10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Jan 13)
9. Michael Cole Couldn't Wait To Ditch LiveWire
Jonathan Coachman's dream job was never with WWE, this is something the ESPN sports anchor has stated repeatedly in interviews since departing the company. Far from being ungrateful, Coachman simply realised that major sports networks wouldn't touch him when he was associated with pro wrestling.
In order to get the job he had yearned for since childhood, Coach had to leave WWE behind. Appearing on Eric Bischoff's podcast this week, Coachman opened up to talk about entering the then-WWF in 1999. At that point, Jim Ross and Jerry 'The King' Lawler were the main announcers on programming, ably backed up by Michael Cole.
JR and Lawler were mainly in charge of top level shows, leaving Cole to spend the bulk of his time working on recap broadcasts and elsewhere. Because of this, Coach said Cole was relieved to see somebody else hired by the company.
Specifically, Cole was happy to tell Coach that he could host LiveWire. The weekly show summarised all other programming, something Coachman was pleased with. For Michael Cole, it was one more thing off his plate.