WWE Raw: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (April 14th)
4. That Was A Different Time
In one of Raw's many excellent matches, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn battled for number one contendership to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since Zayn was robbed of his opportunity to compete in the four way last week, Shane McMahon booked this match with the stipulation that a Zayn win would add him to the Reigns-Styles bout and create a triple threat for Payback.
During the bout, an innocent exchange led to a reminder of some tough times in WWE (yes, even worse than now). After an observation by Michael Cole, JBL asked the voice of WWE how many main events he had wrestled. Michael Cole paused, and responded, "I'm not allowed to talk about that."
Cole was referencing his heel run in 2011, a period where he was so unbearably obnoxious throughout entire Raw broadcasts that it's a wonder the show kept any viewers. He also wrestled several high-level matches, including Raw bouts against JR and John Cena and a WrestleMania match with Jerry Lawler. Needless to say, those contests weren't very good. If Michael Cole was towing the official company line by pretending they don't exist, that's for the best.