The Cole vs. Lawler Build
 

It seems to be almost universal, through many marks and smarks alike, that Cole vs. Lawler is one of, if not the best build going into this year's WrestleMania. At the very least, Cole has a lot of people wanting to see him get his ass kicked. That is absolutely a success.

But how do you feel about the build, to this point? Do you like it? Do you not like it? And how do you feel it stacks up to other feuds, not only this year but all time?

Discuss Cole vs. Lawler in general.

I think the feud is being built perfectly. I am actually excited for this match. The only other match with build equal to this is Miz v Cena.

It is 100x better than the HHH/Taker build.

Its fantastic, and totally down to Cole.

Absolutely love it. Cole has to be one of, if not arguably the best built non wrestling heel in the last 10 years. He has been amazing since the match's inception. He's being put over Lawler week in and week out, and made JR tap. The heat he ignites the minute he grabs a mic is top teir.

And like Xero said, the fact that he's at a point where the wrestling community as whole is chomping at the bit to see him get his ass handed to him is a shining example of how well he, and the build has been handled.

Not to mention, having Lawler being constantly picked on and physically dominated heading into Mania, where he will most likely get the emphatic "W", is setting him up for arguably the greatest moment in his career since joining WWE.

Love the build of this match. Cole is doing a good job with what his character's whole spiel is suppose to create, he gets under my skin especially when he gets riled up and repeats shit he says . Lawler playing the sympathetic part took awhile to adjust to. If you mention Lawler to me in a discussion I always go back to his days feuding with Bret Hart with Lawler as the heel.

His interruption of all the divas matches are starting to send signs that we will get a "feel good" type finish or interruption where the Divas beat the piss out of Cole and insert Grandmaster Sexay to turn against Cole for comments made last week on Raw. Overall, it's been built to entertain and I won't be taking a piss break during the match. Jim Ross being involved in it was smart too, and never hurts to insert Jack Swagger into the mix. I have a little faith in that guy and hopes he gets a Sheamus like run at a title or whatever the piss they do to try and make up for dropping a guy fallen from World Champ status.

It's entertaining as hell and the beauty of it is even after the blow off, Cole's heat isn't going anywhere. Guys like Swagger could get over huge by association and the fans will cheer for whoever is trying to shut him up. Theyre even trying to get Eve over using Cole. This is great and much MUCH better than what we had last year for Hart vs McMahon.

Dunno what it is, but matches involving non-wrestlers in the company always seem to be pushed hard, and built up the most.

Any match with Vince/Shane, and now Cole...


I wonder if Michael Cole is secretly ripped under his suit like Vince McMahon is. :shifty:

lol, I was actually thinking that, come Mania, he'll come out and just wrestle circles around Lawler. And legitimately impress fans with his wrestling prowess. Then it'd be revealed he had been training since the Attitude Era because he always wanted to take down Lawler.

I am looking forward to this match like it's the Royal Rumble or something, Michael Cole has come from the fucking woodworks and become something nobody imagined he would become. He is really fucking good at being someone you hate, and it was a natural progression anyway because everyone hated him on commentary.

For King, it's another smart move because this has been building for over a year every week on Raw. I'm not saying WWE knew they were going to have them in a huge Wrestlemania match but perhaps they did, it doesn't matter either way. Plus this gives King a huge moment, and everybody cares because we have listened to him for years and years, it just makes perfect sense and I am glad WWE came up with a genius story, something totally new yet familiar, pretty cool.

Also I expect the match to be one of the hottest of the night and potentially a highly memorable "Wrestlemania moment".

I've loved every bit of it. Last week's segment with Brian Christpher and JR really put it over the edge for me.

I fully expect the match to be a lot of fun, and produce a Wrestlemania moment.
The involvement of Austin, Swagger, JR and whoever else is going to really add to the match.
Regardless, the build has been worth it already.

I might be willing to put money on Cole taking a piledriver at Mania.

Would be 117x better if JBL was the ref rather than Austin, though.

Mark

I think the buildup to the match has been great so far. As long as Cole get's his ass kicked at Mania then I'll be happy.

Other than the buildup, I personally think Cole is a terrible character though. He fails miserably at getting the crowd to hate him. Also, I think it's funny when Jack Swagger does his signature run around the ring pose and Cole follows him doing the same thing. It's like a father running and his little kid imitating him. Cole looks like a child doing it.

I think what helps the build up is the fact that we all know the actual match is going to be terrible. So, we know this is the only enjoyable part of the feud. I think WWE realizes this too and they are taking advantage of it too.

I've liked the build up to it a lot mostly due to how Cole's arrogance as a character keeps growing and now he is very delusional proclaiming his match as the main event of Mania.

His character doesn't really want the match to occur which is why every week he's coming up with new plans to provoke King as a way to get King fired but won't admit to it in fear of getting called a chicken or having the crowd turn on him after spending weeks building himself as the biggest star in the WWE right now.

Probably could do without the special guest ref part since it hasn't done much in the build besides the one week where it was teased as JBL but ended up being Austin. The Jim Ross parts have been great though.

Dude I think the volume might be turned down on your TV

Too good. I was honestly blown away when I actually saw that episode of RAW (Jim Ross one).

I was a little bit disappointed that Cole didn't bring out another person to bash King. Maybe The Kat with Kizarny would have sealed the deal for top 5 feuds in WWE history or Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman or just as himself.

The only part of the feud I don't like. It was supposed to be Cole's choice why does Austin become Cole's choice cause he signed an un-notarized contract?

Only thing is with Austin being the ref its abit obvious what's gonna happen and would've preferred JBL to be there, other than that its been great. :cool: (hopefully JBL will make a surprise appearence, and count the 3 somehow while austins knocked out or whatever....!)

they need to build more/all feuds with this much effort and quality.

To me, it's just surprising how much time they've spent building up this match.

Really into this feud, really builds Michael Cole up to be a massive heel and now all we want to see is Lawler piledriving him at Wrestlemania or JR to whack him with a sweets jar.

I'm really happy for Cole. I personally have never had a problem with him over the years, but it seems everyone else has. But now seeing people here suddenly loving him and the build to this match makes me really happy for Cole that he's managed to 'get over'.

last week i was really expecting the kat to come out too. theres still a chance this upcoming week!

Cole has come a long fucking way that's for sure.

This feud has been great. It's been a long, slow and natural feeling build, even if it was unintentional on the writing team's part. It doesn't feel randomly thrown together in the last month.

Cole is doing such a great job as a non-wrestling heel. He's come such a long way from the Rock making him slap himself in the face. I'm loving the fact that we got Lawler's family involved, JR involved and even Austin (and maybe JBL) involved in this feud to a degree. That to me is one thing that makes a good feud work, incorporate or influences other characters/feuds into it.

lol what does it say about the WWE that its two best heels are Cole and Vickie Guererro?

good build, the part i like is that it feels like creative had an idea and have slowly burned it with a definite direction.

Michael Cole is slowly becoming one of the finest Artistic Combatants the WWE has. :y:

:D

Michael Cole running around behind Swagger is definitely the highlight of Raw each week.

And even then, Jack Swagger comes across as bland.

That would be killer... Kinda sad that we all think this is the best buildup for WM though...

Swagger isn't supposed to be the focal point here, you chode.

But he should CEASE the moment and use it to revive his career...

...you chode...

:shifty:

That's retarded. This has nothing to do with Jack Swagger. This is all about Cole and Lawler. He's playing a role, and he's doing just fine.

If you get an opportunity, you gotta make the most of it...

...Cole vs Lawler is getting a ton of airtime, and Swagger should tkae it as an opportunity to give his career a new breath of fresh air...

...that's all I'm saying.

"Iron" Mike Sharpe should have really stepped his game up in that squash match against JIm Duggan. IT WAS HIS CHANCE TO SHINE!!!!!!

...I don't know what you're talking about, but if this "Mike Sharpe" fella you mention could've stepped up his game, he should've!

If this were an actual competitive field, you'd be right. However, it's a scripted performance. Do you think that Trinidad and Tobago should have stepped their game up and really taken it to Team USA in D2: The Mighty Ducks Are Back?

In wrestling, time and time again guys have really shined in how they perform, have shown a certain "something" that has caught the writers' eye and the fans' attention, and have ended up getting a push as a result.

He had guidelines to work within. He can't just go rogue and do whatever the fuck he wants. People have done that too and gotten stuck with gimmicks where they fall in love with a mop.

Even within those guidelines there has been nothing about his performance that doesn't make it look as though they couldn't have inserted ANY other mid carder in his spot.

I know his role isn't to outshine Cole and Lawler. However, to compare it to a movie role (which has been done in this thread) there's nothing at all there that makes you think "Best supporting actor" which in turn doesn't leave you wondering what he is capable of if given a greater opportunity. I was hoping for "HOLY SHIT! It's Jack Swagger!!" rather than "It's "It's Jack Swagger, meh..."

He hasn't OWNED the role. They could have given the role to a number of other wrestlers and accomplished the same thing. He's just there.

So he will have Steamboat pops from WM 25

"He hasn't OWNED the role. They could have given the role to a number of other wrestlers and accomplished the same thing. He's just there."

For what it's worth I completely agree with this I see Swagger as nothing but a goof or a lackey. He serves no other purpose his character is a joke at the moment. He's a goofy Kurt Angle jock boy! :lol:

I really don't see where they are going with this? I mean why not have Swagger side with Cole until he see's that Cole is using and abusing him, taking advantage of him rather than looking out for Jack Swagger he then puts the ankle lock on Cole or helps Lawler win.

I would rather see a motivated team Angle style stable with Swagger as a lead character and young guys behind him, learning from him rather than the goofy Kurt angle jack boy lackey he is right now.

It doesn't make sense to me that he's not a champion a winner with his background they need to push that side of his character more rather than him being stuck with Cole, Mascots and god knows what else they pick out the trash can at the end of the writers meeting!

Brilliant build. Honestly, with the time they're devoting to this match, it seems as if they're counting on major Wrestlemania moments from this one. The feud has been well constructed, and Cole has been TOP NOTCH. King has gained major momentum, and most of that's only because of Cole's heel antics.

I think we all know how it will culminate at WM (King wins), but i would love to see how they get there.

By the way the amount of times I have said "oh just fuck off Cole" is ridiculous. I think it's down to the fact that he is going for the cheapest heat going such as picking a fight with a diva or using the lowest of the low comments about Lawlers father.

It just comes across as him trying to hard.. it's quite lame actually.

Compared to the Mr Mcmahon character Cole really is shallow and predictable right now. Not too please with where they are going with the character it just comes across as being awkward sometimes.

I agree that Cole might actually be a great wrestler, look at the moves Shane picked up over the years who is to say that being with the WWE for so long hasn't given Cole the chance to be quite active in the ring in training over the years? I can see him being better than people imagine but still see Lawler getting the win with the help of a clusterfuck diva interference of some kind *sigh*

I want to see Jack Swagger turn on Cole for not putting Jack Swagger first or looking out for Jack Swagger I just want to see him go ape shit and throw Cole around like a rag doll the pop would be huge I think and it would help get Jack Swagger over as more than just a lackey.

Remember when Regal tried to have a wrestling match with Goldberg instead of getting squashed?

*seize

Cole might be in a bit of trouble now...he did something bad on twitter, TMZ picked it up...Vince might get pissed...

http://ll-media.tmz.com/2011/03/26/0...pology-reg.jpg

Since Cole OBVIOUSLY didn't mean it as a slur, he was OBVIOUSLY telling Josh Matthews about his favorite British food. :shifty:

Cole is an idiot for using the word "faggot". In 2011, that is just not a word that is acceptable in the public, regardless of his intent. Is he that out of touch?

Cole is such a faggot.

:wtf:
I think it's to do with the fact that they are "untouchable" for the most part. A Miz or a Sheamus or any given wrestler can get their comeuppance in the ring every week, Vickie and Cole can't. Therefore you get a slow burn on them getting what's coming to them and this intensifies the heat.
Swagger isn't booked the way you think he should be and that's him not capitalizing?

You see him as a lackey because that's the role the WWE have given him.

lol

I tend not to like anything that puts Brian Lawler back on my TV.

The feud has been good though. Cole is good.

an un-notarized contract LOL

It's actually refreshing to read a lot of compliments regarding this match. I can't tell you the ridiculous nature of some people floating around the 'net who have gone on for years proclaiming they'd want to see Cole get his ass kicked because of his annoying nature but are now offended that the WWE is actually charging them money to see just that. These are the people who should never run a wrestling company.

But I bet they'd at least have a notary at all contract signings!

Haha, I hadn't caught that.

Well they do need someone else to abuse during those segments instead of just the two wrestlers.

<font color=goldenrod>Cole's gonna become a great manager after Mania - unless WWE are still pissed about him calling Josh Matthews a faggot.</font>

WWE? Hold grudges? Get the f*ck out of here!

Comment wasn't notarized. Never happened.

Seriously. Good luck getting an unnotarized comment to hold up in a court of law.

Seize sir.