6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Evolution 2025 (Results & Review)

3. Announcers Don’t Bring Their Best

One would think for an all-women’s PLE that WWE would dig up at least one woman to offer commentary during at least part of Evolution. Beth Phoenix spent a good while doing commentary in NXT, or they could have tasked one of the legends with providing some soundbites during the battle royal.

Instead, fans got Michael Cole and Wade Barrett for the evening, and they stumbled a few times. Cole, as usual, could not call simple wrestling moves (like a Northern Lights Suplex or La Magistral Cradle), doing the Vince McMahon “look at that!” or just yelling excitedly. He repeatedly called Candice LeRae “Candice Michelle” despite Barrett correcting him numerous times. He completely whiffed on Blake Monroe turning on Jordynne Grace during the NXT Women’s Championship match, despite it happening five feet in front of his face.

Strangely, Cole called ring announcer Alicia Taylor a “trailblazer,” despite the fact that she was preceded in that role by Samantha Irvin, JoJo, Lillian Garcia, and Mike McGuirk. When you throw that term around with absolutely no meaning, it completely diminishes when you use it appropriately.

Cole wasn’t alone. While Barrett was better, Wade channeled a bit of Pat McAfee and Booker T when he started getting giddy about Stephanie Vaquer delivering the Devil’s Kiss, calling it “bouncy-bouncy.” There’s no need to act like a horny teenager. The move is already way over – just call it straight and let the move’s inertia carry it.

Overall though, not getting a woman on commentary was a huge whiff. It just magnified the usual “sh** Michael Cole says” routine.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.