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Showing posts with label Michael Cole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Cole. Show all posts

September 10, 2018

Renee Young joins Raw announce team full-time

Starting tonight, Renee Young will be the first woman to join the Raw broadcast booth full-time. 

She will now bring her unique voice and perspective to the longest-running weekly episodic program in the U.S. as she joins Michael Cole and Corey Gravesat the commentary desk. Renee joined WWE in 2012 and has served as a backstage interviewer and commentator on Raw, SmackDown LIVE and NXT. She is currently part of the Mae Young Classic commentary team on WWE Network.

In turn, Jonathan Coachman will take over as the new host of WWE’s pay-per-view kickoff shows. A veteran broadcaster with more than 20 years of experience hosting shows for WWE, ESPN, MSG Network and the Golf Channel, Coachman will bring his unique style to millions of viewers around the world on WWE Network, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and WWE.com, as the host of WWE’s pay-per-view kickoff shows. Coachman will begin his new role this Sunday, Sept. 16 alongside WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, David Otunga, Sam Roberts and Peter Rosenberg prior to WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.

December 21, 2016

Michael Cole Says Corey Graves Is 'The Next Jerry Lawler'


ESPN has a new article online featuring quotes from Michael Cole. In it, he sung the praises of Corey Graves. Below is an excerpt:

"We knew he was gonna be good, I just didn't know he was gonna be this good, this fast," Cole said of Graves. "We gave him a chance and he really worked hard at it. This didn't come to him easy. He put a lot of time in at the Performance Center, and hours and hours of work.

"We put him on Raw, and he took off. He's the new guy, he's the new heel. He's the next JBL, the next Jerry Lawler," Cole continued. "He's got a unique presence, he's got sarcasm and he's got wit, and he also has the experience of being in the ring, being a former NXT tag team champion. He has everything. A good looking young kid - he's the future of what we do here.”

July 20, 2016

WWE commentary gets a facelift for the New Era


It’s a New Era for the entire landscape of WWE, which continues to change and evolve with the WWE Brand Extension Draft. That includes the announce teams for WWE programming. The teams for Raw, SmackDown, "WWE Superstars" and WWE Main Event are all experiencing a major shakeup, including one major voice changing shows and several rising commentators being inserted into the lineup.

The new announce teams for WWE’s New Era will feature Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton Monday nights on Raw, while Mauro Ranallo, JBL and David Otunga handle the commentary for SmackDown Live every Tuesday night.

Also receiving a makeover will be the announce teams for WWE Superstars and WWE Main Event. Both shows will be led by Tom Phillips, and he will be joined each and every week by Graves on WWE Superstars and Otunga on WWE Main Event.

June 8, 2016

Titus O'Neil On Turning His WWE Suspension Into A Positive, Facing Rusev At WWE MITB, More


Titus O'Neil is featured in this week's sitdown interview with Michael Cole. Below are highlights:

* Titus jokes how he doesn't like phone calls from WWE HQ when Cole informs him of a phone call he received to announce Titus vs. WWE United States Rusev at Money In the Bank

* Cole asks about the suspension from earlier this year. Titus calls it a negative that he turned into a positive by having more time to be a father, a son and a brother. Titus says he saw things outside of WWE and was able to expand on some of the things he does inside of WWE. He was also able to better some of his personal relationships with the time off

* Cole asks why Titus doesn't believe Rusev has what it takes to be US Champion. Titus talks about how Rusev runs from a fight and says he never will, never has. Titus says the real American heroes are the people - teachers, servicemen, police offers and firefighters. Titus says he's fighting for everyone and will fight anyone to preserve what he feels are the three most important parts of life - faith, family and community

* Titus mentions his kids will be there for the match because it's on Father's Day. Titus says every dad should spend time with their kids on that day but this is the biggest opportunity of his career. Titus says he has the chance to prove to people that he belongs here and will be here for a long time. Titus says there will be plenty of juice boxes and chips at the celebration in Las Vegas that night. Titus says real champions stand up for what they believe in and at Money In the Bank, Rusev will find out what he believes in

December 13, 2015

NJPW On AXS Announcer Heading Up WWE SmackDown Announce Team In January


In a pretty big WWE announcing move, highly regarded play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo will be introduced as the new Smackdown lead announcer, according to Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, who first reported the news.

In his column, Deitsch says that WWE play-by-play announcer Michael Cole is the one who helped get Mauro Ranallo the gig.

In an interview with SI.com on Friday, Ranallo said Cole, who handles broadcast talent development for the WWE in addition to on-air work, emailed him about a month ago to inquire about his interest in working with the company. Ranallo then sent the WWE some of his broadcast work, including a promotional vehicle he did for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders where Ranallo called a mock fight between billionaire Warren Buffett and Floyd Mayweather. (This was no low-end production: The video was directed by Animal House director John Landis.) The WWE brass, including chairman Vince McMahon, (were) impressed. "This was an opportunity I did not think I would get at this point of my career and I jumped on it," Ranallo said. "I have been a lifelong fan of the product. Michael said that when Vince saw the Warren Buffet video, it seemed to cinch it. They believed I could sell the entertainment part."

Ranallo has been praised for his work in pro wrestling, MMA, boxing and kickboxing, widely regarded as one of the best announcers in the business. He'll be taking over when Smackdown moves to USA on January 7. He'll retain his roles with GLORY Kickboxing and Showtime Boxing.

March 23, 2015

Interview with Michael Cole


Sports Illustrated recently interviewed WWE announcer Michael Cole to promote WrestleMania 31. The full interview is available at this link, and below are some interview highlights:

How privy he will be to what’s going down at WrestleMania:

If I wanted to know, I could know everything. But I don’t want to know and especially at WrestleMania. A perfect example was last year with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. When Undertaker’s streak was ended by Brock, oh, my God, I was as shocked as the people sitting at the stadium that night inside the [New Orleans] Superdome. I had know no idea in a million years that was going to happen, and that was the reaction you got out of our call hopefully. I was expecting The Undertaker to kick out and I did one of my normal “One, two…” and I was expecting to say kick out and all of a sudden it was three. I looked at John and he looked at me and I mouthed to him off-air, “Is it over?” His eyes were big and wide and I said to myself: “Okay, the streak is over.” I want those moments to happen.

One of my favorite WrestleMania matches to call was the first time Rock and John Cenamet in Miami [at Wrestlemania XXVIII]. I didn’t know what would happen and it was such a great year-long build. It makes that moment so much better. At the end of the day, just like anyone else who calls any sport, we are fans of the product and we want to be as intrigued as everybody else.

Who is in his ear during RAW:

So this is the fun part of my job. People think I sit down in a chair and I look at the ring and say, “Okay there are two guys fighting and this is what they are doing” and call the match. That is, and I swear to God, so far from the truth. I sit down and in my headset when I am calling Monday Night Raw for three hours, I have my executive producer, I hear my audio technician, I hear whoever is producing us backstage whether it is [WWE Chairman and CEO] Mr. [Vince] McMahon or Triple H or whoever it may be at the time. I also have two guys I have to listen to that I am working with so we can have a conversation on the air. So at any given time I have my voice, the two guys at ring side, audio, the executive producer and whoever is producing that night. So I sometimes have six voices in my head at once while we are on the air on live television. While that is going on, someone might say that the number one trend in the world on Twitter is this and we have to hit on it. Meanwhile, don’t forget to tell people why Paige is doing this to Nikki Bella. Then John may be telling me a joke and Booker T might be laughing and I have to keep all this going and keep the train on the tracks. I am a traffic cop.

How hard it is to do three hours of RAW:

When 11:15 p.m. ET rolls around, people have said to all of us, “You guys look like zombies. And it’s true. It is mentally exhausting. And it is physically exhausting, too. I sweat through my suit sometimes. When I am done, I get in my car to drive to the next town and I completely zone out for two or three hours. But it is also rewarding every week. I love it.

January 8, 2015

WWE Announces Commentary Changes, Jerry Lawler Moved to SmackDown


WWE issued the following:

WWE® ANNOUNCES NEW BROADCAST TEAMS AS A PART OF SMACKDOWN®'S MOVE TO THURSDAY NIGHTS

As SmackDown prepares to move to Thursday nights next week on Syfy, WWE Universe members will be seeing some new faces behind both the Raw and SmackDown announce desks.

On Raw, Michael Cole and JBL will be joined each week by WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, while the new SmackDown announce team will consist of Cole, newcomer Byron Saxton and incomparable WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler. Cole, JBL and Lawler will continue to call the action during WWE pay-per-view events.

December 1, 2014

Guest Host For Next Week's Slammys On RAW


Actor Seth Green will be hosting next week's WWE RAW from Greenville, South Carolina. Next week's RAW will also feature The Slammy Awards. Michael Cole confirmed on tonight's RAW that the only way to vote on next week's awards will be with the WWE App.

October 16, 2014

JBL Blasts Reports Of Alleged "Fight" Between Justin Roberts And Michael Cole


WWE announcer John "Bradshaw" Layfield has taken to his official Facebook page to blast reports of a fight that was alleged to have taken place between fellow announcer Michael Cole and recently-released WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts during this week's edition of Raw:

I saw on the Internet that Michael Cole and Justin Roberts got into a fight at ringside-during a live Raw. Do you realize how preposterous this is? Michael has ZERO break during the three hours (King and I barely have enough to tweet!), we go straight to WWE App during commercials (which Maggle is so helpful in showing everyone how to download) and back to TV action. This 'fight' never happened and couldn't have happened due to lack of time. I have no idea how these things start-but happy that people care enough to write about what we do and what goes on, sometimes though the 'news' is wrong as in this case.

I wish Justin the best obviously and I know nothing of his departure other than what was announced-but wanted to clear this up as the Internet was buying this for fact for some reason.

I do want to wish Maggle a happy birthday (yesterday) I do think Maggle is the best play by play guy WWE has ever had, and before all of you hop on the JR or Gorilla bandwagon-I mean no insult to either of those guys, both all time greats. I have worked with Michael since my broadcast start and have never seen anyone better-that is obviously subject to my opinion. The stuff he has to do with all the social media, app, network, etc makes his job the hardest play by play in the world imo and as much as I love getting him on air, I think he is great at it.

October 14, 2014

The Very Latest on Justin Roberts’ WWE Release: Reportedly Seen Arguing with Cole, Ring Announce Changes Expected, Y2J Podcast


According to PWInsider.com, below are the latest updates on the WWE release of Justin Roberts:

Roberts was informed of his WWE release right after Raw last night, and he was told by WWE Exec Kevin Dunn. With Roberts gone, it is expected that Lilian Garcia will handle ring announcing for Raw and Eden might be brought in to do ring announcing for Smackdown.

There was talk amongst fans on social media last night that Roberts could be seen arguing with Michael Cole during the Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler match, and at one point Roberts “flipped Cole off.” Whether or not the incident was a catalyst for Roberts’ release is unknown.

Roberts will be the special guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk is Jericho” podcast on Friday.

September 12, 2014

Video: WWE COO Triple H discusses the success of NXT TakeOver

May 28, 2014

Triple H Praises Natalya and Charlotte, Talks About Tyson Kidd, WWE Payback, NXT, More


Triple H is back for another sitdown interview with Michael Cole this week, which you can see on WWE's website at this link. Below are highlights:

* He says Payback is where it all comes to an end, the final battle. He's been telling The Shield to adapt or perish and the time is at Payback.

* Triple H talks about NXT Takeover on Thursday night. He says he got the name Takeover from looking at social media and seeing that fans were talking about how NXT is taking over WWE. He says NXT is going to make an impact on the world.

* He praises Natalya as one of the best in-ring performers int he Divas division and says Charlotte is becoming one of the best. He says Charlotte is one of the most genetically gifted athletes he's ever seen.

* He talks about how Tyson Kidd made a little bit of an impact on the main roster, got hurt and is now using NXT as his pathway back. He brings up a possible scenario of Tyson losing and Natalya winning. He refers to Kidd as a sidekick husband and says that's hard for some guys to handle. Cole talks about a NXT Takeover preview show interview he conducted with Kidd where Kidd got emotional.

* Triple H says NXT is an infectious environment and everyone there should be congratulated. He says we will see the NXT talents put their heart and soul on the line like never before at Takeover.

April 2, 2014

Video: Stephanie McMahon declares Triple H will demolish Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania

March 28, 2014

WrestleMania XXX Press Conference Set for NYC


WrestleMania Week officially kicks off with the WrestleMania 30 Press Conference, broadcast live on WWE Network this Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. ET from the Hard Rock Café in New York City. Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Batista, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, Big Show, The Great Khali, Michael Cole and the cast of Total Divas will be appearing

March 25, 2014

Video: Triple H vows to end the "Yes!" Movement at WrestleMania

March 9, 2014

John Cena, Michael Cole & Stephanie McMahon Present At SXSW


WWE sent John Cena, Michael Cole, Perkins Miller and Stephanie McMahon to SXSW on Sunday for a presentation on the WWE App (See also – Crushing Second Screen: The Ultimate TV Companion).
They were there to discuss how the company has used their social media landscape of more than 260 million followers to launch the WWE Network. The hashtag #WWESXSW actually trended Twitter during the discussion.



"We have 270 million fans engaging - only 20K fit into a stadium so MultiScreen is what we build for" - Perkins Miller, WWE EVP Digital Media

March 5, 2014

Video: Is Triple H scared of Daniel Bryan?


The latest sit down interview with Triple H and Michael Cole has been released, and the following are highlights from the interview, which you can watch below:

Cole brings up the many reasons why HHH would not accept Daniel Bryan's WrestleMania challenge, and Cole asks HHH what the real reason is.

HHH says he's the COO of the company, and doesn't have the time for a B+ player. Cole noted HHH has had numerous matches since he has been COO of WWE, and HHH says Cole can't compare guys like The Undertaker to Daniel Bryan. He says it's gonna take a lot more than a challenge to get HHH to lace up his boots against a B+ player like Bryan.

HHH says Bryan would be embarrassed by him at WrestleMania, thus ending the "Yes" movement, and that's not good for business. It's better for Bryan to do his "little B+ thing" and let the "immortals" handle WrestleMania.

HHH calls Bryan a "185 pound sawed-off midget," and when asked if he's scared of Daniel Bryan, HHH said "You want to know if I'm afraid of him? The answer to your question is the exact same answer to Daniel Bryan's question: No."

February 12, 2014

Triple H Talks About the WWE Hall of Fame Airing on The Network, Batista, Lita and More


In the newest interview with Michael Cole and Triple H. Here are some highlights:

* Michael Cole apologized for his actions during last week's interview, for overstepping his bounds. Triple H said the apology is accepted but unnecessary because Cole was just doing his job - asking tough questions. Triple H asked Cole not to push him on questions Cole knows he cannot answer.

* Triple H said he's excited for Lita and proud of her. He called her a trailblazer. He announces the WWE Network will show the Hall of Fame ceremony, in its entirety, live that Saturday night before WrestleMania XXX.

* Regarding Batista getting upset on RAW in the backstage segment, Triple H said he's not sure if Batista is upset at management, he's just a hothead. Triple H said it's up to Batista to prove that he's the same Animal he was four years ago.

* Triple H is not disappointed in Randy Orton for his recent losses to the Elimination Chamber opponents. Triple H thinks Cesaro may be Orton's toughest opponent yet. Triple H said Cesaro is the guy nobody will be expecting and is good enough to walk out the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

* Triple H said he would indeed consider the winner of the Chamber to be the face of WWE.

January 1, 2014

Video: "2014 is going to be EPIC" - WWE COO Triple H addresses the returns of Brock Lesnar and Batista

December 18, 2013

Video: WWE COO Triple H Addresses Raw Controversy, CM Punk, and More

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