DavidB6937 Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 14 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: and have Michael Cole put out to pasture That's an interesting one. I'm enjoying his work more now than I ever have - what do you find wrong with him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted September 23 Paid Members Share Posted September 23 I'm in a similar boat. I hear about all these great angles and stories but the second I hear Cole's (or Graves or whoever) then my interest is out the window. I think he's a horrible announcer who isn't really good at anything an announcer needs to be good at. His biggest weakness being an inability to actually get across the emotion of a moment without it feel entirely forced and fake - like he's reading pre-prepared lines (which a lot of the time he clearly is). His voice is not pleasant, welcoming or pleasing to hear. Another aspect of him is that I associate his voice with years and years of terrible wrestling. If I hear his voice my natural instinct is disgust or boredom. So even if he turned it all around and became a brilliant announcer on a brilliant product the damage is already done. He's forever tainted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted September 23 Paid Members Share Posted September 23 (edited) 23 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: That's an interesting one. I'm enjoying his work more now than I ever have - what do you find wrong with him? I think it's PTSD. I just associate him with everything I grew to hate about their production. He's an instant "ugh" for my brain now. I do get that it's not easy to just replace him. They tried for ages to replace JR. Edited September 23 by tiger_rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwoster Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 9 hours ago, LaGoosh said: I'm in a similar boat. I hear about all these great angles and stories but the second I hear Cole's (or Graves or whoever) then my interest is out the window. I think he's a horrible announcer who isn't really good at anything an announcer needs to be good at. His biggest weakness being an inability to actually get across the emotion of a moment without it feel entirely forced and fake - like he's reading pre-prepared lines (which a lot of the time he clearly is). His voice is not pleasant, welcoming or pleasing to hear. Another aspect of him is that I associate his voice with years and years of terrible wrestling. If I hear his voice my natural instinct is disgust or boredom. So even if he turned it all around and became a brilliant announcer on a brilliant product the damage is already done. He's forever tainted. The second part of this I can totally understand, and with that in mind I’d genuinely be interested in the consensus on Cole on this forum. For me, there will always be a sense of nostalgia to him, as he was the voice of my childhood on Smackdown in 2003, when I started watching - but casting that aside, I think he’s the best play-by-play guy in modern wrestling. Since the Vince McMahon era ended, Cole’s been able to inject a lot more of his personality into his announcing, and he seems to genuinely enjoy what he’s doing - and that elevates the show for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 I don't think I ever found him that annoying apart from that time where he was a heel because it was just too focused on him and it was actually shit. But on the whole he's always been okay. He never made things any worse for me anyway. And now he's able to be more open and enjoy it I do think he genuinely adds something to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUM Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 I’ve always found it hard to like Cole on commentary because in my childhood he was the interviewer getting abused by The Rock every week (I know he done certain comms at the time too but it’s not my memory of him). I always viewed him as a Kevin Kelly sub-in type because JR and King were THE voices of the show for me. I think the only time I’ve ever liked him was with Tazz. He doesn’t necessarily bother me or put me off the show and he doesn’t necessarily add anything for me either as it stands. The only commentator who adds anything for me is Pat McAfee as I enjoy his genuine fandom combined with not needing the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 13 hours ago, RedTwoster said: For me, there will always be a sense of nostalgia to him, as he was the voice of my childhood on Smackdown in 2003, when I started watching The nostalgia argument is an interesting one. I just can't imagine growing up with Michael Cole as the voice of your childhood, and that's probably because I didn't. I think for many, he's the annoying voice they kept trying to make the new JR when the old JR was still far superior and that probably puts a black mark against his name from the off. On the Cole/Tazz partnership, I really liked them at the time. I still think they did a good job overall but whenever I see stuff back from that period, particularly stuff that's supposed to be funny like John Cena raps or Kurt Angle or The Rock interviews, Cole's fake laugh and constant telling the audience how hilarious everything is is really grating. The bulk of his career thereafter was spent in an incredibly micro-managed environment where he was moulded into the bloke who sounded pre-recorded like video-game commentary, spouting his same buzz words and phrases at the right points in matches. We all know, obviously, that much of that wasn't his choice - other than to continue to work there - but he was being what they wanted him to be. He was very good at it. Hitting the points they wanted, effectively hosting the TV shows and setting up the "colour" guys for their dreadful takes. He was absolutely perfect as the voice of the company.... ...at their very worst. Maybe if he went away for 20 years like Tony Schiavone, we'd forget all the stupid shit and he could start afresh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 Michael Cole is the Randy Orton of commentating for me - unquestionably exceptionally good at what he does, but I'm not particularly interested in what he does. They're the pinnacle of a flavour of wrestling that isn't for me. I don't think there's ever been an announcer in Cole's specific role that has done it better than him - he's less a play-by-play guy, and more of an anchor, I don't think anyone else can juggle the various balls of WWE commentary the way he does; from plugging sponsors to calling the match to hyping the PPV to reminding you what happened earlier on the show. He excels at all of that, and probably performed better under the tight constraints of an over-produced latter day Vince McMahon-run WWE than any other announcer could. The problem is none of that really appeals to me in wrestling commentary - I want a Lance Russell or a Kent Walton, I want somebody to tell me what's happening and why I should care about it. While what I've seen of Michael Cole since Vince left the company feels more natural and like he's having more fun, it's still the voice of a forced company shill to me, it's still "OH MY?!" and "COULD IT BE?!". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 What @BomberPatsaid. I've heard he's very good/a lot more relaxed now and he's more a comfortable part of the furniture these days, but a lot of fans probably never grew up with his prior work/when he was a heel on TV and was absolutely unbearable because he didn't say no to anything. His two peaks were the duos with Taz & JBL. Heard he was good with Pat, but I've only seen Pat on his podcast. Bonus mention to that UK tournament where he was like 'I know stuff, listen to me being a right nerd'. Seems like a very good bloke at what he does but I almost get a thousand yard stare hearing him sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 10 minutes ago, BomberPat said: I don't think anyone else can juggle the various balls of WWE commentary the way he does; from plugging sponsors to calling the match to hyping the PPV to reminding you what happened earlier on the show. He excels at all of that, and probably performed better under the tight constraints of an over-produced latter day Vince McMahon-run WWE than any other announcer could. I agree with all that. If you had a checklist of everything you need an announcer to do from a purely functional and production standpoint most of them wouldn't tick all the boxes but Cole definitely does. However that also highlights what I would call his major weakness which is his inability to either create an emotional pull or to increase the emotion of what you're seeing on screen. All the truly great announcers were characters in their own right but after 20 years of Michael Cole I still couldn't tell you anything at all about him as an on-screen figure - he's just an endless soulless shill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 (edited) I think people downplay the damage that was done to Cole when he turned heel in the early 2010s, and was just insufferable for what felt like years. Seemingly a conduit for Vince to troll, insult and humiliate his own audience, it was, “oh, just fuck off,” heat on a level I don’t think has ever been reached before or after. He was fucking dreadful, all the time, for the whole three hours. Every single night. Just a constant prick on your shoulder, making you feel a twat for watching this utter, utter shit. “Like your favourites do you, you fucking loser?” It’s nice that he is having a good time now, and is free to be his (mostly average) self, but still. That stink will always remain. Streets won’t forget. Edited September 24 by Supremo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 That's the period. The worst verbal example of Vince getting his bullying on air. Cole was doing as he was told but he was either really believable at being a prick or he relished it a bit too much occasionally. Like watching a show with a bloke behind you being insufferable the entire show, burying things as they were happening to the point where he'd get louder over promos to just bury stuff. Also had the worst trait about a bad heel announcer, transparency and never showing arse by constantly getting the last word in. Mad that it only really ended because Jerry Lawler nearly carked it on air and Cole just acted himself and was genuinely endearing in his chat to the viewers about it. His tattoos were fascinating too weren't they. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members TheBurningRed Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 (edited) He was fine with Tazz but became more irritating as the years went by. I would say it was just before his heel turn that I started to go off him. His voice just grates on me and was part of the reason I stopped watching WWE a few years back. The other been the constant camera cuts. Yes he does a good job because of all the stuff he has to do and putting up with Vince in his ear and handling it. But doesn’t change the fact he’s very annoying and just not for me. Edited September 24 by TheBurningRed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 On 9/23/2024 at 10:42 AM, tiger_rick said: PTSD 14 hours ago, RedTwoster said: nostalgia 13 hours ago, FUM said: my childhood getting abused 1 hour ago, tiger_rick said: stupid shit VINTAGE UKFF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted September 24 Paid Members Share Posted September 24 (edited) 42 minutes ago, Supremo said: I think people downplay the damage that was done to Cole when he turned heel in the early 2010s, and was just insufferable for what felt like years. If he was just a heel character such as a manager or (ugh) authority figure he would have been pretty good. The Cole Mine (I think it was called) where he was encased in a protective plastic cage was funny as fuck. But a heel play by play guy is just never going to work. There's also this weird thing some people have around Cole that he spent years being the poor victim of Vince and forced to be a certain way when he was actually a willing long term employee and very much part of the fabric. Edited September 24 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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