WWE Raw and Smackdown announcing changes kick in next week with debut of Joe Tessitore, why changes were made

New WWE announcer Joe Tessitore will debut as the WWE Raw play-by-play announcer on next Monday’s episode. He’ll be paired with Wade Barrett on commentary, who is moving from Smackdown.

Michael Cole, the senior WWE announcer on the staff, will move to WWE Smackdown and be re-paired with Corey Graves, who will shift from main play-by-play to color commentary again.

PWTorch is told WWE wasn’t unhappy with Graves, but rather WWE Head of Media & Production Lee Fitting was a big booster of Tessitore, whom he has been friends with for years. Soon after being hired by WWE, Fitting had been pitching hiring Tessitore. Tessitore hob-nobbed at the last WrestleMania and made a good impression and came across as an informed fan of the WWE product.

Pat McAfee is taking a hiatus for college football season, but is scheduled to return after college football ends. There is expected to be another shake-up when Raw moves to Netflix next January.

The Sports Business Journal confirmed the planned announcer pairings earlier today.

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