What’s the story?
WWE colour commentator Corey Graves called out play-by-play broadcasting partner Tom Phillips while on-air during the 205 Live tapings this Tuesday night.
Still can't believe Corey Graves vs. Tom Phillips happened unadvertised on 205Live. pic.twitter.com/seiws07BRW
— JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) May 3, 2017
In case you didn’t know...
Corey Graves (Matthew Polinsky) has served as a part of the WWE’s broadcasting team, in NXT from 2014 and on WWE RAW since last year, besides working the commentary booth at the 205 Live tapings every Tuesday night after SmackDown Live.
Tom Phillips (Thomas Hannifan) has worked as a backstage interviewer in WWE since 2012 and is part of the NXT, SmackDown Live and 205 Live broadcasting teams as well.
The heart of the matter
In February of this year, an Instagram user reportedly shared a screenshot of Phillips’ alleged private message to a girl on the social media app, which read as follows:
“I’m in my seat with a massive erection. And a 4 hours flight ahead. I’m going to face f*** the s*** out of you.”
As part of this week’s 205 Live tapings, the WWE aired a video package that showed the kayfabe love triangle between Alicia Fox, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar and Rich Swann. The story goes that Dar stole Alexander’s girlfriend Fox, and Fox eventually fell for Swann. Rich Swann, who is Alexander’s friend, would then reveal that he didn’t actually want Alicia, but simply wooed her to show the world her true character.
The aforementioned WWE storyline, be that as it may, Phillips would go on to call Dar a ‘Euro-trash pervert’, to which Corey Graves sounded off on his co-commentator while on-air.
“It’s not like Dar was sending DMs on Instagram to people that he shouldn’t have been. There’s nothing embarrassing about what he’s done. He simply stole the heart of a beautiful woman from Cedric Alexander, who was neglectful. Didn’t show Alicia Fox the attention she deserved. … It’s a lot longer flight than four hours for Dar (in reference to Phillips’ alleged DM to IG user Missythetattoesgirl).”
What’s next?
As of the time of this writing, the WWE is yet to officially respond to this incident between the 205 Live broadcasting colleagues.
Author’s take
Before taking sides, we ought to note that at this point in time it’s all hearsay, so to speak. In my opinion, this doesn’t seem to be a part of the WWE’s scripted feuds, but rather something that Graves may have blurted out in the heat of the moment.
The WWE usually doesn’t take kindly to employees going off-script on such ‘adult’ issues nonetheless, especially given that the company produces more family-oriented entertainment now. The next few days will be really interesting for Graves and Phillips. We’ll keep you updated as further details on this apparent backstage tiff, that’s ironically escalated to the frontlines, unfolds.
Also read: 5 Reasons that WWE should have two man commentary teams
Send us news tips at [email protected]
