Corey Graves Thinks It's Time For Big E To Have A Big Singles Run
WWE SmackDown commentator and regular on-air personality, Corey Graves, took to his weekly After The Bell podcast this week to review all the current happenings in WWE. Among them, Graves touched on the controversial finish to Kofi Kingston's WWE Title reign at the hands of Brock Lesnar, and where Kofi's career has landed since.
"Everyone was clamoring and complaining because Kofi lost the WWE Championship in nine seconds to Brock Lesnar and seemingly didn't recover immediately, or, didn't recover fast enough for everybody," Graves said. "So hopefully this will hold people over. Is it the same as being WWE Champion? No, but Kofi Kingston is one of the most valuable talents in the business today. So to have Kofi in the tag team picture alongside Big E just elevates the SmackDown Tag Team Championships."
Graves hopes that the triple threat tag team match between The Viking Raiders, Undisputed Era, and The New Day at this year's Survivor Series becomes a platform for Big E to emerge as a standout singles superstar. Graves thinks that E has developed into an irreplaceable talent that deserves a run at the top of the company similar to how Kofi was at his peak.
"This should be the opportunity for Big E's big, singles breakout performance. Now, I'm not saying to break up The New Day," Graves specified. "They've gone on the record a million times and said, 'Nope, they want to stay a unit forever', and I don't want to be the one to argue. But people forget that Big E was a former NXT Champion, Big E was a former [Intercontinental Champion] very shortly into his WWE career and that was when he was still figuring things out.
"Big E now has the seasoning. He's no doubt learned while spending all this time with Kofi. He's definitely developed in the ring and if you can't see that, I don't know what you're watching. Big E has future WWE or Universal Champion written all over him," Graves added. "As entertaining as all three of The New Day members are in front of the camera, we haven't even scratched the tip of the iceberg pf what Big E is capable of as a performer."
The New Day will defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against former champions The Revival on tonight's episode of SmackDown Live.
You can listen to the full interview above. If you use any quotes from this article, please credit After The Bell with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.