Hi Scott,
Although it's just JBL's opinion, it still speaks very loud for how Michael Cole is viewed by his peers in the company:
JBL: "I do think Maggle is the best play by play guy WWE has ever had."
I personally think he's pretty bad at this point, but I understand the pressure he has. But I would never EVER confuse him as the best ever. Ugh. He wasn't half bad during the 2001-2005 Taz era. Taz is another story though.
Your thoughts on Cole as best ever?
thanks, Anthony V., NY, NY
I think he has the talent to be but will never be allowed to show as long as Vince is alive.
ReplyDeleteCole has improved leaps and bounds over the years, but JR is the greatest ever.
ReplyDeleteSome guys aren't really allowed to be as good as they can be. Look at Tenay in TNA, a great smart announcer but TNA's goofy antics don't allow him to be his best. Same with plenty of others not to mention other touches like how Schivone basically lost his love for the business as time went on.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say if Cole is any good. He's Vince's mouthpiece, saddled with two guys who just don't care. Lance Russell would struggle with those two.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Gorilla Monsoon guy. Paired with Ventura or Heenan and working as the subdued straight man, Monsoon was great.
ReplyDeleteJR's hyperbole and screaming is too much for me.
Refer to the leaked raw feed of Smackdown that hit the web a few months ago where Cole asks Vince, off-mic, "do you want me to say that every time? Because I already said it a shitload of times tonight" and is (presumably) told YES, DAMMIT because he meekly replies "yes, sir."
ReplyDeleteI don't know how good Cole is. Nobody does. And no one will, because the buzzword muppet he is on TV is how he's instructed to be. For what it's worth, even Cole seems to know how awful his commentary is, but that's what Vince wants.
1. Jim Ross
ReplyDelete2. Tony Schiavone
3. Gorilla Monsoon
4. Lance Russell
5. Bob Caudle
6. David Crockett
7. Vince McMahon
8. Rod Trongard
9. Eric Bishcoff
10. Larry Nelson
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182. Michael Cole
Of course, this list is highly debatable and probably based on nothing at all.
Tenay has always been awful.
ReplyDeleteWatching all these sterile announcers now I've come to appreciate David Crockett more. He's still a goof, but he actually was excited to watch wrestling. What a concept! Of the current crop I think Renee has the most enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Cole do retro commentary with Mick Foley on one of the old Shea Stadium shows? I remember hearing it was pretty good, and that without a leash Cole had a lot more personality.
ReplyDeleteCole's exactly what they want him to be, so yeah he's probably viewed that way.
ReplyDeleteStill miss the wonderful days when Gorilla and Jesse would actually discuss what was going on inside the ring. No angles, hashtags, or mindless insults.....just what was going on at that moment.
ReplyDeleteThis Maggle joke just needs to die already. Oh, and Cole sucks.
ReplyDeleteLove Gorilla Monsoon. When I saw he had won "Worst Announcer" in the WON awards in the 80's, I wondered if I was just remembering him poorly; but if anything, I like his commentary even more now. Especially as a team with Heenan.
ReplyDeleteCole eviscerating that one caller is always gold.
ReplyDeleteI think so, yeah. I never saw it, but it got terrific feedback online.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully disagree. Tenay was fantastic in the lucha analyst role WCW gave him when they were trying to market the cruiserweights.
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing Cole and Tazz do a show on Sirius once and it was very entertaining. I think if Cole was left alone by Vince, he would be much better.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure many of the best could or would be able to do what Cole does. On top of having Vince screaming at him, he also has to shill much shit.
In the old days, guys like JR had to shill PPVs, Cole has to shill merchandise, networks, apps, twitter, tout, Sonic and god knows what else.....
Tenay is awful as a lead guy. His best use was in wcw where he was a third man who just was like a human encyclopedia.
ReplyDeleteEven then, I could've done without him though....
Nigga please. All he did was read their bios. Not that hard.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they'll put it on the Network in 2018.
ReplyDeleteHEY LISTEN FUCKHEAD
ReplyDelete.........
ReplyDelete...........
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............lulwhat?
Who cares what JBL says? He's almost as bad as Michael Cole!
ReplyDeleteI would have gone with the Duke of Dorchester myself.
ReplyDeleteGod, I miss Bobby Heenan. Smart, funny as hell but also great putting guys over. Like Undertaker at the start with "that man is not human!" Or when Goldberg would erupt on opponents and he'd yell "Da Man is loose!" Really need more of that.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I enjoyed his announce team work on Smackdown with Taz, who I absolutely despise now as a commentator on TNA. Best thing Michael Cole has done recently was arguing on Vince on that leaked pre-edited Smackdown about already hyping something a 'shitload' of times which makes me want to see him commentate without Mr McMicroManage in his ear 24/7.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to edit a Youtube video of My Girl by The Temptations only with the 'My Girl' parts of the lyrics changed to JBL saying MAGGLE:
ReplyDeleteI've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
MAGGLE (Maggle, Maggle)
Talkin' 'bout MAGGLE (Maggle).
I've got so much honey the bees envy me.
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees.
Well, I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
MAGGLE (Maggle, Maggle)
Talkin' 'bout MAGGLE (Maggle).
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooooh.
I don't have much of an issue with Cole. He's solid at the action, and he's obviously great at all the shilling and all of the different things Vince wants Cole to promote.
ReplyDeleteI wish he is allowed to be himself.
I did hate his heel version. It was highly annoying and obnoxious. I get that's his job, but it's so heavy handed that I don't really want to watch the product.
Aw - that ain't a king -- that's an animal.
ReplyDeleteKick him Ronnie!!! Kick him in the head.
ReplyDeleteLee Marshall was a good announcer. He had the radio voice.
ReplyDeleteHe was kinda cheesy though. He was a better Tony the Tiger than commentator.
ReplyDeleteIf Vince wants a carbon image of himself announcing he should hire me.
ReplyDeleteWelcome everyone!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a manovouter.
One two three -- he got him - no he didn't.
Gorilla wasn't the greatest, but he was solid and no nonsense.
ReplyDeleteJust re-watching the Rock/Austin WM17 today helped me realize that we will never again have someone at the level JR was
ReplyDeleteI think a mixture of nostalgia and just being really young when he was commentating skews peoples perceptions of how good Gorilla was for people. I think if he was commentating now, and talking about people all being on their feet when we can clearly see them sitting, things like that, he'd do our absolute fucking nut in and we'd hate him as much as we hate Cole.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame, because there's no reason why someone couldn't be at his level, if they were just able to find their own voice. But WWE won't allow it. 15 years of commentating the way he wanted to instead of being screamed in his ear and reading from scripts, there's no reason at all why Cole couldn't have been as good and credible as JR by this point.
ReplyDelete100% agree. If it wasn't for Heenan telling me that Michaels had left the building I would forget he had been there.
ReplyDeleteHe's another reason I despise the current product.
ReplyDeleteI disliked his commentary when he filled in for JR in 99 and the dislike remains.
He absolutely kills 'big moments'...JR made them better. I can't think of one memorable piece of Michael Cole commentary.
It's hard to say because Gorilla probably wouldn't be announcing the same way today due to how the business has changed. Other than the ridiculous hyperbole he used sometimes, and other little stuff like you mentioned, I appreciated Gorilla's way he would talk about actual match strategy and selling the importance of the matches and how it shaped up in the title picture, and he sold blood feuds very well too. With this being said, the way he announced matches in 1991 would be very different than today.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right about the match focus. That's something he did and something that's very poorly done today. But to be honest, it'd be hard for JBL and Cole to stress the importance of matches when matches aren't actually important. That's more a booking issue.
ReplyDeleteI grew up listening to Gordon Solie and a prime Jim Ross.
ReplyDeleteCole doesn't even register on my list of best announcers.
It's REALLY hard to quantify this, and again, a lot of it is today's WWE which pretty much tells you to not take any of this stuff remotely seriously, I felt when JR would call matches he really "cared" about the babyface, and "really" thought the heel was doing despicable things and wanted payback because that heel was a terrible person.
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget, after Funk and Foley had that falls count anywhere match on Raw and they both went into the dumpster, then the NAO came out from backstage and pushed the dumpster over the ramp to the floor. It didn't "look" that bad, but JR sold it like the NAO were the biggest jerks in the history of the world and they went too far. That's what we don't get with Michael Cole today because we're conditioned to not care as much.
I admit I actually don't mind Maggle, but am I crazy to think Cole and Tazz were actually a good team back in 05ish?
ReplyDeleteBobby, at his best, could make fun of and denigrate a babyface in a way that put them over at the same time. Compare and contrast with Heel Cole who just shit over everything.
ReplyDelete"WHIP HIM! WHIP HIM LIKE A DOG"
ReplyDelete"THERE'S PEOPLE IN THERE!!!!"
ReplyDeleteHell, I saw a noticeable improvement in Cole for the main event match at WM this year. And wonder of wonders, Vince wasn't there because he was accompanying the Undertaker to the hospital. Now, even an unleashed Cole is still nothing more than adequate, but I think there is something to the fact that he's being held back by his main boss.
ReplyDeleteIn the days before Wikipedia, that info wasn't exactly easy to come by.
ReplyDeleteI loved that shtick. Monsoon would be like "who cares" but it did make Shawn Michaels feel important, even though he was just a lowly midcarder at the time.
ReplyDeleteGorilla was great because he was like a grandfather educating you about pro wrestling.
ReplyDeleteCole and Foley did commentary over an old Shea Stadium show on classics on demand years ago and it was actually very entertaining. It was the first (and only) time Cole didn't irritate the shit out of me.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are
ReplyDeleteSmackdown Cole with Tazz or JBL wasn't too bad, partially from the random shots he took.
ReplyDeleteHe was at his best when the Rock would put a t-shirt over his head and have him hold the mic while he spoke.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just mentioned it above but it was actually pretty good. Foley and Cole riffed on the stuff going on in the ring and were actually pretty funny. At one point Cole asked Foley if he'd ever actually worked out in his career with total sincerity and Foley got pissed. Damn, I wish I would've recorded that.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Tazz was fucking awful.
ReplyDelete