WWE: Has Michael Cole's Heel Character Hit a Point of No Return?

The WWE may not realize it, but not all heel announcers are good at what they do.

Jerry Lawler, in his heyday, was a heck of a heel commentator. So was Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. 

But Michael Cole is not. 

There is a clear and definable difference between a heel announcer contributing to a broadcast and adding value to the TV product and one who actually takes away from it. 

That’s what Cole does. 

When Cole first started turning heel by showing his undying support for The Miz and praising everything that he did, I liked it. It was a nice change to see one of the most painfully boring and mundane announcers on WWE TV actually show some character for a change. 

I even didn’t mind Cole serving as the mouthpiece for Monday Night Raw’s anonymous general manager. His “Can I have your attention, please?” line generated more heat than any other single line in the WWE, other than Vickie Guerrero’s “Excuse me!” 

He was becoming one of the most hated heels in all of the WWE, and a good heel announcer was something we hadn’t seen in several years. 

Or so we thought. 

Cole’s heel antics got annoying. Really annoying. Really fast. 

He showed an unrelenting love of some of the WWE’s top heels (particularly The Miz), he interrupted Divas matches and mocked them and he bickered with Jerry Lawler non-stop on commentary. Eventually, this would lead to Lawler facing Cole at WrestleMania 27. 

It was right around that time when I said to myself, “OK, enough with this crap.” 

It’s one thing to have a heel announcer, but it’s a whole different ballgame to have him be the focal point of a show, actually put him in a match at the biggest pay-per-view of the year and then turn his heel character up a notch after the match when it should have been turned down. 

Admittedly, I thought that when Cole apologized to Lawler for all the shenanigans between the two it would be the end of Cole’s heel character—or at the very least, Cole’s heel character wouldn’t be so ridiculous anymore. 

So much for that. 

Several months after Cole and Lawler faced each other at WrestleMania, Cole was still an aggravating heel, who became even more aggravating when Triple H became WWE COO and brought Jim Ross back to the announce table. 

Instantly, I knew what was coming: Cole ruthlessly mocking good old J.R. 

Much to the surprise of no one, that’s exactly what’s happened. Cole is still being a total douchebag at every chance he gets, and Ross—the greatest announcer in wrestling history—has been nothing more than a punching bag for Cole’s lame jokes and over-the-top heel mannerisms.

Just when we thought Cole couldn’t get any worse as an announcer and TV character, he turned up the douche-meter as high as possible. It’s undoubtedly at a 10 out of 10 right now. 

Cole spends much of the Raw broadcast making fun of a guy who he should be studying. Cole could not hold J.R.’s jock strap as an announcer, and it’s rather annoying that he’s getting to call Monday Night Raw every week while Ross is sitting backstage doing nothing. 

I wish this would change. I wish that J.R. would beat Cole in the “Michael Cole Challenge” on next week’s Raw and then return to his seat at the Raw announce table. 

But I have little to zero faith that that will actually happen. 

Vince McMahon seems to be head over heels in love with Cole’s heel character, even though the heat he generates is “Go away/X-Pac” heat rather than the good heat that heels are supposed to get. 

As bad as Cole’s character has gotten over the last year or so, I believe he has hit a point of no return.

Barring a minor miracle or Cole stopping his heel antics cold turkey, there’s just no way I can see the fans doing anything but boo him for the foreseeable future. 

I don’t know anyone in their right mind who thinks that Cole will turn baby face and be cheered anytime soon. 

Why? Because the WWE creative team or Vince or whoever it is that’s directing his character simply cannot let it go. 

There is absolutely no reason why Cole should be involved in storylines right now or ever. There is no explanation for why he should be competing against J.R. in a “Michael Cole Challenge” on next week’s Raw. 

He is a freaking announcer, not a wrestler. 

And if you think that this upcoming challenge means J.R. will get his seat back at the Raw announce table, you are sadly mistaken. All that this challenge will be is a desperate ploy to, for some Godforsaken reason, try to get Cole more heat than he already has. 

It’s dumb, it’s a waste of a time and it’s completely unnecessary. But it’s going to happen. 

The WWE seems to have this notion that a heel announcer has to be incredibly over the top, outrageously annoying and unbearably awful at what he does to be effective. 

Obviously, that’s asinine. But that is and will be the direction that Cole’s character goes in until God knows when. 

Cole will be “The Voice of the WWE,” Ross’ amazing talents will be wasted and we’ll be subjected to bad announcing on Monday Night Raw until the end of the time. 

It sucks, and we can all thank Michael Cole for it.