Chad Gable defeats Charlie Dempsey on WWE Speed, Corey Graves not on commentary
A new number one contender’s tournament began on WWE Speed today with Chad Gable and NXT’s Charlie Dempsey facing off for the first time ever.
The two technicians nearly went to a three-minute time limit draw, but Gable got the victory with three seconds remaining. He hit a Chaos Theory German suplex with time winding down and pinned Dempsey just before the clock expired.
Of note, Corey Graves was not the commentator for WWE Speed this week. He had provided play-by-play for every episode of the show since it debuted in April 2024, but Blake Howard was instead in that role for Gable vs. Dempsey. Howard is a commentator for WWE Main Event and formerly called NXT Level Up.
Graves also did not appear on NXT this week after hyping that he would have “a lot to say” on the episode. Late Monday night, Graves posted a tweet voicing his displeasure with being moved off main roster commentary and demoted to NXT. Graves claimed that he was told he wasn’t famous enough for Raw or SmackDown. He has since deleted the tweet.
The Speed tournament continues next Wednesday (January 22) with Chris Sabin vs. Grayson Waller. The winner of that match takes on Gable in the next round to determine who will challenge Dragon Lee for the WWE Speed Championship.