.

Corey Graves, who calls commentary on SmackDown alongside Michael Cole, said on this week’s edition of his After The Bell podcast that the segment made him even more uncomfortable than the latest development in the love triangle between Bobby Lashley, Rusev and Lana on RAW.

“I mentioned at the top of the show something that absolutely drove me up the wall – and I wasn’t talking about the Rusev divorce on Monday. I’m talking about what went down on SmackDown with something that was equally uncomfortable, probably even more so. That being Elias spanking Drake Maverick in the centre of a WWE ring.

“I don’t know what I can say about this, other than it made my skin crawl and not in a good way, not in a fun way. It was just bad.”

(If you use quotes from this article, please credit After The Bell and give a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription).

Graves clarified that he has enjoyed Elias’ past work as a bad guy in WWE, while he is great friends with Maverick and he expects AOP's former manager to go on to achieve a lot in WWE.

However, he does not see the need for segments like that to occur on WWE television.