10 Cringeworthy Moments From WWE Greatest Royal Rumble
3. "The Late, Great Sgt. Slaughter"
Michael Cole had a particularly bad night at Greatest Royal Rumble and, by the time the very lengthy battle royal itself took place, he had completely lost interest in the show and seemed to give up on even trying to deliver coherent commentary. His worst moment, though, came much earlier during the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match.
Cole's stunningly awkward mistake came when Erick Rowan had one of the Usos trapped in a painful skull-crushing submission, reminiscent of the signature offense of WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter. When Cole attempted to draw attention to this fact, he referred to Rowan's influence as "the late, great Sgt. Slaughter", despite the fact the Sarge is a relatively healthy 69-year-old man and certainly isn't dead.
The botch was brought up after the match, when Cole apologised for his mistake and indeed said he had seen Slaughter just recently. It was a moment of real awkwardness for Cole that saw him seemingly kill off one of the most memorable performers in WWE history well before his time.