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Post by Some Guy on Apr 21, 2023 22:24:56 GMT -5
Re-watching that Ladder match with ADR and Christian, his over the topness heel commentary really took the moment away from Christian and Edge. This was going to be my comment. The emotional catharsis of the moment is relying entirely on Booker T (I love Booker but this should not have been his burden as an announcer) to carry it out because Cole was sucking the air out of the room.
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Post by Red Mage Riot on Apr 21, 2023 22:28:57 GMT -5
I've been on a Royal Rumble rewatch kick, and just recently got to this era of shows and yeah, it's unlistenable commentary. I've heard he was great on NXT, but having never watched that season, I can only go by what I've recently heard/remembered, and it was wretched.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Apr 22, 2023 0:48:34 GMT -5
The play-by-play commentator is, and it's weird to say this in regards to a primarily audio role but it's true, the most visible person on your programming. They are the salesman, they are the narrator, they are the guide to the wacky, crazy world of professional wrestling. And you need to believe that you can trust this person enough so you the fan can buy what the promotion is selling. Cole is already fighting an uphill battle just by the nature of his own voice having this "South Park Movie Trailer Guy" quality to it, which when you combine it with the fact that he has to push the WWE narrative and all its phraseology, leads to the belief that he's completely insincere in his position... And that's when he's 100% unabashed the good guy. Making him the bad guy and then KEEPING him in that role as the salesman/narrator/guide so you can't be 100% certain of his sincerity and integrity... I'm surprised it didn't do more damage than it did.
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Post by dablueboy on Apr 22, 2023 4:52:50 GMT -5
The worst thing about his heel run was that it didn’t have a naturally booked ending, it literally ended because of Jerry Lawler’s heart attack and his human reaction to it
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Post by The Spelunker! on Apr 22, 2023 7:18:30 GMT -5
This is unironically my favorite era of WWE.
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Magnus the Magnificent
King Koopa
didn't want one.
I could write a book about what you don't know!
Posts: 12,633
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Post by Magnus the Magnificent on Apr 22, 2023 9:10:16 GMT -5
To all the haters:
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Legion
Fry's dog Seymour
Amy Pond's #1 fan
Hail Hydra!
Posts: 23,409
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Post by Legion on Apr 22, 2023 9:36:23 GMT -5
It was fine at first, but just like anything WWE does, they have to dial it up to 11. As subtle as a nuclear explosion. This. It was fine as a thing he was doing on NXT, and even for some guys on the main roster, but it just went over the top.
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BorneAgain
Fry's dog Seymour
Posts: 20,474
Member is Online
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Post by BorneAgain on Apr 22, 2023 10:35:14 GMT -5
Cole's heel commentary became so insufferable that I actually think that its Gooker Award win over Jeff Hardy at Victory Road 2011 was well earned. The latter was a hugely embarrassing moment featuring a main event talent that left a black eye on TNA... but it was just just one PPV match. For over 18 months plus Cole's stuff actively made potentially good TV segments worse, and made bad segments godawful.
The only remotely positive thing that came out of Lawler's heart attack is that it turned Cole babyface again and we were all the better for it.
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Post by tagteammatchplaya on Apr 22, 2023 10:45:28 GMT -5
Most of it was awful, but him doing Triple H's entrance was gold
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kevin
El Dandy
Posts: 7,516
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Post by kevin on Apr 22, 2023 12:16:11 GMT -5
The worst thing about his heel run was that it didn’t have a naturally booked ending, it literally ended because of Jerry Lawler’s heart attack and his human reaction to it If not for that how long would it have lasted I wonder? I kind of liked how crazy it got with his cage and the Cole Miners. I really thought they were going to make him the anonymous Raw general manager. Especially as he was who got the catch phrase and the extra presence because of it.
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Chiral
Salacious Crumb
Posts: 76,589
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Post by Chiral on Apr 22, 2023 12:26:41 GMT -5
It was mostly really bad, they should've just taken him off commentary and had him as a GM type if they wanted him to be a heel major character so badly.
Funniest awful horrific sleezebag heel thing I remember him doing: confronting AJ Lee saying how she's too young and she's just a little girl and she's so childlike and helpless "WHO NEEDS A MAN LIKE ME 😏😏😏" and started hitting on her. It was vile LMAO
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Apr 22, 2023 14:21:27 GMT -5
They should've just had him be a full time manager where he could have had a stable with Miz and Swagger and maybe someone else. Having him still be a commentator at the same time with that character was just too much. Heel commentators can be great. Ventura and Heenan are the best examples of this as they would support the heels but in a way that would still put over the faces and not bury them even if they didn't like them. Cole is nowhere near as good as those two and as a result was annoying and just down right inbearable and horrible to listen to.
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Post by peaches1 on Apr 22, 2023 15:32:26 GMT -5
Cole could be entertaining in the role but having him heel it up while also calling the action, moving stoeylines forward with his commentary was totally counter-intuitive.
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Post by darbus alan on Apr 22, 2023 15:43:34 GMT -5
The worst part of Heel Cole is that I think he could've been a pretty solid heel color guy. Cole has a lot of great knowledge of wrestling ins and outs and has a great sense of humor and personality. I think Vince McMahon getting out of his ear did a lot to show just how good he could be when he's just being himself. And his clowning on Top Dolla for the botched suicide dive is an amusing running gag.
But as others have said, heel play-by-play just doesn't work.
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bob
Backup Wench
The "other" Bob. FOC COURSE!
started the Madness Wars, Proudly the #1 Nana Hater on FAN
Posts: 80,603
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Post by bob on Apr 22, 2023 15:44:39 GMT -5
heel Cole thrived in NXT --- after his heel character moved beyond NXT everything beyond borderline unwatchable/unlistenable
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Apr 22, 2023 16:21:39 GMT -5
My sole recollection of all this is that he went neutralish again then randomly went full-heel for an episode in 2012 so they could have Cena strip him to his underwear and cover him in BBQ sauce.
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Post by Wilfred on Apr 22, 2023 16:29:15 GMT -5
He could’ve been a terrific heel manager during this time.
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Nosnorb
El Dandy
Nachos and Fraggle Rock are TIMELESS.
Posts: 8,377
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Post by Nosnorb on Apr 22, 2023 18:43:22 GMT -5
The worst thing about his heel run was that it didn’t have a naturally booked ending, it literally ended because of Jerry Lawler’s heart attack and his human reaction to it Looking back, I think the ending was supposed to be when John Cena stripped Cole down to his underwear and covered him with BBQ sauce.
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Post by The Heartbreak TWERK on Apr 22, 2023 21:34:03 GMT -5
Like most things with WWE, they just don't know when something that worked has reached a point where enough is enough and to stop. They have to run it into the ground until everyone is sick of it.
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Post by Red Mage Riot on Apr 22, 2023 21:53:22 GMT -5
Like most things with WWE, they just don't know when something that worked has reached a point where enough is enough and to stop. They have to run it into the ground until everyone is sick of it. I remember a quote, I wish I could attribute it to the right source, but this was years ago, talking about WWE's tendency to run jokes into the ground: "WWE is like a college girl who gets complimented on her outfit at a party, then wears that exact same outfit to every other party she goes to, hoping for the same compliment".
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