Real Reason Michael Cole MISSED WWE Monday Night Raw Season Premiere

WWE mainstay Michael Cole was surprisingly absent from last night's Raw. Why?

Michael Cole
WWE

Michael Cole missed last night's "Season Premiere" edition of WWE Monday Night Raw due to "a personal commitment" and that he'd requested the time several weeks ago.

This is according to PWInsider, who also added that Cole wasn't absent with "an illness or anything similar". On his replacement for the night and Cole's likely return, the report added that;

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"We are told that Kevin Patrick had been scheduled for "many weeks" to handle the lead commentary for the show and Cole is slated to return next week."

Cole's commitment to the cause is such that it was even brought up in a promo ahead of WWE's recent Fastlane Premium Live Event. Cole was interviewing Seth Freakin' Rollins about his upcoming World Heavyweight Championship bout against Shinsuke Nakamura, but briefly experienced the roles being reversed when Rollins asked how many days Cole had missed during his 25+ year run with the company. The "Voice Of WWE" replied with "two", which can now be upped by this one.

He's only recently returned to working double duty across both Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown since his shift to the blue brand in 2019 when the show moved to Fox. Former Raw anchor Kevin Patrick has taken up the third seat in the SmackDown booth ever since.

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett