Wade Barrett believes Michael Cole got too much criticism from fans because they couldn’t see past the character he played on television.
During a recent appearance on Out Of Character with Ryan Satin, Wade Barrett spoke about how Michael Cole is now beloved by everyone in wrestling, which is a contrast to how he was treated in recent years. Barrett believes fans had trouble letting go of the feelings they had about Cole during his heel run, but now see him for the great commentator he is.
“I didn’t really understand for a while why Michael Cole, as good as he is, he was constantly just getting so much flak, especially when you went on social media and things like that. And my personal opinion is that he was really, really liked by wrestling fans until around 2010-2011. That’s when he did that heel character and he was getting in the ring. And it started off very entertaining, I think when he did that,” Barrett explained, “but I think it kind of went on too long and became a bit overbearing, and I think management were pushing him to continue this character, which was dominating all of our shows.
“And I think people from our fanbase kind of got tired of that, and that’s been a hangover he’s suffered ever since, with regards to the fanbase. I speak to Cole about it, he doesn’t care what people say. He’s the last guy who worries about that. But I think finally, over the last couple of years, people have kind of seen him for what he is, which is this brilliant broadcaster, this amazing guy who’s directed that show, really, from a commentary perspective for the past 25 years now. And everyone within the company, both the in-ring talent and the broadcasters and management, realize how good Michael Cole is,” Barrett stated. “There’s no doubt from within the company, how brilliant he is as a commentary person. So, social media is what it is, sometimes they get on a wave of criticism, but some of the in-ring guys, some of the commentators, some of the directors, various personnel, man it goes in waves. Sometimes you’re the bad guy for a while, and other times you’re the big hero, and that’s just how it is.”
Barrett also spoke about Michael Cole referring to a couple of wrestlers as jabronis on a recent episode of SmackDown, noting that it made sense in context.
“He called ’em a couple of jabronis, it was hilarious when he said that. I will defend Cole on that one. So I think it was during Braun Strowman’s match, it was a two-on-one. It was a couple of local talents, as we call them in the industry, that were having a two-on-one match with the Monster Among Monsters, Braun Strowman, I think Strowman had put something on his Twitter a couple of days earlier about how, you can throw any jabronis at me, I’m gonna beat them all. I think that’s what he was trying to reference. I think we got a call in our area very quickly after he started speaking that we’ve got to throw to the next segment, so he wasn’t able to reference really why he was calling these guys jabronis. That’s where that came from. So in defense of Michael Cole, he’s not out there just burying people. It came across even funnier than I think he intended.”
Read More: Michael Cole: My Job Is To Direct Traffic, Tell Coherent Stories That Help Get The Superstars Over
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