Michael Sean Coulthard (born December 8, 1966 in Sharon, Connecticut) better known by his stage name of Michael Cole is the current play-by-play announcer for World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! Originally his partner was Jerry "The King" Lawler but was later replaced by Tazz after the WWF vs. WCW/ECW invasion storyline. As of June 16, 2006, John "Bradshaw" Layfield is his new partner.
| Michael Sean Coulthard | |
|---|---|
| File:Michael cole.jpg | |
| Born | December 8, 1966 Sharon, Connecticut |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Michael Cole |
| Billed height | 5 ft (152 cm) 9 |
| Billed weight | 152 lb (69 kg) |
| Debut | 1997 |
Journalism career
Prior to becoming a WWF/WWE announcer, Coulthard was a journalist with CBS Radio. In 1993, he was sent to the Branch Davidian church in Waco to cover the entire 51-day siege and resulting conflagration.
In 1994, Coulthard was sent to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina for what was supposedly a six-week assignment covering the war-time siege by Serbian forces, but it turned out to be a nine-month stay, which would change his life. He would report daily from the city, narrowly escaping bullets and bombs. His documentary, titled Voices of Bosnia, has won several awards.
Experienced in covering tragic events, in 1995 Coulthard was sent to Oklahoma City after the bombing by Timothy McVeigh at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which took the lives of 168 people.
Coulthard also covered three presidential elections--in 1988 with Michael Dukakis, in 1992 with Bill Clinton, and in 1996 with Steve Forbes and Bob Dole.
WWF/WWE Career
He came to the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, where he became the host of the old LiveWire show alongside Jim Cornette. He was also a backstage interviewer. From the end of 1997 to August 1999, he was the host of Monday Night RAW and when SmackDown! debuted, he was chosen to be the play-by-play announcer.
Unlike his RAW co-hosts, lead announcer Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler, Cole wrestled only one match (which he won against Heidenreich in 2005.) and is rarely involved in storylines (however, he was involved in a running gag, where his former partner Tazz made comments or asked questions about Cole's sexual orientation). In 2001, he was attacked by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, leading his broadcast partner Tazz to defend him. In 2004, he held up a sign for battle rap between Cena and Kenzo Suzuki, and ended up the subject of a cruel joke of Cena's. In 2005, he was kidnapped by the "crazy" wrestler Heidenreich. Cole had taken up the nickname "The Big Dog" as given by his commentary partner Tazz, but the name was immediately dropped after three weeks. Cole also claims to have a tattoo of a battleship on his chest, as said by Tazz.
Cole was in the Taxi Driver parody trailer in promotion of WrestleMania 21 showing off his physique.
Cole's rising popularity
When he first became a steady play-by-play announcer subbing for Jim Ross when Ross became struck with another episode of Bell's palsy in 1999, and when he first became the "voice of SmackDown!" during that same year, Cole was berated by fans, and sometimes still is today. However, as his years of experience grew, so did fans who have gotten accustomed to his style. Some fans near 2004 and 2005 have been saying that he had surpassed longtime favorite Jim Ross in skill, due to the notion that Cole was faster at delivering the play-by-play, and that Ross had lost his touch from his heydays in the peak of the WWF Attitude Era. Some also credit his recent popularity to his former broadcast partner on SmackDown!, Tazz, who regularly gets him out of trouble, and regulary gets involved with him in kayfabe arguments and witty discussions. This is because many have felt that Cole's partner during his inexperienced years was Jerry Lawler, who has been criticized for making any play-by-play commentator other than Ross (such as Jonathan Coachman and Joey Styles) sound awful, and this criticism had stuck all up until Ross' departure from the RAW commentating team.
Most recently, at the 2006 Royal Rumble, Cole commentated alongside Lawler once again for the Royal Rumble match, quelling the critics to the Lawler criticism. Cole had commentated the 2006 Royal Rumble match because Ross, who had commentated the last three Royal Rumble matches with Tazz, had been "fired" in the storylines and replaced by former ECW play-by-play man Joey Styles, who some feel may not have been ready to call a Royal Rumble match just yet.
On April 26, 2006, WWE announced that Cole would become a Managing Editor for WWE.com. This has been met with criticism, with some people upset over Cole turning WWE.com back into more of a kayfabe website.
On the June 9 edition of SmackDown!, Cole's broadcast partner Tazz defected to ECW, leaving Cole at that moment without a broadcast partner.
At ECW One Night Stand 2006 John "Bradshaw" Layfield announced he would replace Tazz as color commentator. This proved true five days later when he appeared on that weeks edition of SmackDown! as Cole's newest partner.
Outside of wrestling
On February 3, 2006, it was announced that he and Tazz were starting a radio show on Howard Stern's Howard 101 radio station on Sirius, airing Thursday - Sunday at 8pm. The show was a trial run that only lasted a couple of weeks.
Controversy
From late 2005 into 2006 controversy has followed Cole. The first of which stemmed from a 2005 episode Byte This! where Cole said, "The WWE repeats the same storylines over and over again every 6 months..." It was at this point in the broadcast where Tazz pulled an 'air rifle' and pretended to shoot Cole (there was no physical gun). Cole has refused to give an apology.
More controversy emerged when Tazz and Cole were on their radio show, and a fan called in and said that he would like to see Tazz do SmackDown! solo and that he sometimes mutes his TV when Cole is talking. Outraged at hearing this, Cole launched a verbal attack on the caller, saying that he (Cole) must be doing a pretty good job since he's called 337 (and still going) episodes of SmackDown! and that's he's also on national television, accompanied by a vast usage of the "F" word. Some fans feel, however, that the caller deserved Cole's tougue-lashing, due to the caller being somewhat obscene himself, and providing no basis to his opinion.
However, the most talked about controversy stemmed from WrestleMania XV in 1999. During a promotion for WWF merchandise, Cole mentioned merchandise for both The Rock, and the "new WWF Champion" Stone Cold Steve Austin, before their match ever took place (Austin would win the WWF Title from The Rock later on). Thus, many felt that Cole ruined the entire event, as the match was projected to be a huge draw for the PPV. Although a lot of fans have since forgiven Cole for this botch due to him being inexperienced at the time, some members of the internet wrestling community still berate Cole to this day for the incident, and have used the botch as a base for other criticisms about his commentary style.
Recently during John Cena's "Five Questions segments" on WWE.com, Cena has attacked Michael (brawler)Cole as the man that's ruining the internet. A more recent attack claims that Cole is the only person in the world that doesn't enjoy "boobies."
Job titles
- SmackDown! play-by-play announcer
- WWE Velocity play-by-play announcer
- Backstage interviewer
- WWE.com Managing Editor
Championships and accomplishments
- 2001 Worst Television Announcer