Michael Cole is many things. He's a veteran announcer and a Wrestlemania match winner, but sadly he's not a lifelong pro wrestling fanatic. As compared to the New Japan Tokyo Dome show that Jim Ross and Matt Striker so brilliantly called (that was arguably the harbinger of this broadcast), Michael Cole and Byron Saxton -- in not being so knowledgeable about the history of wrestling around the world, failed somewhat as announcers. Michael Cole oftentimes stumbled over the names of Japanese legends and generally sounded uncomfortable when conveying tidbits of knowledge about the Japanese product to the global audience. A better idea would've actually been to have done one of three things: a) pay JBL enough to get on a plane and fly to Japan, b) fly in Jason Albert (aka former Japanese star Giant Bernard) to make it a three man booth, or c) use Corey Graves, who's a contemporary of much of the main roster, has wrestled in Japan and is also a student of wrestling history. WWE looking good, but not great in regards to knowing how to best articulate themselves as a global entertainment brand was put on clear display. That's unfortunate.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
