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WWE's new commentary teams for RAW and SmackDown amid the hiring of ESPN's Joe Tessitore and former NFL punter turned on-air personality Pat McAfee's hiatus have been revealed.
Tessitore will takeover play-by-play duties alongside former WWE superstar Wade Barrett -- who has worked as a color commentator since 2020 -- on RAW, while Michael Cole, the 'Voice of WWE,' and former longtime broadcast partner Corey Graves will be moved to SmackDown, according to Variety. Tessitore, who is set to call the Miami (FL)-Florida college football game for ABC this Saturday (August 31), will make his RAW debut next Monday (September 2).
Graves, who took over as SmackDown's play-by-play commentator since February, returned to color commentary duties alongside Cole on RAW this week, a role he previously held for several years, following McAfee's hiatus to return to ESPN's touring pregame show College GameDay for the 2024-25 college football season. Barrett had previously taken over as RAW's color commentator amid McAfee's absence during the last college football season.
McAfee, who has worked with Cole since 2021, is expected to return in time for RAW's move to Netflix with Cole, who will be swapped back from SmackDown. WWE and Netflix agreed to a 10-year, $5 billion deal in January for the streaming giant to become the exclusive new home of RAW in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Latin America, as well as the home of all WWE programming outside the U.S. as available including its 'SmackDown' and 'NXT' shows, as well as its Premium Live Events.