Corey Graves has had quite a year with all the different controversies surrounding him. During NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Corey Graves made some comments about NXT commentator Mauro Ranallo that made him deactivate his Twitter account.

The issue attracted negative press and backlash for Graves. He took to Twitter to reflect on this year and revealed how it has been the toughest for him. He wrote the following message:

“In 35 years, this year was no doubt the toughest. But, it taught me to THINK.
I’m going to *uck up. I’m going to be wrong. I’m going to disappoint. I’m not perfect. I’m thankful for learning to embrace my flaws, and learn from them. I’m thankful for those who know me.”

Graves was critical of Mauro Ranallo’s commentary and subtweeted about him saying that Ranallo isn’t giving a chance to Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuiness, who were at the commentary booth with him, a chance to provide their thoughts on the action.

He wrote, “Just for the record guys, I know you wouldn’t know it, but there’s actually a WWE Hall of Famer AND a former Ring of Honor Champion on commentary. I’d imagine they have a lot to offer.”

This led to Ranallo deactivating his account and garnered Graves headlines for his criticizing comments.

Ranallo then was also missing from the Survivor Series PPV, and Michael Cole explained that during the previous night’s TakeOver event Ranallo blew his voice out and was therefore unable to provide the kind of commentary NXT has become known for.

Graves addressed the issue on his After the Bell podcast and apologized. You can read the apology here.

Pro Wrestling Sheet says that Graves’ tweets were planned as part of the brand warfare storyline taking place over Survivor Series weekend.

Mauro Ranallo is a mental health advocate who lives with bipolar disorder. Ranallo left the SmackDown for NXT after a much-publicized conflict with WWE which likely had to do with criticisms from JBL directed at him. Ranallo denies this, however.