Subhojeet Mukherjee on February 10, 2026
Corey Graves didn’t just survive two brutal F5s from Brock Lesnar on SmackDown last year—he volunteered for it.
On the February 9, 2026 episode of Steel City Sunday, Graves broke his silence about the wild segment from the September 19, 2025 edition of SmackDown, where he got wrecked by Lesnar in front of a shocked crowd. Turns out, it was all part of a plan to write him off TV for paternity leave.
“The Lesnar thing. I actually needed paternity time, so that was a good way to write me off TV. It was the most fun I’ve ever had being in pain.”
While some fans worried Graves might’ve gotten injured for real, the commentary veteran admitted he was feeling it for a few days—especially after the second F5.
“I was a little stiff for a couple of days afterwards. My hip was giving me some trouble after the second F5.”
Even more surprising? The whole spot was improvised the day of the show. Originally, Lesnar was just going to destroy the announce table—until Graves pitched something bigger. Graves didn’t hold back when describing what it felt like being manhandled by Lesnar.
“I actually said to Triple H, ‘You know, I’m about to be off for a couple weeks for the baby. What if he just killed me too?’ They batted it back and forth for a few minutes, and then said, ‘Yeah, okay, let’s do that.’ Being in the ring with Brock was how I imagine you’d feel if you fell into a tiger enclosure at the zoo. I’ve never felt power like that… I’m looking at him, and the next thing I know I’m about ten feet in the air looking down at the canvas.”
And even though Lesnar isn’t quite the same wrecking machine he was in his early 2000s run, Graves still called him “the missing link in the evolutionary chain.” For Graves, it was about helping tell a story—and making Brock look like the monster he is.
“It’s just an extension of what I do on commentary. We wanted to make Brock look like a killer, like a monster.”
Graves returned to WWE programming in October 2025, but his spot with Lesnar will likely go down as one of the most vicious—and creative—send-offs in recent memory.
Do you think Corey Graves should take more physical roles like this in future storylines? Or should he stick to commentary? Let us know your take below!
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