Michael Cole is great at what he does, and perfect for what WWE are looking for. He's snappy with links, gets through a ton of sponsorship messages and social media fluff, and - most importantly - tells stories during matches, instead of calling the individual moves. Since leaving WWE, Hall Of Fame inductee Jim Ross has noted that he was never especially comfortable with that last part, because it felt a little disrespectful to the wrestlers having the match if the commentator was busy talking about a storyline involving other people. It's easy to see his logic, but that's not the way Vince McMahon wants things done, so the choice is there to either abide, or find yourself out of a job fairly quickly. Another thing which bugs McMahon is when announcers call his in-ring employees wrestlers, which sounds incredible, but he'd rather they were called Superstars, or even performers. Nobody can blame the company for wanting to make wrestlers sounds as grand as possible, but it's a bone of contention for enthusiasts, who wonder what the problem is with calling a spade a spade from time to time.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
