Corey Graves issued an apology to Mauro Ranallo on his “After the Bell” podcast today.
While not mentioning Ranallo specifically by name, Graves did acknowledge that he sent out a tweet this past weekend that was just to stir up some controversy, but not meant to “offend or disrespect or disparage anybody.” Graves also stated that he would “never intentionally cause anybody any undue stress, especially a co-worker.”
Graves sent out a tweet over the weekend that criticized Mauro Ranallo’s commentary on NXT TakeOver: WarGames III, insinuating that Ranallo was not letting the other commentators speak. Ranallo, who suffers from bipolar depression, soon deleted his social media and did not attend Survivor Series, where he was scheduled to commentate, and will reportedly not be calling WWE NXT tonight.
Here is the full transcript of what Graves said:
“Welcome to After The Bell. I am Corey Graves. A ton to get to this week as we do every week, but before we go any further, on a personal note, I need to address something. This past Saturday during the TakeOver: WarGames event, I sent out a tweet. It was an unpopular opinion, as I often do, with the intention of just stirring up a little controversy, maybe have something fun to talk about on TV or here on the show. It was maybe not the most professional way to go about things, and it was never meant to offend or disrespect or disparage anybody. That was never my intention. If it was taken as such, I apologize deeply. That was not my intention. I would never intentionally cause anybody any undue stress, especially a co-worker. So, I apologize.”
We will continue to follow this story as more develops. You can listen to the full podcast below: