Michael Cole: For Many Years, I Wasn’t Sure If I Was Going To Fill The Shoes Of Jim Ross
Michael Cole didn’t know if he could live up to Jim Ross.
From the moment he joined the company in 1997, Cole was touted as the next big thing for WWE’s broadcasting team. As time went on, Cole became the head honcho for commentary, taking the spot of Jim Ross.
Speaking with Stephanie McMahon on the latest episode of What’s Your Story, Cole recalled not understanding the difference between himself and Ross during the early portion of his career.
“I could never understand early on what the difference between me and Jim Ross was. I would sit back and listen to tapes and go, ‘I’m telling a story. Jim’s telling a story. I’m explaining to you guys who these characters are, Jim’s doing the same thing. Why is Jim the greatest of all time?’ Because Jim had emotion. Even the simplest of calls out of Jim Ross, you could feel it come from here. That’s why people believed in him. I hope at least over the number of years I’ve been here, I’ve been able to emulate that just a little bit and be able to show the audience some emotion from what I do.”
Cole continued on and said that it took him a long time to find his true voice as a commentator.
“I had to learn how important that was, for them to feel that out of me. When I started here, it was always, you’re Jim Ross’ replacement. I heard it ad nauseam. Those are massive, massive shoes to fill. By the way, shoutout to JR because I know he’s going through some health issues. I wish JR the best in his surgery and everything else. But listen, it was a really — they were tough shoes to fill because JR was a lifer in this business. He started out as a teenager, I came into this at thirty years old. Didn’t know what I was getting into. They were pretty mighty shoes to fill and for many years, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do that. Vince believed in me, Kevin Dunn believed in me, I’m not sure I believed in myself until one day when the lightbulb went on and I said, ‘I think I may belong here.’ It was a struggle for a decade of trying to figure out what my voice was and how that voice was different from Jim Ross. Early on in my career, you can go back and hear some stuff, it’s embarrassing. You’ll hear me screaming, stomping a mudhole in him the size of Texas. Doing stuff that Jim used to do. I’m saying to myself, this is embarrassing. What can I do to differentiate it? It took me a long time to really find my voice.”
Earlier this month, Michael Cole encouraged fans to let Sami Zayn’s story play out. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
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