Chris Sabin wins WWE Speed debut, Corey Graves back on commentary
Chris Sabin has a 1-0 record on WWE Speed after making his show debut in victorious fashion.
Sabin advanced in the WWE Speed Championship number one contender’s tournament with a victory over Grayson Waller on this week’s episode. In the closing stretch of the match, Waller caught Sabin and put him in fireman’s carry position for a spinebuster, but Sabin countered into a victory roll for the pin. He got the win with 25 seconds remaining of the three-minute time limit.
Next Wednesday (January 29) on Speed, Sabin will face off against Chad Gable for the first time ever. The winner earns a title shot against men’s WWE Speed Champion Dragon Lee. That will be the first title defense for Lee since becoming champion in November.
Corey Graves — who also returned to NXT commentary last night — was back calling Speed this week. WWE Main Event commentator Blake Howard had replaced him on last week’s Speed amid the drama Graves created on social media. The Sabin vs. Waller match was taped at SmackDown last Friday with Graves later voicing over his commentary.
Though he voiced displeasure at no longer calling Raw or SmackDown in his tweets last week, Graves said in his return last night that NXT is right where he wants to be.
Sabin made his WWE debut in October 2024 and is part of the SmackDown tag team division with his Motor City Machine Guns partner Alex Shelley.
After defeating Waller, Sabin cut a post-match promo saying he’s custom made to be in this tournament and custom made to be in WWE. He also made reference to his history as a 10-time X-Division Champion in TNA.