10 Worst WWE Roster "Shake-Up" Moves
4. The Jim Ross/Michael Cole Swap (2008)
Beginning in 2007, the annual Draft's selections were determined by the winners of inter-brand matches. In the 2008 edition, a Divas' tag team match would determine a swap among the three announce teams. When it ended in a no-contest, the random picker announced JR to SmackDown, and Michael Cole to Raw. You could hear the groans in the arena.
Turns it, Ross was not informed ahead of time that he was switching brands. He found out along with the rest of the viewing world, and was so angry about being left in the dark that he nearly quit WWE. Mick Foley, Ross' new partner on SmackDown, lambasted Vince McMahon to his face about the cold move.
As for the swap itself, in the nine years since, Cole has hardly managed to begin filling Ross' massive boots on Raw, and is viewed by many as a detriment to the broadcasts he's on. While it's more fair to say that Cole is little more than an avatar for McMahon's sometimes-cloudy vision, it's also fair to say that Ross handled McMahon's warped creative with a more steady hand than Cole.