10 Insane Revelations From Secret WWE Leaks
3. JBL And Cole Are Best Mates, But Chimel Is A 'Goof'
In the same leaked audio, what is either good-natured ribbing, or evidence of WWE's bullying culture, surfaced when Tony Chimel botched a ring entrance. That last point is pure conjecture. WWE would never bully a ring announcer by, you know, hiding his passport and marooning him in an unfamiliar foreign country.
In a rather less shocking revelation, it appears that WWE is a big ol' boy's club.
Michael Cole is shown making his pre-taping entrance before grabbing and testing the headset. His old colleague JBL joins him after clowning around a bit. Cole and JBL's repartee is fascinating. The two men clearly get along so famously that Cole can risk ribbing the hell out of him without drawing the threat of shower molestation. He crosses his fingers and hopes aloud that JBL's mock-bump goes awry. When JBL joins him at the desk, he smashes Cole with his cowboy hat, to which Cole says "There he is, Mr. Maturity," three times, suppressing, maybe, a "f*ck off mate" under his breath.
This banter likely wasn't exchanged back in 1997, but perhaps Cole learned the cat-kicking trade well enough to earn his respect. The cat here is Chimel, whom Cole refers to as a "goof" after the botch.