So apparently on his podcast, Booker T claimed that he has a beef with Corey Graves. He apparently blames Graves for his being removed from the Raw announce team, and says if he ever sees Corey on the street, he's coming for him, sucka.

Is this a work, and leading up to something? Is it legit, and if so has anybody else heard anything about it via a reliable source?

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T in a recent edition of his Heated Conversations podcast discussed Corey Graves. Booker T blames Graves for why the WWE Hall of Famer was taken off the Raw commentary team. Below are some highlights from Jeffery Harris via WrestlingInc.com.

Booker T on why Corey Graves is on his bad side and is the reason he’s no longer on Raw: “If I got Corey Graves into a fisticuffs, I would beat him down like he stole something. I would be whoopin’ his ass all day long. My thing is this, I’m a nice guy, until you get on my bad side. Corey Graves, I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s on my bad side right now, but he’s the reason that I’m not on Monday Night Raw right now. Lot of people in the company thought I was going to jump on him. I was gonna do something bad to him. I was gonna drag him. I was gonna take him out to the woodshed. I was gonna beat that man so bad that he was going to say ‘Please, please, just don’t beat me anymore.’ That’s how hot I was getting, that’s how close I was getting.”

Booker T on how WWE wanted him to cool off by putting him back on Kickoff panels: “So, they said ‘Hey, Book, step back a second, alright? We’re gonna regroup, press the rewind button. We’re gonna send you back to the Kickoff show, SmackDown and Monday Night Raw PPVs and cool ya down for a second. Because we don’t want you to do anything to Corey Graves.'”

Booker T on what would happen if he sees Corey Graves on the street: “If I catch Corey Graves on the street, I’m gonna do something to him. I ain’t gonna do it at the office or the airport, but if I catch Corey Graves on the street, you see that little bouffant hairdo he got? I’m gonna rearrange it for him.”

 

Booker T on how Corey Graves affected his money: “Everybody knows my reputation, I get mean, if you mess with my ‘green.’ And right now, my ‘green’ is being messed with. Is WrestleMania coming up, right? There’s room for one more match at WrestleMania. Right now on my show, I’m calling Corey Graves out to a fight. Not a match. Not a pre-show pose down or anything like that. I’m calling Corey Graves out to a fight. I’m talking man-to-man. Mano-a-mano. You and I.”

If any of this is true, Booker T should be fired immediately.

 

With that said, Booker T trying to get a match against Corey Graves seems strange and would lend itself to an angle, but isn't Corey banned from wrestling in a WWE ring because of concussion issues? I can't imagine they'd clear Graves for a shampoo bottle feud against Booker T that won't draw a dime, but wouldn't clear Bryan.

Its gotta be a total work just for fun. Some worked shoots arent about the end result being a match. Some are just there.

That's what Booker T gets for insulting the incomparable Jason Jordan so much.

I thought they just removed Booker T because you know, he's a terrible color commentator?

This comes off so goofy that there's no way he's actually serious, right?

Corey Graves, I wouldnt necessarily say hes on my bad side right now

Best part of the rant

Graves was on Edge and Christian's podcast a week ago and called Booker "one of his favorite people" so either that was a troll or this is a work. I think it's a work

Things definitely would get testy on commentary. Mostly because Booker is an absolute loon and he never made any sense. "Dean Ambrose does not have an on or off switch, he is just stuck somewhere in the middle" That Kurt Angle return match with The Shield. maybe the most annoying commentating performance in the history of man. It was the anti-Heenan at the Rumble. You could tell Graves was getting annoyed by Booker. There were a couple times Cole & Graves browbeat Booker into submission for one of his gaffes.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a work, shoot or worked shoot. It is just Booker being Booker, a complete loon.

At Royal Rumble I had the feeling that Michael Cole is much closer in getting a beating by Booker T than Corey Graves.

Booker T: "There are no timeouts in tag team wrestling."

Cole: "There are no timeouts in tag teams (sic!)."

Booker T (very annoyed): "I said wrestling, Michael."

I heard Corey Graves on Edge and Christian's podcast and while he was complimentary to Booker, it was also pretty obvious that he was making fun of his commentary and if you read between the lines, he was implying that Booker isn't all that great at his job. You could even make an argument that it sounded like Graves was implying that Booker isn't all that bright. Lord knows, he wouldn't be the first person to imply that.

 

Here is the clip from Booker's podcast, it's around 4:00 minutes. After hearing it, I lean towards thinking there may be legit anger there (at least on Booker's part.)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSLKrXfrLk

Cole would make fun of Booker way more than Graves did, I wonder if it's a case of Booker thinking it was "disrespecting the veteran" for a younger guy to be busting balls like that.

 

I mean, it could be all a work but why would they run an angle with a guy who's only on commentary because he can't get clearance to wrestle due to concussions?

Cole would make fun of Booker way more than Graves did, I wonder if it's a case of Booker thinking it was "disrespecting the veteran" for a younger guy to be busting balls like that.

 

I mean, it could be all a work but why would they run an angle with a guy who's only on commentary because he can't get clearance to wrestle due to concussions?

 

That was my thought too. There is no way there could ever be a real payoff to this, so why do it? Then again, this is WWE creative. I've given up trying to figure out why they do (or in many cases, don't do) things.

 

In furtherance of this issue, Corey Graves took a thinly veiled shot at Booker on Twitter today.

 

Team Booker vs Team Graves at Mania in a 10 man tag.

Booker finally gets to use his Fave Five!

Double post

 

(Annoyed grunt)

Is it really a work or is it possible someone in wrestling is a thin-skinned crybaby?

Is it really a work or is it possible someone in wrestling is a thin-skinned crybaby?

 

Why not both?

 

 

It seems like Booker legit doesn't like him and Corey is just trolling him about it on Twitter now.

Booker T was great on commentary and Coach is boring as fuck and might as well not even be there with the way the other two ignore him.

I tweeted this out at some point, Coach bugs me because he seems really detached from the product. He really sounds like someone who hasn't watched wrestling for a long time, faking is way through it and unsure on what narratives he should be pushing or how. Its like having that one friend who only watched during the attitude era coming over and explaining RAW to you every week. I try not to get too hung up on these things, but he as fairly annoying right now. Maybe this will eventually change as he he gets more integrated.

It feels like Booker is totally playing the carny here. Trying to build interest in his podcast, meet and greet appearances, etc. Graves is playing along. Booker still does the PPV Pre-show. If there was concern about assaulting a coworker, he would have the Scott Steiner treatment

Agreed with goc and CapitalTTruth. Coach sounds so lost and empty out there. Like some dude just reciting lines for a video game. I don't know why, but Coach has worked in WWE and ESPN and through all his work it just sounds like he just honestly doesn't give a shit about the stuff he's talking about.

 

Booker T made RAW so much more interesting. The whole Jason Jordan stuff worked because it was both funny and insightful. I know there were a lot of jokes about Booker just hating on Jordan, and that was true at times, but he was also bringing up good points about not only nepotisim but about the building of a prospect in a combat sports setting. When you have a boxer with a lot of potential and appeal coming up the ranks, you just don't throw him out there against somone that would derail their career.

 

Booker was also so good about understanding sports and how that could be used to talk about pro wrestling. Corey Graves and Mauro Renallo try to do it but they come off sounding like an F4W poster. Booker understands sports on a deeper level and you can tell he actually talks about sports on a daily basis, and not just about UFC.

 

I know Booker got a lot of criticism for his TLC performance, and that's valid, but if that's Booker at his worst, he's still a hundred times better than Coach. RAW was still pretty fucking great this week, but seriously missed Booker a lot. He would have had so much to say about a lot of things - some funny, some silly, but some insightful points as well - that went down this week.

 

Also pretty sure this is a work.

Sometimes Booker's batshit insanity on commentary is sorely missed. I really feel uncomfortable listening to Corey and Cole sandbag the shit out of Coach.

 

I was laughing my ass off when Booker tried a Gilligan's Island reference at the RAW tag match at the Rumble this year, by saying that Rollins was alone. Graves just kept laughing and mocked Booker's analogy, it made for some good laughs.

Coach became extremely smarmy and holier-than-thou once he started working for ESPN. He just sounded like he thought he was above everyone else on any show he did, which is funny because for most of the time he was there he was a fill in host on the radio side.

 

His tweet after Ronda's losses that WWE would never touch her because she's now damaged goods hasn't aged well, and I hope he gets shit about it on a regular basis.

At Royal Rumble, it sounded to me like Booker T. was legit getting mad at Corey but now it feels way too overblown. Pretty sure it was at Rumble. It has to have been either Rumble or RAW 25 as those were the only two shows I watched other than NXT Takeover.