"I never liked him anyway" - Former WWE employee slams Corey Graves in controversial rant after SmackDown (Exclusive)

A former WWE employee recently spoke about the SmackDown commentary team.

He picked out Corey Graves for some tough love and did not hold back in his assessment of the commentator.

The man in question is none other than Dutch Mantel. WWE recently overhauled its commentary teams after Kevin Patrick was removed from his duties as the play-by-play announcer on the Blue brand.

The major changes were Pat McAfee returning as an announcer and joining Monday Night RAW alongside Michael Cole. On the other hand, Corey Graves and Wade Barrett took over announcing duties for SmackDown.

This week on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk podcast, Mantell claimed that he wasn't a fan of Corey's announcing skills. He felt that Graves would do better as a play-by-play commentator than his previous role of being a heelish color commentator. The wrestling veteran felt that Graves didn't offer anything unique as an announcer on the mic.

"I'm not a fan of that either. He is a better play-by-play commentator than he is a color commentator. I never liked him anyway. Not him, his announcing. There's nothing about it that's unique." [From 1:19:54 onwards]

You can watch the full video here:

WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H may have a different take on the matter. Hunter congratulated Corey Graves for a great job behind the desk this week.

Before the show, Corey shared that he was nervous and claimed that it was a new mountain for him to climb. However, he now has The Game's approval and would possibly be a regular feature on the Blue brand moving forward.

What did you think of the commentary team of Corey Graves and Wade Barrett? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

---

If you use the quotes from this article, please embed the YouTube video and add an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcript.