Does Michael Cole Help The WWE in Any way?

It’s a topic that has circulated and congested the Internet for the past couple of years and one that has been bothering me for what seems longer. Does Michael Cole help the WWE in anyway?
The simple answer, is no.

I’ve never been a fan of Cole ever since he turned up as a backstage announcer back in 1998 where his only positive contribution was working as a verbal punching bag for the wrestlers in particular Jericho who always referred to him a ‘Mitchell’. This however stands to be Cole’s ONLY example of good work as he has done nothing but sour the product ever since.

It amazes me to comprehend how long Cole has been with the WWE especially whilst serving as the most vanilla broadcaster in the history of the wrestling.
To begin with, Cole wasn’t so much offensive to listen to, just very bland and predictable especially considering you had the great JR doing commentary over on RAW.
Cole managed to slip under the radar by hiding behind some of the great colour- commentators (King, Tazz, JBL) who disguised his terrible mic skills as soft banter. But when JR left, the WWE looked at Cole to take the mantle of lead announcer, a position he has not lived up to nor deserved to begin with.

It’s as if the power has gone to his head and given him a boost in confidence (or rather arrogance) that instead of making him better has made him worse than ever.

His apparent constant need to criticize and bicker with his fellow broadcasters is distracting and disrespectful to the wrestlers in the ring (especially the Divas). It is as if he doesn’t care about the action and is more concerned with making inane (and often inaccurate) remarks.

What’s more, he has the absolute nerve to ‘correct’ the other announcers on small insignificant things when he is constantly getting basic historical facts wrong and cant name a move bigger than three letters to save his life. It’s pathetic and shows a complete lack of knowledge and appreciation for the business he supposedly loves.

One of the big problems with Cole is his inability to invoke any real enthusiasm towards whatever is happening in the ring.
Take the Cena/Bigshow cage match at Money In Te Bank for example; the WWE were trying hard to make this match seem worthwhile despite that fact we had all seen it before. The RAW before the PPV, Cena and Show squared off in the ring and an all out brawl broke out with referees and other wrestlers trying to break things up. It wasn’t the best brawl ever but the fans were into it and everyone did their job. Everyone except Cole that is, who sat there and called the action with the interest of someone calling the world finals of a staring contest. No energy, no flashy catchphrases, just plain monotonous drivel.

The Cole/Lawler feud was long and boring and one I’d soon like to forget, however I can’t help feel the WWE missed out on the big payoff – removing Michael Cole from the announcers table. At least on RAW.
More so, I feel the WWE dropped the ball on allowing Cole to become a manager or even GM following his Wrestlemania match. That’s not to say he would have been any good in these roles but it would have been a lot better than what did occur.
I mean seriously, the feud is built up for months only for them to kiss and make up after a match and continue as nothing happened. It’s a real lack of foresight on the part of the WWE regarding its announcers especially when you have the likes of Matt Striker and Josh Matthews who have both proven themselves superior to Cole’s nonsense.

With Cole as a manager or GM, the fans would have the chance to focus all their negativity energy and hostility directly at him as he stands out for the whole world to see. Instead we suffer in silence knowing he’s there, unable to get to him.

Cole seemed to find his ‘stride’ during the beginning of NXT and singled out Daniel Bryan as his victim. Who knows why but Bryan just couldn’t catch a break from Cole who bashed him constantly on a weekly basis.
Looking back, Cole had nothing on Daniel Bryan other than he’s a vegan. And so what if he is? It has nothing to do with his gimmick or his in ring work so where was the need to constantly bring it up.
The whole basis of NXT was to showcase the potential young stars of the WWE but all Cole did was put them down and denounce any accomplishments the competitors had achieved in the past. It’s a big reason as to why NXT began to fail so quickly in regards other wrestling shows, though things do seem to be looking up.

Some argue that Cole is simply portraying a heel character and although I feel he has been pushed to act a little cockier in his delivery, I firmly believe this is Cole’s real life personality.
Look at the great heel commentators, Heenan, Ventura, Lawler; none of them ever had to rely on spiteful putdowns to get over nor did they ever portray themselves as being more important than the action in the ring.
As much as they routed for the bad guys, they did it with the flair and excellence of a classic Hollywood villain that made you secretly love them.
Michael Cole is just spiteful and vociferously inept and does nothing but hurt WWE story lines and hinder character development.