Are they really turning Cole heel again?

[MrMojoRisin]

Is it just me, or did it seem like on Monday, they were starting to shift Michael Cole back towards being a heel commentator? Several times, he'd find ways to relate to the heels, which of course would incite some subtle mockery from Lawler. He wasn't over the top about it, but you could see he was on the heel side of the equation, and you didn't see him trying to relate to the faces in any way.

After Lawler's heart attack, is this a route they can really take again? After the way that Cole supported his friend Jerry Lawler so openly, and for so long on TV, can they really go back to the dynamic they had before the heart attack?

I think they really hit on something when Cole dropped the act and became himself, and it'll just be a huge mistake to go back to the same old, same old. Plus everyone's seen how much Cole cares for Jerry Lawler. You can't put that cat back in the bag. Having Lawler be anything but respectful when talking to Cole just makes him look like the douchebag, which is obviously not what you want to go for if you're doing a face/heel commentating team.

They need to drop this immediately, and not only just let Cole be the unbiased commentator he's been the last few months, but have Lawler respect that about Cole, even if he doesn't necessarily agree.

 

[JaylisJayP]

I think with Cole and Lawler (for better or worse) being the mouthpieces of the WWE, you kinda have to have both sides covered. Obviously, after the heart attack, there is a huge outpouring of support and attention on Lawler, and they've had him as the "voice of reason" to Cole's ultra-heel character in the past. So it's only natural that Lawler is the announcer face. Which means Cole plays the heel.

I don't think they'll take him anywhere near where he was a couple years ago, but if you go back a few years, Lawler was the "heel" to JR's "face" during much of the Attitude Era, even while he was slobbering over puppies every show. So they can do it without shoving it down our throats, but it makes sense. You have to get the heels over somehow, too. What better way then to have one of the announcers coming to their defense and rationalizing their actions?

Doesn't mean Cole has to go back to disrespecting Lawler. They can walk a fine line and just have them disagree and let Lawler make his highthearted jabs at Cole each week still.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I had some of the same thoughts as you. I hope and think they are just making Cole the dissenting opinion of the audience (Lawler) and nothing beyond that. It would be taking these too far if Cole and Lawler agreed on everything.

Cole is still a little bit of a weasel but I don't think we'll be seeing the Cole Mine again any time soon.

 

[Pedigree1]

I agree that Cole is a bit of a weasel but that what makes him entertaining. It be completely pointless if him and Lawler agreed on everything. I do miss the Cole Mine though i must say. But after what happened to Lawler,and the fact that cole embraced publicly his friend Jerry i dont think Cole will be a heel anytime soon.

 

[blindman]

What they did last monday was fine Cole was just stirring the pot with the shield and admitting he liked a few heels. WWE wont make Cole like he was a few years ago cause no with ears wanna hear it.

 

[justinsayne]

Lawler has always mocked the people he's working with, he did it for years with JR, & has doen it for years with Cole. I don't think WWE has any intention of turning Cole into a heel announcer, so much as I think Lawler feels that he needs to mock somebody, he knows no other way to do his job than to mock his announcing partner, & he can't do that if he sees eye to eye with them. So one of them has to relate to heels, & you can't have that being the guy who just came back from a heart attack, so Cole gets stuck being the heel sympathizer again, though in a much more subtle manner. If WWE were really interested in fixing this issue, they would pair JBL & Cole up for RAW (which would be a much better announce team all around), & move Lawler over to SD! to work with Josh Matthews or whoever the fuck is calling SD! these days, & let Lawler mock them to the till he's blue in the face.

 

[TheImpactPlayer]

Why can't they just turn Lawler heel? He was always so great at it. If they want a heel commentator so bad why not use the guy that has perfected it in the past instead of Michael Cole.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I think people are reading WAY too much into things here. Cole was simply giving a second look at things. Take the Shield interview, where he kept saying that he believed in their "We did what was in justice" method. He wasn't using that as a way to bash the group or even Lawler, he simply just said that as the journalist of the interview, he felt like they were being honest and that's pretty much all there was too it. He still doesn't find cheating wrestlers or a pack of thugs beating on Ryback to be the right thing to do, but at the same time, he continues to give people that reminder of two sides to every story.

 

[thebromm]

It's my opinion as it stands right now that WWE is thanking Michael Cole for not only his work as a heel announcer, but also his willingness to do what he should have never done and thats step in the ring. Perhaps, they are also thanking him for his taking a backseat when Jerry had his heart attack.

I think that the way WWE is thanking him is allowing him to do what he has an actual college degree in, Journalism. Cole's journalistic approach to his recent interview segments like the one he had with Jerry Lawler and the one the other night with The Shield is evidence of that.

I think what the OP is misinterpreting is when Cole mentioned that he believed what The Shield members had said, and they were not working for CM Punk, he was still being Michael Cole the journalist and NOT Michael Cole the WWE announcer.

Kudos to WWE, The Shield, and Michael Cole for that interview segment. While it did very little to me personally to get interested in Seth Rollins or The Rock Junior, it did get me seriously interested and excited about the future of Dean Ambrose. That kid IS the next big thing.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

If I'm wrong so be it. It wasn't just the Shield segment that I noticed though.

To me, it seems like they're doing a subtle slide back into heeldom for Cole, and slowly trying to sweep under the rug the outpouring of emotion from Cole towards his colleague in recent months.

No it wasn't a overt change... but I'm afraid that in the coming weeks, we're going to start seeing heel Cole creep in more and more, to the point that in a few months, they'll be right back to where they were before, and it'll just feel completely ingenuine.

Like I said. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[DirtyD79]

It's fine if they want to make him a heel commentator just don't have him dominating the show like he did before. The commentators are not supposed to be the stars. When the whole show just becomes two idiots bickering, it kills the show and buries everything you're trying to build up. And for the love of all things holy do not put him in the ring again, especially not at Wrestlemania.

 

[Slash-LN]

I noticed it too.
It was definitely more than just the segment with The Shield.
He was being condescending during the Cesaro match for example.
Maybe people are just so used to Cole being that guy that they didn't really pay attention to it. I'm with the OP though. Cole did come off as heelish on Monday.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how far they have him go.

 

[CrazyChicksDigger]

Two observations...

1) I don't think Cole is turning heel, I think his character is evolving, or something of a tweak. Cole got regained (or earned) a lot of credibility from his haters for how he handled the Lawler Heart Attack situation, and I think WWE would be dumb to turn him heel again (of course, that's never stopped them before from a dumb move).

2) On a separate issue, and I'm not trying to say we should get rid of a guy who survived a heart attack, but I think part of the problem is LAWLER. It's as if Lawler still likes to pick on Cole, circa 2010-11, as if Lawler's character is incapable of evolving to the point that he can now get along with Cole. Hell, Lawler hated on JR in the early days, so he should evolve in the same way here as well. I find Lawler's commentary rather stale, and now with JBL on Smackdown it really emphasizes the fact that JBL is simply a better color guy -- he's more prepared, and he plays off his partners better than Lawler does. But anyway, just my two cents.

 

[RKOx7]

I don't mind him being the devil's advocate but I don't want him dominating the show, as someone else has previously said.

A lot of Cole coming across as the heel really has to do with the lack of Lawler being sensible on commentary. It just seems now a days, if your realistic, or appear as a realist and observe both sides, you are the "heel".

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Michael Cole never turned face, nor has he been a proper heel since much earlier this year. I'm glad they brought JBL to Smackdown, because Cole being on every single show of the week was wearing me thin. Don't get me wrong, I apprecate his broadcasting skills, but what I cannot stand is how WWE jerks him around and makes him go from heel/face several times a week. JBL has even called him out on it several times.

On Raw he will talk about how he loves Prime Time Players, and thinks they're the future of the tag team division. He'll applaud their heel tactics, and put them over. And then on Smackdown he'll bitch about them doing the exact same thing. He is playing both sides of the fence and it's completely ruined him for me. His character is so damn transparent, Vince McMahon himself may as well be behind the commentary booth.

As for being talking about his character dominating the show, the lead commentator - as Cole so heelishly points out on a semi-frequent basis - is the voice of the product. He doesn't have off-time; he's always there. Always talking. Always bringing you what's inside and outside the ring. Even when there was a legit feud going on between King and Cole, or Cole and JR, it would take up ONE slot on the card. Maybe two. You're talking 10 minutes, maybe 15 with commercials, out of two hours. Now three hours. I honestly hate that whenever people don't like somebody - case in point: John Cena - they immediately say things like "I wish they weren't on my screen ALL THE TIME." You know how little Cena is actually on-screen?

 

[theBec2101]

I hope not. He wasn’t a very good heel announcer. With him not knowing the product as well as he should by now and he doesn’t have the ability to trash talk with quick comebacks it makes him look like a week announcer and heel that makes a lot of mistakes. But as a face his mistakes are generally forgiving because of him being a face and are not pointed out as much and he doesn’t have to worry about coming off as heel and talking trash and what not, rather just an announcer.

 

[Evolution1991]

This is a bit of a bump for this thread, but I think they were subtly testing the waters with Cole. Someone has to look at things in the viewpoint of a heel, but I doubt Cole will ever return to the all out mega heel
character.

On a side note, im just watching Royal Rumble 1999 and the balance between 'Face' Cole and 'Heel' King is actually amazing. If only it could be like that again.

 

[Dirk]

Heel Cole was just a bit too much for me. Lawler I liked as a heel and JBL now is solid gold. Regal on NXT also played a realistic heel sort of role and I liked him. So why not Cole?

I guess I just found Lawler, Regal and especially JBL quite...funny. "I'd like to eliminate you, on commentary. Just a thought." - JBL to Matthews (lol). Cole, not so much. He just kept ass-kissing the heels and if you weren't high on the Miz, you wouldn't care for Cole idolizing him, either.

Three guys on commentary works for me, just don't give Cole the ultra-heel role, please!