Corey Graves is a popular American commentator, columnist, and retired professional wrestler. Currently signed to WWE as a color commentator for Raw and SmackDown Live, he is a former NXT Tag Team Champion with Adrian Neville. Join us as we discover more about him, his career, and his family life.
Corey Graves Bio
Being the son of a Hungarian couple, Corey Graves was born Matthew Polinsky on the 24th of February, 1984. He was raised by his parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
Though his father and mother’s names are not known, his parents helped him with his education up till college level: where he got a degree in Marketing.
‘Corey Graves’ was coined as his ring name during his active days as a professional wrestler. He chose the name the night before his first professional wrestling match and picked the name “Sterling James Keenan” as a tribute to Sterling Sharpe, Polinsky’s favorite American football player when he was a kid, and Maynard James Keenan of the band Tool.
Trained by Boomer Payne, Quinn Magnum, Dory Funk Jr, and Mad Mike, Corey made his official debut on the ring on March 22, 2000; and for the next few years of his career, Corey appeared for various promotions – including Dory Funk Jr.’s Funkin Conservatory where he competed with wrestlers such as Paul London, Adam Windsor, and Onyx.
Corey Graves made further appearances for NWA Upstate, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling, and Full Throttle Wrestling: being part of the Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers promotion in both of its incarnations, and winning the UIPW Keystone Cruiser-weight Championship.
In 2005, Corey Graves made an appearance for Far North Wrestling (FNW): regularly featuring in their fight; and on November 2, 2007, he won a Battle royal to win the FNW Heavyweight Championship.
In the month of August in 2007, Corey Graves defeated Samoa Joe and Rikishi by countout to win the Ballpark Brawl Natural Heavyweight Title. By February the following year (2008), Corey won Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Heavyweight Championship. This championship was special to him as it happened to be a 30-man gauntlet match.
Graves returned on the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution pre-show on December 11 of 2014, where he announced his official in-ring retirement due to his concussion issues. At the same event, Graves also announced that he would be joining NXT’s commentary team with immediate effect; and made his debut on that event.
Corey Graves was then offered a two-year commentary contract by Triple H and was later added to the pre-show panel for Raw.
Matthew Polinsky ‘Corey Graves is described as a typical yinzer; and often shows pride in being from Pittsburgh on WWE programming, often mentioning his bar-hopping on Pittsburgh’s South Side and mentioning his favorite places to visit.
Amongst his achievements during his wrestling career include; 1 Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, 1 AIW Absolute Championship, 1 FNW Heavyweight Championship, 1 IWC Heavyweight Championship.
Corey has a large following of fans on social media, and often times engages them on his Instagram and Twitter handles. When not handling his commentary, he reads magazines, watches TV series, goes to the gym for training, and plays video games.
Wife and Children
Not much can be said about his marital life, but we can say for sure that the WWE color commentator has a beautiful woman in his life. He got married to his long-time girlfriend in 2009 (though some hold that to be 2011), and her name is Amy Schneider.
Corey Graves has three children with his wife – a boy and two girls. Though their names have been concealed from the general public, they all live happily together at his base in Connecticut, United States.
Brother
Corey Graves has a younger brother named Sam Adonis. His real name is Samuel “Sam” Polinsky. Sam is an American professional wrestler who wrestles for the Mexican promotion CMLL under the name “Sam Adonis”.
He is currently working in Mexico for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre as a heel pro-Trump character.
Height, Weight, Body Stats
The body statistics of the superstar are not readily available and as the ones circulating on the internet can barely be authenticated, it would be inappropriate to place a second-guessed figure here. However, Corey Graves has a commanding height of 6 ft 1 in (185 cm); weighing 209 lb (95 kg).
