Generally, WWE merchandise is reserved for the in-ring talent and it’s rare to see an announcer get a shirt on WWEShop.com. However, Corey Graves made it happen, at least for a short time. Graves’ weekly banter with Byron Saxton on Smackdown Live turned into a marketing slogan and fans called for WWE to take advantage of it by creating some merchandise. For those of you that missed it, there was a “Shut Up Saxton” shirt for sale over the weekend but it was pulled on Monday.
The idea for the shirt came after Graves tagged the WWE Shop account last month and it didn’t take long for them to come up with a design.
Yeah, @WWEShop…🤑 https://t.co/MGRkAvrHWS
— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) June 27, 2018
Graves reacted on Twitter after the shirt was pulled and he said that the decision to pull the shirt was out of his hands.
Sorry guys, no #ShutUpSaxton shirt.
Out of my hands. We tried.
— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) July 16, 2018
For whatever it’s worth, Saxton and Graves are said to be good friends off camera so the shirt was likely seen as a playful rib on Saxton and a creative way for one of their announcers to make some money on merchandise.