10 WWE Feuds That Overstayed Their Welcome
4. Michael Cole Vs. Jerry Lawler (2011)
Michael Cole's aggravating heel turn began in 2010.
When Daniel Bryan entered the company as an NXT rookie that February, Cole took joy in putting down Bryan as a loser and a nerd, no doubt based around Vince McMahon’s negative bias at the time towards DB. Clearly McMahon enjoyed the over-the-top antics of Cole, as it resulted in the massive push of the ego-centric commentator.
Things culminated in a match at Wrestlemania against Jerry Lawler after Cole cost 'King' a WWE Championship match against The Miz in December 2010. By this point Michael Cole had overstayed his welcome tenfold, and everyone was ready for the end. But fans still needed to contend with four months of buildup to the actual match, which included Cole mocking Lawler over his recently-deceased mother, and a number of segments involving Lawler's family that came off as depressing instead of the desired effect of generating heat.
The WrestleMania match was a fourteen-minute slog that not even special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin could save. The fact that Cole won and continued his heel tactics until Lawer suffered a legit heart attack on RAW in later months demonstrated that sometimes WWE writers are playing to an audience of one.