**MERGED** The Michael Cole Thread

[berlinbrawler]

However, we all remember when Jonathan Coachman was a heel and an announcer. Not even he was this terrible. He didn't make you mute the TV or change the channel. He knew there was a limit. Thats my problems with Cole is he's getting WAY too much air time, and the fact that while he may succeed as a heel, he sucks as both heel and announcer because he's failing miserably now at doing the same job he's done the last god knows how many years.

Cole is worse than The Coach?!? Wow. It's cool that you hate him, but that's kinda below the belt, don't you think?

I don't know. I have always gravitated towards the despicable obnoxious bad guys in wrestling. Even as a kid. When playing I was much happier playing the bad guy and had no problem leaving the Hulk Hogan part to my friend David. (Now what does that say about me? ) And in my humble opinion Cole is playing that role to perfection.

I would have to agree, though, that Cole is too loud, too out there to remain a heel commentator permanently. It does get taxing on the nerves from time to time I admit. Booby Heenan he ain't. And I do think he will leave commentary soon, at least for a considerable while, to become the RAW GM and/or Jack Swagger's manager. He would make a damn fine GM. The best since Bischoff I suspect.

 

[jai151]

Cole is worse than The Coach?!? Wow. It's cool that you hate him, but that's kinda below the belt, don't you think?

I don't know. I have always gravitated towards the despicable obnoxious bad guys in wrestling. Even as a kid. When playing I was much happier playing the bad guy and had no problem leaving the Hulk Hogan part to my friend David. (Now what does that say about me? ) And in my humble opinion Cole is playing that role to perfection.

I would have to agree, though, that Cole is too loud, too out there to remain a heel commentator permanently. It does get taxing on the nerves from time to time I admit. Booby Heenan he ain't. And I do think he will leave commentary soon, at least for a considerable while, to become the RAW GM and/or Jack Swagger's manager. He would make a damn fine GM. The best since Bischoff I suspect.

There's a difference between a good heel and an "obnoxious bad guy."

Cole is obnoxious. He's offensive, not because he's the bad guy, but because his acting and writing are so godawful. Repeating the same line, shouted, 20 times in a row is all he knows how to do. Between him and Vicky Guerrero (who has the most grating voice on the planet), I don't know which sends me to the remote faster.

And that's the key. A good heel should never make you want to change the channel. A good heel should never make you want to smack mute. A good heel should keep you just as engaged as a good face. Cole fails miserably at that. He has "go away" heat. Nothing more.

He was always a horrible announcer. Why they thought he'd do any better as a personality, I will never know. He should have gotten fired over that twitter, probably would have upped the ratings.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Thing is I'm not convinced that Cole or Vickie really do have that effect. A lot of people say the hit the mute button or change the channel, but to be honest I doubt most of them really do that. Some may, but not all who say so.

I am well aware of the difference between heel heat and what was once referred to as X-Pac Heat or Jeff Jarrett Heat, meaning the bad sort of heat that leads to boycotting the program.
I just think there is a big gulf between some annoyed fans thinking it has reached that point and it really being the case. Deep down those fans still want to see Cole or Vickie beaten or humiliated rather than not at all. As long as it is at that stadium it actually works quite well into the WWE's plans.

As of this point, the fans still hate Cole and Vickie. Never forget that the opposite of love is not hate but indifference.

 

[jai151]

Thing is I'm not convinced that Cole or Vickie really do have that effect. A lot of people say the hit the mute button or change the channel, but to be honest I doubt most of them really do that. Some may, but not all who say so.

I am well aware of the difference between heel heat and what was once referred to as X-Pac Heat or Jeff Jarrett Heat, meaning the bad sort of heat that leads to boycotting the program.
I just think there is a big gulf between some annoyed fans thinking it has reached that point and it really being the case. Deep down those fans still want to see Cole or Vickie beaten or humiliated rather than not at all. As long as it is at that stadium it actually works quite well into the WWE's plans.

As of this point, the fans still hate Cole and Vickie. Never forget that the opposite of love is not hate but indifference.

They do have that effect. At least they do on the group I watch with. In fact, one of the group has outright stopped watching until the Cole angle is over. I'm not that far behind joining him.

I think you're vastly underestimating the power Cole has to make people not want to watch. I don't want to see him beaten. I just want him gone. I was praying the Wrestlemania match would be a 2 minute squash and then this would end forever. I long ago stopped caring about the story they were trying to build. It never made sense anyway.

But here we are, nearly a month past, and nothing has changed. I used to hate to go to live shows, because I would miss out on the announcing. Now I'd rather only go to live shows so I would have to hear from him less. And I could go take a piss break when his segment starts. I've gotten into the habit of watching Raw TiVO'd so I can fast forward past his bullshit. I just don't even watch Smackdown anymore.

If that's not telling enough, when I told a friend of mine Cole had "Go Away heat," he corrected me. "No, Cole has Get AIDS heat." That says we don't want to see him beaten, we don't want to kill him, we just want him to disappear. And die from a horrible disease.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Fair enough. There obviously is a considerable percentage of fans that feel Cole crossed the line.

But I do actually maintain that "Cole has Get AIDS heat and should die of a horrible disease" is still better than plain "Go away heat." There is passion in there if people feel that strongly about it. For every fan who feels that way and actually does do the TiVo thing there are 100 fans who reflect a similar hatred but are not compelled to switch the stations. The WWE needs to be careful that people like you and your friends remain a minority. It is a bit of a slippery slope and the WWE needs to be careful, but right now their feedback can't be quite that bad or they wouldn't push Cole despite his poor Wrestlemania performance or his Twitter remarks.

 

[jai151]

I'm not so sure that it's feedback that is keeping him with the push. WWE has shown a creative slide in recent memory. Whether that's based on Vince as has been recently put forward or another factor is up in the air, but they've shown a great unwillingness to say "This isn't really working, let's try and come up with something better."

In essence, I think they're keeping it going because they put so much into it, not because of the success or failure of the angle.

 

[berlinbrawler]

I give you that. The WWE's unwillingness to accept failure in some experiments is difficult to deny. Sometimes they stuck with something to the bitter end for no apparent reason. Sometimes it pays off, though. Everyone was calling for and expecting radical changes concerning John Cena back when the whole split reaction thing came about in his first title run. But they stayed the course and it worked out (in a weird way). At other times it is just grueling torture to watch it unfold. Torrie Wilson's father comes to mind. Katie Vick. Things like that.
Again at other times they kill an idea almost as soon as they first presented it on TV. Did Kizarny (was that his me?) appear once or was it two times? Hardly what I would call a fair chance.

Anyway, I expect the amount of Cole people have to endure to go back considerably possibly as soon as after the next PPV. Maybe when he is no longer making commentary and is only the GM or a manager he won't push so many people beyond their endurance levels.

 

[jai151]

They definitely need to scale him back. Putting him in the GM role, or better yet having the GM be forced to unmask himself to prove Cole has been generating fake emails leading to his being fired as an announcer and brought back as a manager, would improve the situation dramatically.

You can't have go away heat if you actually go away, after all. And scaling back 4 hours of Cole a week to 10 or 15 minutes of Cole a week would be going away, for all intents and purposes.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

They definitely need to scale him back. Putting him in the GM role, or better yet having the GM be forced to unmask himself to prove Cole has been generating fake emails leading to his being fired as an announcer and brought back as a manager, would improve the situation dramatically.

You can't have go away heat if you actually go away, after all. And scaling back 4 hours of Cole a week to 10 or 15 minutes of Cole a week would be going away, for all intents and purposes.

Agreed. I don't think the heat on Cole would be as strong if he wasn't constantly in the face of the fans on all WWE programming. He would still have heat but not as strong.

Also, this heel character was built up to have some kind of payoff. Wrestlemania was supposed to have been it, and now it's left us wondering what is the payoff? We want to believe it will be at Extreme Rules, but we thought the same with Mania and look what happened. No payoff, storyline continues and storyline gets worse.

And don't tell me that match at Mania was a success. It wasn't. It was WAY too long and would only have been a success if the logical ending happened. "Cole gets his ass beaten in seconds by Lawler, Lawler gets his first wrestlemania match and win. The End" They can't honestly think that this can last a long time. It can't. Bobby Heenan he isn't, damn right he's not because Heenan was a manager and announcer and all the while when he did that, he was a professional. With Cole it's like he doesn't know what the hell he's doing. He's like a rank amateur and it's just plain sad and tragic.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

Cole is worse than The Coach?!? Wow. It's cool that you hate him, but that's kinda below the belt, don't you think?

I don't know. I have always gravitated towards the despicable obnoxious bad guys in wrestling. Even as a kid. When playing I was much happier playing the bad guy and had no problem leaving the Hulk Hogan part to my friend David. (Now what does that say about me? ) And in my humble opinion Cole is playing that role to perfection.

I would have to agree, though, that Cole is too loud, too out there to remain a heel commentator permanently. It does get taxing on the nerves from time to time I admit. Booby Heenan he ain't. And I do think he will leave commentary soon, at least for a considerable while, to become the RAW GM and/or Jack Swagger's manager. He would make a damn fine GM. The best since Bischoff I suspect.

I'm not saying that in terms of actual announcing that Cole is worse than Coach. When all Cole did was call the match when he was with Taz and even with JBL, I was able to tolerate him. Coach was annoying as his heel character and heel announcer days. BUt he knew how to tone it down, where to draw the line and not get near the amount of heat Cole is getting. THAT is where I'm saying Coach was better at than Cole. Not by a lot, just in that aspect.

 

[Kharma Bites]

Just make him swaggers manager and shut his cake hole already, seriously its not heat anymore its just plain old not liking it. its gone on too long and as a result the commentary has been real poor recently, even more so when JR there.

cole has just been really irritating and not in a good way and its ruining my viewing pleasure. the drama should be in the ring not at the announce table and certainly not 80% of the time

 

[Kofi/ZigglerClassic]

Problem with Cole right now, is he's talking about everything except the match. He talks about himself and stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It takes the viewer out of the match and really doesn't help put anybody over. An announcer is supposed to enhance the match experience. Not take you out of it.

So i agree, he needs to be removed from commentary.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

You can't help but wonder if the reason they can't seem to start anything new after Mania and are bombarding us with Wrestlemania rematch after Wrestlemania rematch is because they spent so much time building around this guy that when it came to there being a payoff, they don't know what it will be. Most of us are trying to forget about this past Mania because it sucked. But they won't let us do it. But I'm getting off topic. They spent more time pushing Cole as this character that they've either buried talent or nobody got moved up. The Hart Dynasty got split up when they shouldn't have because Cole ripped on them and made them look stupid. He bags on Daniel Bryan to where it's not even funny, check that, it was never funny. He buried Kaval when he was there and we don't know how good the Miz really is without his pet monkey screaming and cheering him on like a prissy cheerleader.

You can't keep him on the announce table because you can't have him shake this character. Too many people think he's an asshole and he's lost any and all credibility he had prior to all this. He just looks like an unprofessional jackass that people would rather see hit by a bus repeatedly than to ever hear him do commentary ever again.

One thing I hope with this draft is that he gets moved to Smackdown and stays on just that show while we get JR back on Raw. But that is a bare minimum. I would rather see Cole off of ALL WWE TV because maybe then I can finally enjoy it without having to mute the stupid TV, something no wrestling fan should have to do. I am glad that more people are starting to see the problem with him and how he takes away from what he's supposed to be plugging.

 

[Kofi/ZigglerClassic]

The problem is, his heel a character isn't like Miz or CM Punk were you boo them but you love them because their entertaining and funny at times. Cole is the type were it's 'annoying go away' heat. He's not funny, he's not entertaining, he's just irritating to hear. He's not like Heenan or Jesse who were heel announcers but stayed focus on the match and were funny at times. Cole talks about himself, the Miz, and everything that has nothing to do with the match. Want example: Just watch the episode that was a salute to the classic RAW and watch how you get disconnected out of the Swagger/Bryan match because Cole wouldn't shut up about JR and didn't once say anything about what happened in the ring. Both young guys probably got buried because of Cole's announcing. He is now just plain annoying like Jar Jar Binks.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Maybe they should make Cole Khali's manager. Heel Khali, that is. I could see that work. Cole's smug, cocky attitude because he knows he's got a Sasquatch backing him.

 

[iwinulose]

i think i speak for many when i say that monday night raw, after cole winning, will be fairly dreadful. why is cole constantly winning? i hope someone puts him in his place, i dont think i can listen to cole go on and on about beating lawler. i just dont have it in me X_X.

1)will coles ego hit an all time high (once again)?
2)will cole and lawler have a 3rd match later down the road?
3)what is the wwe thinking?

discuss away.

 

[911 JP]

Cole is part of Cenas clan, so he will get pretty much what ever he wants. but to answer your q's

1. I didnt realise coles ego ever dropped? But it will keep increasing until it eventually pops and he goes back to his normal Cole commentating.

2. God I Hope Not!
3. Again hes in Cenas clan so he gets what he wants.

 

[MizFit Brocko]

As much as i like Cole, his bragging and interfering in matches, and simply not 'commentating' has become pretty annoying. I hope that if it's not over tonight, then it's over tomorrow, and that the loser quits. Lawler will lose, Cole will brag for a while, then its done.

I'm sick of the bickering between the 2 on commentary, and it really detracts from the matches...

Just my 2c.

 

[iwinulose]

As much as i like Cole, his bragging and interfering in matches, and simply not 'commentating' has become pretty annoying. I hope that if it's not over tonight, then it's over tomorrow, and that the loser quits. Lawler will lose, Cole will brag for a while, then its done.

I'm sick of the bickering between the 2 on commentary, and it really detracts from the matches...

Just my 2c.

i would rather see cole leave, cause i strongly dislike cole and he is constantly ruining matches which is another reason i dislike him. i especially dislike him interupting diva matches, im trying to watch divas who cant wrestle, try to wrestle, more for eye candy of course, but still it ticks me off how he thinks he is better then real performers. though he is in cenas clan so yeah.

 

[MizFit Brocko]

No way Cole is leaving, he is on both shows, is the voice of the WWE, and has just won at back to back PPV's. Vince is obviously pretty high up on Cole, and Lawler is getting pretty old, and simply, i'm sick of him on Commentary. Get rid of Lawler, and have Cole the heel commentator, who just sticks to commentating, and not bickering with another announcer and detracting from the matches.

 

[Rammsteinerteen]

1)will coles ego hit an all time high (once again)?

It's as high as it can go, I can't see this win being a lot worse, unless he constantly brags about pinning out a sixty year old stroke victim, who has a broken arm BTW.

2)will cole and lawler have a 3rd match later down the road?

I hope not, Jack Swagger needs real wrestlers to feud with, and I have no idea where this is going, unless it ends with Michael Cole leaving to SmackDown, and never returning to Raw. That means Jerry Lawler won't hate Michael Cole too much anymore.

3)what is the wwe thinking?

To make Jack Swagger look like a real heel maybe? They basically did the same thing with Edge and Vickie Guerrero, I though I'd never hate Edge in my life until watching him do what he did to Undertaker with Vickie Guerrero. This could turn out to be really good for Jack Swagger, or this could turn out to be really pointless.

 

[Azane]

Cole's ego can't get much longer, but even the strongest Cole supporter wanted the story to finish at WM, the fact we're seeing it drag on into May is just....

3rd match seems inevitable, tonight didn't finish anything, and it seems this feud is gonna have to break off in a match... so a 3rd is assured, although I could see Swagger vs someone of King's choosing to blow it off, and banish Sir Michael Cole.

WWE is trying to make Cole into the Mega heel that everyone wanted, they just screwed it up by making it a non wrestling commentator, instead of a cocky heel. Wade Barret with Michael Cole's gimmick as a wrestler, people wouldn't be able to get enough of him, But see as its a weakly pathetic commentator, there's nowhere this can go besides seeing Cole get his ass kick, at this point, I'd shell out 50$ for WWE to just take him off TV all together, and thats their thought process... I think

 

[Da Truth]

I hate it, but you can get angry at a man for making a living at what he does best and that's annoy people. The commentating on Raw has become a atrocious because of this storyline.
1)will coles ego hit an all time high (once again)? Yes it will; this is really gonna suck; if he didn't brag what would be the purpose of him winning.

2)will cole and lawler have a 3rd match later down the road?
I hate to say it but yes; if not Lawler then JR. It's gonna be one of the two most likely Jr tho.
3)what is the wwe thinking? They're using him to push Swagger. Swaggercould make it on his own by pushing him as a wrestling machine. It'll work better if Cole was strictly a manager and not a commentating anymmore. Maybe Swagger will get annoyed by Cole like the rest of us and snap his ankle.

 

[chucky76]

I am so sick of Cole vs Lawler, Cole and Swagger vs J.R. and Lawler. Maybe they should have a real wrestler take on Michael Cole and shut him up for good. If he wants to brag about beating up both two people, one who isn't even an athlete then it's time for Cole to face other opponents. Maybe someone will take Cole and throw him through his plastic box and teach him a lesson.

 

[Minecrafted]

Maybe someone will take Cole and throw him through his plastic box and teach him a lesson.

He does like to interrupt Diva's matches so maybe Kharma would do that, but he seemed to like her and beating him up would only give her face cred xD