This is said to be “a lot more trust in commentators” since the WWE regime change

While speaking to Chris Novak of Awful Announcing, longtime WWE commentator Michael Cole discussed Corey Graves becoming a play-by-play announcer for the WWE Smackdown brand…

“It’s a different world. Corey came in at a good time. Under the new regime now, things are looser. The direction’s different. There’s a lot more trust in commentators now than there was before. We are having the opportunity to be ourselves. Open up, develop character, call pro wrestling, sports entertainment, the way we want to. Corey was able to jump in under this new regime, and it was the perfect chance to make a switch. This was the time to do it.”

“And at the end of the day, when we gave him the shot? He’s been killing it. I believe he’s the heir apparent.”