WWE Commentary Team Changes, Michael Cole On Raw & SmackDown
The commentary teams on WWE Raw & Smackdown are changing with Michael Cole appearing on both shows.
Michael Cole has been a part of WWE for over 25 years now. When Smackdown launched in August 1999, he would become the voice of that show for most next decade.
Since then, Michael Cole was the voice of Raw for the majority of the 2010s decade. In October 2019 when Smackdown on Fox started, Cole was back on the blue brand.
It has been reported by Variety that starting with this Monday’s Raw, Michael Cole will be back on Raw with Wade Barrett as his partner along with other changes.
“Beginning August 7, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett will serve as the commentators for Monday Night Raw on USA Network. This marks a return to “Raw” for Cole, who first appeared on the show in 1997 and has served as one of the key members of the broadcast desk for various stretches of time ever since.
Cole will also remain on the commentary team for SmackDown, where he will be joined by Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves beginning August 11.”
For Wade Barrett, it will be his first time being an announcer on Raw. Prior to joining SmacDown in late 2022, Barrett was an announcer on NXT for two years.
Corey Graves has been on both Raw and Smackdown throughout his career.
Kevin Patrick was promoted from backstage interviewer to Raw lead announcer last fall, but WWE has decided to change that plan and put him on Smackdown as a three man team. Patrick tweeted about the change.
Pumped to be headed to Friday Night Smackdown on FOX! Will miss my buddies at #WWERaw, but a chance to join @WWEGraves & @MichaelCole on a 3-man desk is an incredible opportunity. Grateful fella. Roll on next Friday. Cheers ♥️ #WWE#SummerSlam#SmackDownhttps://t.co/mvu8O2uHaa
— Kevin Patrick Egan (@kev_egan) August 5, 2023
The report from Variety notes that “WWE remains high on Patrick and think that pairing him with Cole will only benefit his growth as a broadcaster.”
Michael Cole Will Call The Action At SummerSlam
Tonight’s WWE SummerSlam event takes place at Ford Field in Detroit with Michael Cole on hand to call the action. For WWE Premium Live Events over the last year, Michael Cole and Corey Graves have been on the call for most of them. However, Wade Barrett was with Cole for Money in the Bank since Wade was already in England for Smackdown one night earlier.
Here’s the lineup for SummerSlam:
- Tribal Combat Match For the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso
- Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes
- World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor
- WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair
- Intercontinental Championship: GUNTHER (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
- MMA Rules: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
- Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
- SummerSlam Battle Royal
You can watch SummerSlam streaming live on Saturday, August 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.