Michael Cole Feels More Trust From WWE’s New Regime

Michael Cole is enjoying his time on WWE commentary under the new regime led by Triple H.

When Michael Cole started in WWE as an announcer in 1997 he was coming off a career as a news reporter. It took him a few years to become a play-by-play announcer in WWE, but eventually, he became the voice of Smackdown with Tazz through most of the 2000s decade. Cole would eventually become the lead voice on Raw and all WWE shows.

After nearly 27 years working for WWE, Michael Cole is currently the lead voice on Monday Night Raw with Pat McAfee while also doing Premium Live Events with Corey Graves.

In addition to being on camera, Cole is also the WWE Vice President of Announcing, which means he oversees the commentary teams in the company. After 25 years of working under Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn, the executive team is led by Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and a team that is considered more relaxed behind the scenes.

While talking to Awful Announcing, Cole talked about being an announcer for the Triple H-led regime and Corey Graves going from being an analyst on television to being the lead play-by-play voice on Smackdown with Wade Barrett joining him.

“It’s a different world. Corey came in at a good time. Under the new regime now, things are looser. The direction’s different. There’s a lot more trust in commentators now than there was before. We are having the opportunity to be ourselves. Open up, develop character, call pro wrestling, sports entertainment, the way we want to. Corey was able to jump in under this new regime, and it was the perfect chance to make a switch. This was the time to do it.”

Michael Cole Is Excited About Corey Graves’ Broadcasting Future

As he continued, Cole went on to praise Corey Graves as a WWE announcer who has found his voice.

“He’s one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met in our business. He had this unbelievable love for what we do. He wanted to be a performer. He had his career cut short because of injuries but didn’t want to give this up. He did everything he could, busted his ass, and finally got the opportunity in a commentary role to be himself.”

“Have a character and edge, and be part of the business which he’s loved since he was a kid.”

The next WWE Premium Live Event that Michael Cole and Corey Graves will call is WrestleMania 40, which will feature The Rock & Roman Reigns facing Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins on Saturday, April 6th from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.