Michael Cole and Heel Commentary

[ABMorales787]

By himself he's bad. The role he eliminates by acting the way he does just tears apart the commentary team as a whole. Not a single guy sitting these tables is capable of analyzing what goes on in that ring coherently without going off against Cole just to seem smart. The dumbest things count as good strategy in these guys eyes nowadays. There's no real flow and no real analysis. It's just 3 or 2 guys talking about what's going on. You look at some of the past commentators. You look at JBL and what did he do? He was analytical and impartial. When you look at Bobby Heenan or Jerry Lawler, they were witty. When you look at Gorilla Monsoon and JR, they were the fan's voice. What you should be thinking. That's why they were good. Commentators help you go through the program with an audio perspective that shares in what you should be thinking? What's Michael Cole then? Subliminal advertisement for the most part. We hate him, so he praises The Miz, Vickie Guerrero and other heels so we hate them more. Simply because Cole likes them and we hate them. And we like Daniel Bryan, because Cole hates him. And he just jams it down, broadcast after broadcast. You know, there's a point when you reach over-saturation. And boy did Michael Cole reach it quickly.

Commentators are tools that help you go by the program. They shouldn't be influencing you to the point of it being subliminal advertising. The Miz love is waaaay too much. There are times when the camera cuts off to shoot Michael Cole standing up and clapping. The commentators go the entire program trying to stick it him. Taking away from the commentary greatly. It's just too much going on in a place where there shouldn't be anything at all.

 

[the420something]

I'm a big fan of Cole. He's a character I've been watching develop for over a decade. After all he took from The Rock, Jericho, SCSA, JBl, even Taz over the years. He worked his way through being the voice of Smackdown. He's worked his way into being the Voice of the WWE. He's got power and attention, and now he gets to get "revenge" on the superstars who always were jerks to him. The Miz and Vickie got picked on alot so it makes sense he "stands up for them." It makes sense he as issues with "That Nerd" Daniel Bryan, because people love him. Cole had about the same amount of charisma back when he started out.

Also him being the voice of the anonymous GM is great. I'm still hoping it's The Rock who get's revealed as th Gm. If only to see him verbally put Cole in his place, so Lawler can do it with violence.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

By himself he's bad. The role he eliminates by acting the way he does just tears apart the commentary team as a whole. Not a single guy sitting these tables is capable of analyzing what goes on in that ring coherently without going off against Cole just to seem smart. The dumbest things count as good strategy in these guys eyes nowadays. There's no real flow and no real analysis. It's just 3 or 2 guys talking about what's going on. You look at some of the past commentators. You look at JBL and what did he do? He was analytical and impartial. When you look at Bobby Heenan or Jerry Lawler, they were witty. When you look at Gorilla Monsoon and JR, they were the fan's voice. What you should be thinking. That's why they were good. Commentators help you go through the program with an audio perspective that shares in what you should be thinking? What's Michael Cole then? Subliminal advertisement for the most part. We hate him, so he praises The Miz, Vickie Guerrero and other heels so we hate them more. Simply because Cole likes them and we hate them. And we like Daniel Bryan, because Cole hates him. And he just jams it down, broadcast after broadcast. You know, there's a point when you reach over-saturation. And boy did Michael Cole reach it quickly.

Commentators are tools that help you go by the program. They shouldn't be influencing you to the point of it being subliminal advertising. The Miz love is waaaay too much. There are times when the camera cuts off to shoot Michael Cole standing up and clapping. The commentators go the entire program trying to stick it him. Taking away from the commentary greatly. It's just too much going on in a place where there shouldn't be anything at all.

You bring up an interesting point her in bringing up "over-saturation." Agreed, Cole suffers a great deal from that. But the point I'm trying to bring up is that while we hate Cole's skills because he fails to do what he's supposed to be doing as a commentator and just seems to make the product look worse, would we be hating him as much or possibly less than we do if he was only on one show?

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

I'm a big fan of Cole. He's a character I've been watching develop for over a decade. After all he took from The Rock, Jericho, SCSA, JBl, even Taz over the years. He worked his way through being the voice of Smackdown. He's worked his way into being the Voice of the WWE. He's got power and attention, and now he gets to get "revenge" on the superstars who always were jerks to him. The Miz and Vickie got picked on alot so it makes sense he "stands up for them." It makes sense he as issues with "That Nerd" Daniel Bryan, because people love him. Cole had about the same amount of charisma back when he started out.

Also him being the voice of the anonymous GM is great. I'm still hoping it's The Rock who get's revealed as th Gm. If only to see him verbally put Cole in his place, so Lawler can do it with violence.

And exactly where does that justify his poor commentary skills? The problem is he can't make up his mind to either be a commentator or his godforsaken character he plays on TV. The amount of effort he puts to get himself in the picture is borderline desperation to where it makes him look pathetic and irritating. If commentary is a reflection of the product in the ring, than Cole's making it look like a train wreck.

 

[ABMorales787]

You bring up an interesting point her in bringing up "over-saturation." Agreed, Cole suffers a great deal from that. But the point I'm trying to bring up is that while we hate Cole's skills because he fails to do what he's supposed to be doing as a commentator and just seems to make the product look worse, would we be hating him as much or possibly less than we do if he was only on one show?

For Michael Cole's character to work as does any character, there needs to be control. Jerry Lawler was for some time on both Raw and Smackdown back in 1999 as well as PPV's. But he was nowhere near as hated as Micheal Cole is today. Why? Because he didn't spend entire broadcasts pushing how much he loved Mr. McMahon or how boring a guy like maybe Al Snow was and such. His comments were always short and sweet and oftenly followed by a witty retort by JR. That ended the conversation and they were back to being a commentary team and focusing on what was going on. But with todays team, as I already noted, they go for long periods of time arguing between themselves and Michael Cole pulling his "I love Miz" or "I hate Daniel Bryan" stuff every single chance he gets with no moderation as to how he does it. If there were control to it and actual focus and Michael Cole didn't deter from the commentary to get his character over as often as he does, having him on all programs wouldn't be so bad. But sadly, that's not the case.

 

[the420something]

And exactly where does that justify his poor commentary skills? The problem is he can't make up his mind to either be a commentator or his godforsaken character he plays on TV. The amount of effort he puts to get himself in the picture is borderline desperation to where it makes him look pathetic and irritating. If commentary is a reflection of the product in the ring, than Cole's making it look like a train wreck.

What's wrong with his commentary? He's the color commentater. IMO he's no worse than JR's going nuts over Stone Cold or King's Puppies phase. I think he's supposed to be pathetic and irritating. I mean let's be honest he's similar to the IWC. Opinionated for no real reason other than he has an opinion. He comes across as a fan.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

JR and King didn't utter those things all the time or cram it down our throats. Cole's opinions are constantly thrown in our faces as well as his man crush on The Miz. I don't tune into WWE to watch Cole. I tune in to watch what goes on in the ring and I would like to do that without having to mute my TV. He likes The Miz, we get it, now Shut the F Up and call the match. How can we take what the WWE produces seriously if he doesn't? At least in the old days he would at least call the stupid match. He's now nothing more than a babbling butt-puppet or the Miz's prissy cheerleader. In his case both. Having to listen to Cole attempt to do play by play now is about as pleasant as an oral bowel movement.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that the problem with Michael Cole is that his role in the WWE has not been clearly defined. He is supposed to be a play by play announcer primarily. The other heel commentators that the OP has mentioned were all color commentators and their only job was to cheer for the heels and thus provide an alternative point of view. Play by play commentators are normally those who give an unbiased coverage of the proceedings and like the good guys because it is normal to do so.

Now Michael Cole has to juggle between a play by play guy as well as Miz's ardent supporter. That is why he comes across as stupid because as a play by play guy it is natural for him to support faces and yet he is so partial towards just one heel.

It is interesting to note though how this strange role of his came about. Michael Cole has always been hated for being a bad commentator or at least someone who was not in JR's league. Eventually the crowd started hating him so much that that hate of his was begging to be utilized and so the WWE heeled up his on screen character.

The best thing for Michael Cole to do would be to turn into a color commentator. That way he will be able to support heels without any hindrance. The only reason why he has to support faces is because he is a play by play announcer. He is a hated man anyway and if he starts supporting heels as a color commentator they will stand a better chance of getting over.

If he wants to stay a play by play announcer then I feel that he will have to stop supporting The Miz so blindly because that is not what play by play announcers do. But somehow I feel that he would be able to contribute more if he becomes a full fledged heel color commentator.

 

[MisterB47]

Finally someone is saying something about Cole, I thought people were just accepting him being the heel. The problem I have (and am sure others do) is that Cole's heel character is too involved with the actual wrestlers. When King (or any of the others listed) was the heel commentators, their character stayed at the desk. Why does Cole have to involve himself in matches. Also his heelness (if you could call it that) I believe is just way over the top. It could be taken almost as believable, that he isn't just playing character, he actually is like that. It doesn't surpirse me that it is turning people off viewing. And what is up with the Miz kissass thing?? Is this something the WWE are using to try and get Miz over. I'm all for a heel character as a commentator, I was even hoping CM Punk would fill that void, but Michael Cole is ridiculous not because people don't hate him for the sake of hating him as a heel, they actually hate him as a person!!

 

[longlivetheBrood]

Good Lord I didn't think it was possible, but after Smackdown! tonight my opinion of Cole (or whoever is feeding him lines or scripting him) has dropped to a new low. So Matthews counts to three, Vicki waves her arms in protest. All of a sudden, "VICKI'S REVERSING THE DECISION!!! WE HAVE A NEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!! VICKI'S REVERSING THE DECISION!!! WE HAVE A NEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!! Really? If that's the case, he wins by DQ b/c of outside inteference, since when does the title change hands in that way? He just sounds like a complete idiot and its very distracting. Much more of it and I'm swiching to TNA against my better judgement.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Good Lord I didn't think it was possible, but after Smackdown! tonight my opinion of Cole (or whoever is feeding him lines or scripting him) has dropped to a new low. So Matthews counts to three, Vicki waves her arms in protest. All of a sudden, "VICKI'S REVERSING THE DECISION!!! WE HAVE A NEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!! VICKI'S REVERSING THE DECISION!!! WE HAVE A NEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!! Really? If that's the case, he wins by DQ b/c of outside inteference, since when does the title change hands in that way? He just sounds like a complete idiot and its very distracting. Much more of it and I'm swiching to TNA against my better judgement.

I don't know. Maybe because Vickie said if Edge uses the spear that he would be disqualified and will lose the title. The same stipulation was in effect last year. Vickie was hurt outside yet saw the second spear from Edge and that is why Cole was screaming that Dolph was the new world champion which is great because it leads to next week in whether Vickie will actually strip Edge of the title.

 

[StraightEdge for Life]

I try to watch SmackDown, but it's getting harder because the quality of the matches are degraded by Cole's commentary.

I thought WWE was against having a bi-sexual character (Orlando Jordan was let go because of his wanting of being open in wrestling about his bi-sexuality). Cole states he's been married for 20 years, yet he comes off as he wants blow Miz off each week. I can't even enjoy a Daniel Bryan match anymore because of Cole's ******ed "Daniel Bryan's a nerd" line every Bryan match.

 

[MizFit Brocko]

I don't know. Maybe because Vickie said if Edge uses the spear that he would be disqualified and will lose the title. The same stipulation was in effect last year. Vickie was hurt outside yet saw the second spear from Edge and that is why Cole was screaming that Dolph was the new world champion which is great because it leads to next week in whether Vickie will actually strip Edge of the title.

Exactly this, Vickie saw Edge use the spear, which she had banned. Hence why Cole was going on about having a new champ.

On Cole, i really don't mind him. Yes, he takes away from the matches occasionally, but in no way does he make me want to mute or change channels... He has stopped with the whole being a heel but liking Cena thing, since Cena cost Miz his match against Edge.

Overall, yeah, he could definitely cut it back, but i think he is doing a good enough job and i enjoy him on commentary.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

When your play-by-play guy is so bad, and gets so much heat (which shouldn't happen to a freakin' play-by-play guy) that you are almost forced to turn him heel, something is wrong.

Now, that doesn't mean Michael Cole isn't doing well as a heel commentator. He seems a natural fit because, A. People already hate him, and B. He is sick and tired of being bashed. His heel turn didn't seem manufactured, at least not from where I'm sitting.

This might sound crazy, but I think Cole's biggest problem right now is having no one to play off of. Josh Matthews is solid, but I wouldn't say he's good. He has the same problem Grisham had; totally unemotional. He attempts to channel some intensity but it never seems natural. And Lawler isn't a play-by-play guy. When Lawler and Cole sit together, Cole has to do both jobs.

If J.R. were sitting with Cole, it would be an entirely different story. Cole could stick to analysis, and really play up the 'heel' gimmick. Until he gets someone who can really feed off of him, it won't be great. Solid, but not great.

 

[The Crock]

I love all the hate for Cole, simply put... He's doing a good job. He's getting heat and he's doing what needs to be done. He annoys people so much, that they'd love to get him to see things more objectively, that's one damn good heel commentator folks. His constant dick sucking of Miz is probably the most intelligent thing they could have done to get Miz over, Miz needed that extra push, that extra someone who is constantly in your ear telling you how good he is. It wasn't going to be Lawler, so they gave the job to Cole. Face the facts folks, Michael Cole is the flagship announcer, and he's doing a bang up job.