FRCs, (Friends, Romans, Countrymen) lend me your ears, for it is time for the latest installment of No Chance and its time to look at Michael Cole.
Michael Cole. What are we going to do about you? After what has been far too long, your extended feud with Lawler is coming to an end this week at Extreme Rules. At least I hope it’s coming to an end. Now that there are actual negative stipulations for Lawler, I can’t imagine him losing this match (though That’s how I felt at WrestleMania) so if things go as they should, this Sunday should mark the end of the fights. So now what do we do with you?
The problem with Cole is that this feud has in the long run, done more harm than good. Sure it helped Cole create a full-blown heel character. It also, at least in its early stages provided some interesting dynamics between Lawler and Cole before the whole thing started running far too long. But lets take a look at the damage that this feud has done. The commentary of both Raw and Smackdown at this point is in shambles. It used to be that if I was busy on a Monday night and couldn’t sit down in front of the TV for two hours, I could at least turn Raw on and get a good feel of each match from the commentators. But now the matches are hardly ever discussed at all. Instead Cole simply yells at the other commentators and constantly says whatever he can think of to remind us that he’s a heel. And Lawler is no better. In fact if one positive thing has come out of all this, its that Josh Mathews is capable of working at the commentators table, even in the midst of these two yelling at one another.
What’s more, it’s gotten to the point that Cole is starting to be an unbearable heel. Unlike Punk, R-Truth, and Miz who all continue to be entertaining while insulting other wresters or the audience, Cole is just a pain to listen to every time he gets a mike. Not to say that there isn’t potential for the character of heel Cole. For the first time, Cole was put to good use this past week on Smackdown, when he interrupted Layla. WWE, needed to help cement a face turn for Layla did the right thing by pitting here against, as the audience quickly saw her as the lesser of two evils in the ring. Cole has the potential to be a quality heel; the only thing is that nobody can be an entertaining heel for two straight hours. Even when Punk was on commentary, the heelish tendencies had to be toned down until he could get back in the ring. For Cole to work as a heel, he had to get away from the announcer’s table, and it needs to happen soon.
So what can be done?
The obvious answer, and the one that WWE is most likely to do, is simply make Cole the GM of Raw. Both are heels, and to be fair, Cole got a lot of his heat from reading the emails from the mystery General Manager. This way, Cole can still come out from time to time, be unfair to whatever face wrestler he is currently feuding with, and still have a presence on Raw.
While I would be content with Cole eventually being transitioned to the GM role, I think that a reveal of the GM is a worthy storyline in itself, and if WWE works at it, there is more that can be done there than simply removing the “and I quote†line from when a GM announcement is made.
Cole could also be used as a manager for heels that aren’t as strong on mike. In a way he already has a touch of this with Jack Swagger, who near career obscurity has been saved by his connection to Cole over these past weeks. However, in this day and age of wrestling, audience may still hate Cole too much to let him go unpunished, meaning that from time to time, Cole is going to have to step into the ring and get a beating just to keep audiences happy.
Cole could even return to announcing once in a while for specific matches. Perhaps he could say that only a select few superstars (Miz etc.) are worthy of his superior brand of play by play. This could keep him announcing for a while without us being subjected to two uninterrupted hours of Cole on mike ever show.
Whatever WWE decides to do with Cole, something needs to happen because where he is right now isn’t working.
Unrelated Thought of the day: So ever year, at some point between WrestleMania and the following Raw the next day. I make out a hypothetical card for the following WrestleMania. I never take it very seriously or ever really expect to guess anything correctly. With all the hiring, firing, and retiring, that happens over the year, not to mention the possible heel/face turns that could happen, and I don’t think I’ve ever come close to having a correct prediction. I usually just use, my guesses to see how much the WWE stories can change in a year (for example I had Batista in a belt match for this WrestleMania, only to have him quit a few months later)
The thing is, it usually takes until the Royal Rumble for me to start to watch my prediction card fall apart as one by one all of my hypothetical matches become impossible. But this time around, less than two months after WrestleMania, and already three matches I guessed won’t happen.
John Cena vs. The Undertaker: Can’t happen because John Cena already has a match against the Rock.
Edge vs. Randy Orton (WHC Belt) Can’t happen because Edge has retired, though I am pleased that I correctly guessed Orton moving to Smackdown sometime in the year.
Awesome Kong vs. LayCool (handicap match): Can’t happen because Michelle McCool retired and LayCool is no more. (I admit that this one was a stretch when I guessed it because we were already starting to see cracks in LayCool but I was counting on WWE to drag the breakup on way to long. Also this was before we knew that her name was going to be Karma.)
For those interested my remaining (increasingly inaccurate) predictions for next year’s WrestleMania are as follows:
Chris Jericho vs. Triple H: This also might already be out of the question as it was hinted that Triple H is fighting Undertaker again.
Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara (loser removes mask stipulation)
John Morrison vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE Championship) I also guessed Albert’s move to Raw correct.
The Miz and Alex Riley vs. Big Show and Kane (tag team championship)
CM Punk vs. Wade Barrett (with factions as lumberjacks): This one also doesn’t look great as Punk might be leaving soon.
As always, thoughts, concerns and questions are welcome below. Also, what are your predictions for matches in a PPV that won’t happen for almost a year? After all, if the WWE is already making WrestleMania 28 matches, why shouldn’t you?
