Michael Cole has been with WWE since 1995, starting as the host of LiveWire, working his way to a backstage interviewer, and eventually becoming the lead announcer on Raw and SmackDown.
Cole is often criticized online for his usual "WWE speak" while on commentary, but those in the company have nothing but rave reviews for the job Cole does on-camera and behind the scenes.
"As much as the internet criticizes him, Michael Cole does the best job I've ever seen anybody do from a behind-the-scenes standpoint of the controlling people and getting everything where it needs to go," Triple H said on the Pat McAfee Show. "He's allowing everybody else around him to shine. There was a moment a few years ago where we went to NXT UK to do a show out of Blackpool and I asked Michael to come do it. He just got to come and call wrestling. People lost their mind and were like, 'Oh my God, Michael Cole can actually be a play-by-play guy and do a great job.' They loved it. He is usually setting everybody else up and he's there calling the action. It's what he's so good at, he's been doing it so long, I feel like he could do it in his sleep and yet he's still excited for the product and it's why I love working with him. When something great happens, he comes back buzzing."
Cole is currently tasked with calling the action on SmackDown alongside Pat McAfee, who is two weeks into the job as lead analyst.
Triple H joked that McAfee not getting fired yet "has got to be attributed somehow to Michael Cole."
You can find McAfee comments on how his second week went and what happened when he finally met Vince McMahon by clicking here.
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