With a new year reportedly comes a new commentary lineup in WWE.
According to PWI Elite, WWE is “shuffling up” its main roster broadcast teams, with Michael Cole and Corey Graves moving to “WWE Raw” next month, while Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett call the action for “WWE SmackDown.” Cole and Grave’s relocation will reportedly take effect on January 5, when the “Raw” brand celebrates its one-year anniversary on Netflix in Brooklyn, New York. Tessitore and Barrett are said to be changing brands in the month of January 2026 as well.
Currently, Tessitore and Barrett serve as the primary commentators for “Raw,” which is set to return to live form next Monday following this week’s pre-taped holiday edition. Meanwhile, Graves and Cole have handled the announcing duties for “SmackDown” in recent months.
On January 2, “SmackDown” will once again expand its runtime to three hours as Buffalo, New York hosts the first live WWE show of 2026. WWE has yet to publicly confirm any matches for the particular event, though recent spoilers from the pre-taped December 26 edition have given fans some ideas. As for the first “Raw” of 2026, WWE has already confirmed three title matches: Women’s Intercontinental Champion Maxxine Dupri vs. Becky Lynch, CM Punk defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker, and The Kabuki Warriors putting their Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY. The Judgment Day’s Raquel Rodriguez and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella will be in action on December 29 when they challenge WWE Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer in a triple threat title match.
