Corey Graves recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to promote his new “After the Bell” podcast that premieres from WWE this Wednesday.
It was revealed that Graves’ podcast will be recorded on Tuesday afternoons and released on Wednesday mornings, and will have video elements in future episodes.
Graves will be joined by Triple H, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins, and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley for this week’s premiere.
Graves pointed to the exclusive access he will have and said he will make it a point to discuss anything relevant in the business.
“Nobody else has this access,” said Graves. “If it’s relevant, I can say, ‘Hey Triple H, what did you think of the competition on Wednesday night?’ I’m not going to make it my point to talk about everything beyond WWE, but if it’s relevant to what’s going on and it’s hot in the business, then we’ll discuss it.”
Graves said he’s also excited to give Superstars a bigger platform to show who they are, and to give them a platform with no agenda.
“I can give a perspective that won’t be available anywhere else,” said Graves. “I’m most excited to give current superstars a bigger platform to show who they are as people beyond characters. Most of the podcasts I’ve heard are from people who left WWE, but this is different. I’m working from the inside and I have access to the talent. Look at Seth—he’s had some social media speed bumps recently and got in a few spats that painted him in less than a great position, but you’re dealing with Twitter and 140 characters. Now we’ll have time for an actual conversation without an agenda, and I’m really excited to see where it goes.”
Regarding his role as a voice for the WWE Superstars, Graves said he’s willing to stand up for the talents. He talked to SI about the roster’s perspective on the upcoming trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for WWE Crown Jewel on Thursday.
“It’s a long, grueling trip over there, but most of the talent like it because it’s a pretty good pay day,” Graves said. “To me, it’s super exciting to have these totally unusual attractions like Cain Velasquez-Brock Strowman and Tyson Fury-Braun Strowman. If you take any sort of political feeling out of the equation, aren’t you, as a fan of WWE, aren’t you curious and excited to watch these attractions?
“It is what it is. This is not about politics for the talent, it’s about doing what we do best on the planet all over the planet. Everyone that works for any company has things they love and things they don’t love, but what we’re all focused on is having to fly back to SmackDown in Buffalo the next day.”
