[Next Big Thing]

Originally Posted by Anybody Thrilla Michael Cole makes jokes all the time. He does seem more over the top with it on Raw, but on Smackdown, he's a lot more subdued. "Unwatchable" is a pretty subjective term, because I've never once thought about not watching a match just because Cole was on commentary. I think we can all agree that he's not doing anything that he's not supposed to do, or he'd be yanked from the booth immediately. As far as "getting himself over", how many times over the years did Jerry Lawler step into the ring and win matches that he had absolutely no business winning? That puts people over WAY more than some dude on commentary talking shit. I feel that Michael Cole has been highly entertaining since his "transformation", so I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's "not working" just because you don't like it.

I gotta disagree with you here ABT. There's a difference between being an obnoxious character to get under the skin of the faces, your fellow commentator and the viewers and being an obnoxious character to the point where it completely distracts from the match and makes you want to watch the show on mute.

The great antagonists like Lawler and Heenan did so within the context of the match. If Heenan wanted to take a shot at Jim Ross during a Ted Dibiase match, he'd say something like, "That fan has no right to boo the Million Dollar Man. He's probably only got $8 in his pocket. Then again, $8 would probably get you about 18 acres of land in Oklahoma, right J.R." Cole at times goes on tangents that have absolutely nothing to do with the current guys in the ring and it's not necessary for him to do that let alone scream it, in order to get himself over.

Plus Lawler was a legit wrestler. When he gets in the ring for something like his feud with Bret Hart or the Miz, even though he has no business wrestling you can appreciate him as a heel or empathize with him as a face. Cole in a wrestling singlet bouncing around like an idiot for 90% of a match is a waste of time.