Real Reason Michael Cole Missed WWE Raw

The announce team on the season premiere of Monday Night Raw was shaken up as Michael Cole was absent from the show.

Back in August, the WWE commentary teams were shaken up with Michael Cole once again appearing on both Raw and SmackDown. On Monday nights, Cole is joined by Wade Barrett while on Friday nights, he anchors a three-man booth also featuring Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves.

Cole was recently praised by Seth Rollins during an in-ring segment where Rollins put over the fact that the veteran announcer had only missed two WWE shows in 25 years, but now he’s missed a third.

The season premiere of Monday Night Raw in Oklahoma City saw Michael Cole missing from the announce team with Kevin Patrick and Wade Barrett on the call.

Michael Cole’s absence was planned

PWInsider has reported that Michael Cole had requested time off this week some time ago due to a personal commitment. It was also noted that Cole’s absence had nothing to do with illness.

Kevin Patrick had been scheduled for “many weeks” to fill in for Cole and it is noted that the long-time voice of WWE is set to be back in the hot seat next week which means he may miss SmackDown as well.