One of the most infamous and hated angles of the WWE PG Era had to be the heel run of Michael Cole. It was his first and the only heel run since his WWE debut in 1995.
Michael Cole worked as a commentator in WWE for over ten years before he turned heel in 2010. But most of the WWE fans did not like it because of his stereotypical commentary. He is indeed amazing on his job but sometimes he single-handedly ruined a lot of epic moments with terrible commentary.
Jim Ross Talks The Heel Run of Michael Cole
For example; in most of the wrestler returns and big star debuts, his reactions always remain ‘Oh My!’ or ‘Oh My God!’ He could never get himself out of these cheesy reactions. Sting’s WWE debut was indeed an epic moment, which a lot of fans believe Michael Cole ruined completely.
WWE in 2010 thought they could cash on this heat on Michael Cole by turning him heel. In some aspects, the heel turn worked because the fans loved to hate him. And that was what he was asked back then; gain heat, what every heel is supposed to do.
Jim Ross during a recent episode of Grilling Jr. reacted on this infamous heel turn. He said;
“I thought it was a philosophical mistake. You have to trust your play-by-play guy. The play-by-play guy is like the point guard of your broadcast team. It’s his job to get talent over, but he’s also to feed lines, scenarios, opportunities to the antagonist on the team. People have got to trust him. How can you trust a heel who lies or embellishes or exaggerates?
Is he telling me the truth or is this part of his character? I think that’s kind of what that was. I think Michael got put in a very daunting situation, and truth be known, he wasn’t comfortable with it either. But that was the assignment.
I’ll say this for Michael Cole, he works his ass off. He’s worked through a lot of hardships with his wife’s physical illness over the years. He’s a good family man. But he was in a position where Schiavone followed Solie. You can’t win it. I think Cole was in a scenario where he was following JR and The King, and it was tough on him.
I thought philosophically, it was the shits. I don’t know if he’s ever gotten over it, and to this day, I don’t know if people fully trust him or not. I have a lot of respect for his work, and I like him. I think it was a mistake. It was Vince trying something different, and sometimes in his world, doing something different is always better.”
Cole’s babyface turn after that was completely accidental and it is still considered as one of the best and emotional moments in WWE history. During an episode of Monday Night Raw in 2012, Jerry Lawler had a heart attack.
Michael Cole announced the news on Television during the show and he was in tears. He tried his best not to cry throughout the whole segment. This incident changed a lot of fans’ minds. Since then he is a face and he won a lot of fans’ hearts.
Credit: Grilling JR. H/T 411Mania.