Michael Cole has been the voice of WWE for decades now. And along with calling the action on WWE Raw and now SmackDown, he was also one of the most hated performers in 2010 during his feud with Jerry Lawler.
Cole started off his WWE career as a babyface, taking over for Jim Ross, who had a bout with Bell's Palsy in 1998-99. When Ross returned, WWE tried to make him heel, which was a big mistake.
"JR got sick in 1998 and I had only been here for a year. He had one of his bouts with Bell's Palsy. The creative minds at work at the time decided that while he was out, I'd be in his spot. I was green and way over my head. They decided I'd be a babyface and when JR returned, they would try to make him a heel. It was probably the worst cast decision in the history of WWE. It was terrible. JR was never going to be a heel. That point in time was really when I was not accepted early on by a lot of the WWE fans because they looked at me as trying to replace this legend. I was cast as a young babyface and they didn't want that. That put me behind the eight ball," Cole said on WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves.
Cole continued, revealing when WWE finally decided to go with him as a heel.
"Over the years, I would move into Raw, where I did take JR's job on the flagship show, I really became a major heel," recalled Cole. "Vince McMahon decided, 'Michael Cole in real life is a sarcastic prick anyway.' Why not capitalize on this backlash and make him a bad guy? Vince McMahon used to hold a class at TV about 10 years ago called promo class. One day, he threw me up there with R-Truth. Truth and I, stole the show. At that point in time, Vince was like, 'this guy is a prick. He's a heel.' It led to about a two-year run where there was no in-between. People either really loved the character or thought it was this travesty against everything that was ever done. 'A play-by-play guy cannot be a bad guy, he has to be this voice of reason. It's the worst decision that WWE has ever made.'"
Cole's heel turn would lead to a WrestleMania 27 match with Lawler. Cole would eventually turn babyface again following Jerry Lawler's real-life heart attack in 2012. He has remained a face and the top play-by-play announcer on Raw and SmackDown to this day.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.