Jonathan Coachman says he knew almost immediately that Corey Graves wasn’t thrilled about sharing the WWE commentary desk with him when Coach returned in 2018.
While speaking on The Coach and Bro Show, Coachman was asked about the biggest differences between his original WWE run and the company he returned to years later. It didn’t take long for the conversation to land on the three-man Raw commentary booth — something Coachman believes never should have lasted.
Coachman said his first night back was enough for him to realize Graves wasn’t exactly excited about having another announcer sitting beside him. He stressed that there’s no personal beef with Graves, but said the message was obvious.
“I will say this: that three-man booth needed to die. And I realized that night number one. I don’t dislike Corey Graves. I don’t really know Corey Graves, but it was very, very, very evident he did not want me there.”
Coachman didn’t completely blame Graves for feeling that way. In his view, wrestling is filled with people trying to protect their spots, and commentary is no different. He pointed to Graves now working alongside Michael Cole and said a two-man booth gives both announcers much more room to work.
“I don’t necessarily blame him because you look at now who’s doing Monday Night Raw — Corey Graves and Michael Cole. Two people. You get to not only protect your spot, but I think you have the freedom.”
Coachman knew firsthand how messy a three-man setup could get. During his original WWE run, he worked alongside Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, and he said trying to find the right time to speak was already difficult before Vince McMahon started barking instructions into his headset.
“When I was doing a three-man booth with J.R. and King, that was difficult for me. That’s partly the reason I don’t read mentions anymore, because fans don’t understand. They would criticize you, and back in the day when websites were new, you read all of these things about you — ‘Coach is the worst. Coach doesn’t know.’ And I’m like, if you guys knew how difficult this is.”
Coachman said things could get chaotic fast. McMahon wanted his instructions repeated immediately, while Ross could be trying to tell an important story at the exact same time.
“Vince is screaming in your ear. If you don’t repeat it within a second — not five seconds, a second — he was screaming at you. Well, J.R. is telling a story. J.R. would grab my arm and just squeeze it as hard as he could to get me to shut up because he was trying to get over whatever storyline was coming in.”
Coachman’s issue with his 2018 return wasn’t just Corey Graves. He believes the entire three-man commentary setup put announcers in a bad position, forcing them to fight for airtime while also trying to follow production in real time. Graves may not have wanted Coachman sitting beside him, but Coachman admits he understands why an established announcer would want to protect his own spot.
Do you think Corey Graves was simply protecting his position when Jonathan Coachman returned to WWE, or should WWE have handled the commentary team differently? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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