WWE Concerned About Michael Cole's Commentary

[Cracka Jack]

Didn't see a thread on this, so I figured it was worth starting myself. These are two reports on Cole's commentary from this very site made earlier today. I assume most of you have read them already, but if you haven't, here they are:

WWE officials held a meeting last week after the RAW ratings came in, during which Michael Cole's commentary was discussed according to F4Wonline.com.

TV rating's patterns show fans have little interest in seeing anyone on TV besides the top Superstars. It was considered that a reason why might be Cole's continual burial of talent on Raw and Smackdown for the past year or so.

And here's the second:

As noted earlier, there has been internal discussion about how Michael Cole has buried talents over the past year and how that burying hasn't helped them any. Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan were specifically brought up as far as Cole burying them goes. It was pointed out that Cole has put them down in commentary forever and both haven't been booked as main event talents up until recently and it showed when they had to rely on Bryan, Ryder and CM Punk to carry the RAW main event, which flopped, a few weeks back.

Though just a report, it seems WWE may have taken notice of how most people seem to feel about Cole's commentary, and that it's possibly showing up in the ratings. The fact that he bashes basically all faces other than the likes of Cena and Orton may have driven the idea into some viewers' heads that they're all that's worth paying attention to. They probably thought Cole opposing these guys would rally the fans behind them considering the heat he gets, but since no other announcer does a particularly good job at backing them up, it's all just hate that the viewers get. Thing is, I don't think Cole is necessarily a bad announcer, just that he's overdoing this role of his right now. Heel Cole is hard to bear, while regular play-by-play Cole is just fine. Hopefully these reports are true and something is done about it soon.

What do you think?

Is Cole a problem?

Do you think a change may be coming, and when?

How do you expect WWE, storyline-wise, to go about removing Cole and/or his heel persona?

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

If anything it's VKM's fault. He is the one inside Cole's ear shouting 'Anal Bleeding, Say it, SAY IT!'

Look people on these forums make up how much, 10% of the actual fanbase. Kids these days hear how Bryan is a hypocrite for cashing in when he is supposed to be glorified as someone who can actually beat people and be credible, and Cole (doing what is told to him) buries him constantly and even after he wins. There are thousands in attendance who cheered when DBD won right? Well millions at home nodded their head grudgingly that ye, Cole is right, DBD is a hypocrite. Kayfabe isn't all that dead.

I'm not saying the poor ratings are Cole's fault or anything. I believe ratings always take a slide around this time because of American Football or Basketball whatever, and pick up during the road to WrestleMania.It was entertaining at first but I do think it's time for Cole to drop this character on commentary, not because ratings are slipping, but because it's just dragged on for too long.

 

[Dr. IaN]

Is cole a problem? Tbh, he is one of the reasons I hate watching WWE. He's just plain annoying, there's no craft to what he does. He just b-tches and moans over everything, burying Bryan mainly. The only one he really puts over is Miz. Christian's heel persona would b-tch and moan but he wouldn't bury anybody.

Do you think a change may be coming, and when? IF it does, I'm pretty sure it'll be in the next month. WWE seems to want to change a whole heap of things January (Brodus Clay, 1/2/12, Skip's return). So I think they would have to turn him later this month.

How do you expect WWE, storyline-wise, to go about removing Cole and/or his heel persona? Not really sure how they can. Maybe an angle with Miz.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I think that the WWE is trying to establish Cole as the heel commentator to replace Lawler. He has been the heel commentator for most of his commentary career. King would bash all of the faces as well, but he knew how to do it and keep it funny. King was more or less a biased heel comedian commentator and was golden at it. He is in the Hall of Fame. He's 61 years old now and it's time to work on replacing him. The problem with Cole is that he isn't funny. He is annoying and just comes across as hateful. He has been the face commentator for all, if not most of his commentary career. He used to be the wimpy nerd that got picked on by people like The Rock and now just comes across as a spiteful, hateful, resentful, bitter person. He calls Bryan a nerd all the time ironically. Simply put Cole is no Lawler and obviously can't pull of the heel role. People legitimately can't stand him because he is annoying.
As for how to fix this. I'd say have someone "injure" Cole. Maybe Mark Henry or some other heel. This would give Cole reason to stop advocating heels when he returns. Then have Jerry cut a promo one day expressing how sick he is of having to play the nice guy and bite his tongue all the time. He can blame the PG era or he can blame the company. This would allow heel Jerry to return while they put someone else as the face commentator. Who that person should be, i don not know yet. Whoever it is would only need to be there while Cole is "injured". My vote would be for JR. Classic heel Lawler and "good ol' JR" sounds nice to me. Cole could come back and apologize for his actions and words and humble himself before the fans. Then once it's time to replace Jerry, they will need a former wrestler to do it. There has almost always been a wrestler/former wrestler on commentary because the knowledge they posses is needed. Now who would I recommend? Goldust. He is dynamic and a very talented talker that can play many roles. The WWE isn't doing anything else with him anyways. I wouldn't have him in Goldust character though. Just Dustin Rhodes. This would also allow a decent title run for Cody. Remember when WWE brought in the light heavyweight division? Brian Christopher would always get help from his dad(Lawler for those who don't know) which brought a lot of heat that helped his character a lot. Similarly Dustin would be able to interfere in Cody's matches. This would make his wins believable for people like myself that don't think Cody can pull it off cleanly. Maybe even have his dad as a manager to distract the ref. This would give us a solid heel commentator who is a great talker and can draw legitimate heat thus allowing Cole to become the face that he needs to be. Cole can be disapproving of Dustin's actions. Also if fans are having a hard time accepting Cole back as a face, they can simply have him intervene, when Dustin interferes, allowing Cole to help the face win the title thereby legitimizing him as a face. This could also lead to the Rhodes' harassing Cole and draw sympathy towards the guy.
I know it might seem a little far out to some of you guys, but tell me what you think.

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

Yea i do believe Cole's commentary does equal loss of ratings but i don't think it's because of burial of talent. To me it's more like his annoying personality. I know this has been said multiple times but commentary most times is almost the only way a match is watchable so if the person calling that commentary is constantly making you the viewer feel stupid,annoyed,or irritated wouldn't you wanna change the channel?

 

[RIPRKO1005]

I remember way back when cole started his heel character and some people liked it. Even then i hated it! its just doesn't make sense he's a play by play commentator, he should not be heel! Maybe its just me but I've always stuck by the ideology that if your gonna have a heel announcer it should be the color commentator. It just seems dumb to have a guy run people down and then turn around and tell you to tune in next week, buy the ppv or how great the wwe is.

As far as him burying talent, that really doesnt seem to shocking that it would have an effect on people taking guys seriously. When your so called "voice of the wwe" calls someone a joke or loser enough times people may start to listen.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I remember way back when cole started his heel character and some people liked it. Even then i hated it! its just doesn't make sense he's a play by play commentator, he should not be heel! Maybe its just me but I've always stuck by the ideology that if your gonna have a heel announcer it should be the color commentator. It just seems dumb to have a guy run people down and then turn around and tell you to tune in next week, buy the ppv or how great the wwe is.

Yes this is the exact problem. Jerry is a great color commentator and Cole is a great play by play. WWE switching their roles killed both characters IMO. It's like trying to put the square peg in the round hole and the round peg in the square hole. Neither will fit right. If you try to force them then you'll just damage the pegs(announcers) and the holes(commentary in general). Face Cole has always worked and heel King has always worked so why change it?

 

[Mengaone]

Is Cole a problem? Imo, yes he is. His constant burial of talent is doing the company no good, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Heel's don't work on play by play. It brings the mood down, Daniel bryan cashes in at TLC and wins the title, you want to cheer and celebrate with him and all you can hear is Cole with his annoying voice shouting no and downing him, no thanks.

Do you think a change may be coming, and when? I hope so, if there is i doubt it will be any time soon, remember it's VKM shouting down his ear to say some of this stuff and we all know how stubborn Mcmahon is.

How do you expect WWE, storyline-wise, to go about removing Cole and/or his heel persona? First of all I think we need to look at the reaction Cole is getting here, we all despise him, so he's doing his job just fine, he's been built up correctly. it's not his fault it doesn't work on PBP, I would have him in some sort of angle with an up and coming heel, he becomes their manager/mouthpiece and i think he would be great in that sort of position. Who? Got no idea, wouldn't work with Miz or Ziggler as they don't need the heat, maybe brodus clay? Just a thought.

 

[Kermit]

It would of been fine if this whole thing ended at Wrestlemania 27. Cole should of lost at WM and either been removed from commentary or be turned into a neutral play-by-play announcer. I don't blame him at all though, because ultimately it is the higher-ups who decide where he will be. But I feel like we have had Michael Cole shoved down our throat for too long.

Move him to a manager position, or a GM position, or anything else but behind the commentator's table. At least for a good while, if not forever. We need someone to be calling the moves and not promoting twitter constantly. Again, this is all on the higher-ups and nothing against Cole character portrayal.

I hope that something does change, because I am tired of hearing Cole dominate the sound wave.

 

[Headman]

It could be Cole, or it could be that the WWE always makes Cole's point for him. He says Bryan is a liar when he says he's waiting until WM28 and the same WWE creative team who is blaming Cole's announcing goes and proves him right by booking it that way. Cole does need to spread the love around to other heels instead of jocking the Miz's nuts exclusively, but the bigger problem is that Cole puts himself over more than anyone else when it is the job of an announcer to put the talent over. This is a small gripe because I firmly believe the bulk of the blame goes to WWE creative. They don't have the balls to tell Vince "People just aren't interested in wrestling right now." or "We just don't have any ideas for these guys and wouldn't even be using them if you didn't bend to the assholes on the net or at the Garden.". I see a group of scared little yes men sitting around a room looking for people to blame other than themselves and their bosses. I've never seen an excuse solve a problem and unless you're Eli Manning I've never seen a knee jerk reaction turn into a major victory.

 

[The Eighties]

Is Cole a problem?

Yes becasue Vince uses him as his avatar to spew inane and irritating rants at guys he doesn't really want to have to push. Cole's rants are often so overbearing that there is no match commentary and all you hear the whole time is a bunch of dumb, pathetic, frat boy dirvel drowning out everything.

Do you think a change may be coming, and when?

Hopefully soon as it's become a bugbear.

How do you expect WWE, storyline-wise, to go about removing Cole and/or his heel persona?

There's a few ways, one is to simply have him tone it back and eventually just return to his old role, another is to have him lose a match of some kind and give JR his seat back while Cole goes on to become a heel manager for a stable of some sort and use his heat to help them get over.

Option three is get some pay off from all the heat building and have Bryan beat the living shit out of Cole and have him stretchered out, when he comes back he's been taught some humility and goes back to simply calling the matches.

 

[Kermit]

Option three is get some pay off from all the heat building and have Bryan beat the living shit out of Cole and have him stretchered out, when he comes back he's been taught some humility and goes back to simply calling the matches.

This is what should of happened at Wrestlemania 27. Jerry, or a stand in for him, like DB or another rising star, should of went this route and ended Cole's tyrant control over the commentator booth. I felt like they totally missed the ball there and let the peak of his heat slip through there fingers. I just don't understand how you pull out the punches, like having Cole degrade Jerry's dead mother, and not have it payoff.

Wrestlemania 27 had some weird booking altogether, but this took the cake for me. I said after Wrestlemania 27, that it was just a build up show to Wrestlemania 28. Hopefully this is the case with Cole and they cash in on his demise.

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

Sadly,To be honest with you i don't see Cole going away anytime soon. Vince will keep using him to try to get his points across drowning out the good commentary and making raw and smackdown matches unbearable

 

[ECW Sandman]

WWE needs to do something quick they can not blame Zack Ryder or CM Punk for the drop in ratings I blame Cole honestly like someone said before people really can not stand him what so ever the whole making fun of Jerry Lawler's late Mother was just poor taste I don't know if it Jerry Ok'd it but it it was just wrong and stupid I think more people hate him then Vickie and I think John Cena combined.

 

[Scofield]

I REFUSE to blame Michael Cole himself for this. WHY?

It's Vinces & Creatives fault for feeding him some of the shit that he spews on air. Granted I have spoken of my like for Michael Coles heel character, whereas guys like HHH & Undertaker have the majority of creative control over their character do you really think Michael Cole has much pull in his own character? Unlikely.

Sometimes I think the creative team literally have no clue whatsoever what they are actually doing.

 

[Scofield]

We all know also that in the past Vince loves to poke fun of Gool Ol JR on tv, and I do remember recently about there been heat on Cole for the comments he made about JR's Bells Palsy problem....well I am sure as shit for a fact that Cole himself has nothing but mutual respect for Jim Ross behind the scenes. What Vince tells him to say, Cole says.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

I think the problem with Michael Cole is two-fold

Problem #1: He is a giant tool. For whatever reason they decided to make Cole as humanly unlovable as possible. He's everything wrong in the world wrapped up in a cheap suit.

Problem #2: He says some of the most God-awful and easily debatable things, AND NO ONE CALLS HIM ON IT!!! Sure Booker T, Jerry Lawler, and Josh Matthews all try, but they have the combined IQ of the ring bell. I say if they're going to keep Cole as is, they need to get Edge to join the booth, or someone else who's intelligent, witty, and can rip Cole apart for his asinine comments.

 

[Cracka Jack]

Move him to a manager position, or a GM position, or anything else but behind the commentator's table. At least for a good while, if not forever. We need someone to be calling the moves and not promoting twitter constantly. Again, this is all on the higher-ups and nothing against Cole character portrayal.

This, basically. Cole has heat. He knows how to generate it and he knows how to sustain it. Him sitting behind the announce table while he has it does absolutely nothing with it. He can praise Miz to try and get people to hate him, he can bash Ryder and Bryan in an attempt to rally people behind them, but he'd be most effective doing this outright, especially where the live crowd can react to him. Cole is good at his job; it's just that he's doing the wrong job right now. As a manager or GM, he could be the male equivalent to Vickie as a total heat-machine. Either use his heat to the fullest or turn him back to a plain ol' play-by-play guy. None of this is a criticism of the man himself, simply of how poorly he's being used.

 

[Negrodamus]

It's not all Cole's fault, his partners personalities are weak compared to him, when they try to argue back they are not as convincing building the faces up as he is to tear them down. That has been the problem for some time now, its time for a new partner GET RID OF KING he is stale and boring and Cole owns him every show same goes for Booker.
Cole needs a commentator like Punk with him or a Jericho type, as we see he is clearly more intelligent than the 2 he is with. Cole is fine how he is the others need to smarten up and get on his level (they are too passive aggressive) or find someone that is.

Im Negrodamus and Im a Cole Miner ( he needs to bring that back BTW)

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Is Cole a problem?
Well, Cole's heel commentary was pretty enjoyable and entairtaining at the beginning but it should have ended at Wrestlemania 27. Since then Cole's been getting worse. Cole's is a greeat commentator, but it's time to stop the burial a litlle bit. Yeah, he could play an old school heel commentator without crossing the line.

Do you think a change may be coming, and when?
I believe that in the next few months things are going to change. And, there's nothing else for Cole to hate about actually. Bryan's a champ, Ryder's a champ.

How do you expect WWE, storyline-wise, to go about removing Cole and/or his heel persona?
The last thing I wanna see is Cole in another match with a stipuation. Maybe have him being fired by the "new" GM or have him in an angle where he has family problems and needs money and nobody stands in his side. And that leads to his change of character. Or they could just cut it like that without any storyline.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

The only thing that a WWe announcer can be judged on is their ability to get over and connect with the fans. Everything else is down to; firstly, creative who send them out with the basic structure to the programming; and, secondly, the guerrilla position who interjects with what they might wish said at particular moments.

So, Cole & Lawler might be sent out with the initial info that CM Punk will open up the show, that he will be bringing out Zack Ryder as the new US Champion and Daniel Bryan as the new WHC. Cole will have the instructions to poke fun at Ryder about his goofiness and his Youtube programme and to continue his normal deriding of Bryan with the added bonus of how he has been a hypocrite by not standing his ground on waiting to WM28 and challenging for the title 'face to face'. Now, how much Cole needed coached from the back, we won't know because he has been fulfilling this role for quite some time now, so probably doesn't require too much prompting. Whilst this is going on, Jerry Lawler is meant to provide the counter argument putting over the faces and deriding Cole's biased assessment. Now the problem, most of what Cole has said is true - what possibly can 'The King' says to counter what is based in reality?

In the past, heel commentators would make wild accusations about the face wrestlers that were obvious lies that the play by play man would treat with the derision it deserved. When the comments can't be dismissed as fallacy, then they'll (obviously) hurt the face. This hasn't just happened with the faces either; not so long ago Jerry Lawler performed the same role when he was insulting David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty for showing no personality and not connecting with the fans, in this instance it was Cole who struggled to defend the two heels because what 'The King' was saying was also, in essence, true.

The era of kayfabe / reality blurring in the WWe might be in full flow but it is hurting how we and the general public perceive the guys who should be the next wave of drawing superstars. Another example of this, outside of the commentators, is the treatment of Alberto Del Rio by both CM Punk and John Cena were everything from his promo style to his JBL style gimmick is mocked. Again, how are we meant to take him as a serious main event competitor when his opponents are treating him and his gimmick like a joke?

It is said that Paul Heyman’s greatest gift was to highlight his wrestlers’ strengths whilst hiding their faults. Up until the heights of the Monday Night Wars, this was also the job of commentators and the wrestlers' promos under the guise of kayfabe. Now, given that the biggest proponent of the new style that dominates WWe programming at present was the nWo in WCW and this company is now out of business, this is not a ringing endorsement for it to still to be in prevalence over a decade later.

As far as Cole or any other commentator is concerned though, to quote one of the SD crew “Don’t hate the player! Hate the game!”

 

[Lion's Sacrifice]

They should be concerned about his commentary. Or lack there of it. All it has really become is him bashing everyone expect Miz. I mean its pretty bad, because they are right to believe that his commentary is holding people down. Why is someone going to believe that Bryan is a legitamate world champion, (He still needs to prove it.) if Cole is constantly basing everything this guy does every show. The lay person watching the show isn't going to believe that this guy is cabable of carry the strap. Because after watching two or three weeks they are going to start believing Cole, not matter if Bryan wins or not. If he loses then it is just going to legitimize what Cole is saying. His commentary was fine, but as many have said it should have ended at WM, now he's just beating a dead horse.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I'm glad the WWE is finally noticing this. I've stated my intentions before of planning to stop watching the WWE after WM28 mostly because of having to listen to Cole. If they shut him up I'd most likely change my mind. He's toned down since last WM but he's still way too over the top. He's on TV for over 4 hours a week and might say one thing that's actually funny. Other than that he does nothing but bash most every face while being a complete hypocrite when he talks about the heels. It's stupid enough that the other announcers rarely even call him out on it too.

Is he a problem? You're damn right he is. Either make him a manager or shut him up.

I sure hope a change is coming. Hopefully soon. And he's bashed on so many people that they could use practically any face in a storyline to do it. I'd say maybe DB as a way to get over, but the WHC shouldn't be using commentators to get over. But at the same time I really don't wanna see another commentator vs. commentator feud. Ugh.

 

[Workrate]

I don't understand the compulsion to have a heel and a face commentator. To me, commentators are meant to accent and help explain the storylines and action, not be embroiled in it. Once you start laying down the gauntlet that a commentator has to be a good guy or a bad guy, you've gone too far in their involvement.

 

[Dzone]

Cole is like a "semi-problem" I dont mind if he bashes superstars like Bryan but atleast has Bryan somehow get a massive one up on him at the end. Sure he won the WHC but he didn't rub it in Cole's face enough he should have literally smacked him in the face with it and I'd be happy.

I do think he would definately work as a Manager of sorts? on Smackdown ideally since Vickie is on RAW.

I have to admit I would be happy if he's taken off commentary because 2 hours of him as a "heel" is getting VERY annoying. However removing this heel persona will be AMAZINGLY hard because it's been shoved down our ears for atleast 2 hours a week (usually 3-5 hours). I have literally no idea as to how to get the heel-ish-ness out of him... thats how bad it is.