WWE: What happened to Michael Cole?

Fans of WWE’s long-running Raw might tune in and wonder what happened to Michael Cole. The veteran commentator is no longer calling the action on the show, and has been replaced by Joe Tessitore.

It’s not all bad news, though, as fans of Cole can still watch him work in his new spot on SmackDown. Pat McAfee is also wrapping up his tenure on Raw, and will be focusing on college football with ESPN. Wade Barret will be stepping in for McAfee while Corey Graves joins Cole on SmackDown.

It’s a big reshuffling of talent to make way for new signing Joe Tessitore, and it’s likely it all needs to get settled before Raw makes the move to Netflix in January of next year. Tessitore is a veteran sportscaster, an alum of ABC, ESPN, and now WWE who has covered everything from boxing to horse racing and college football.

A new announcer on a WWE show is always a risky move for the company, but feelings around Tessitore after his first-ever Monday night outing were largely positive. Tessitore himself remarked on the emotional impact of the event in an interview on Raw. “It meant a lot to me. I brought out the little kid in me tonight,” he said. “I went, and I grabbed a bunch of t-shirts and merchandise. I spread the love, and I wanted to see smiles on these children’s faces.”

Cole, who has been with the company since 1997, started out doing voice-overs and hosting the LiveWire show. He would quickly appear on television, guesting on an episode of Raw. He then went on to join Raw as a commentator with Jim Ross later that year. Cole would eventually become part of the first-ever broadcast team for SmackDown when the show debuted in 1999, so his recent shift is just a return for him to his old stomping ground.

Over the years, Cole would jump between shows, end up involved in storylines, and even turn heel for a while as he feuded with Jerry “The King” Lawler. It is actually a harrowing workplace event for Lawler that would cement Cole’s legendary status as a live broadcaster for the company.

During the September 10, 2012, episode of Raw, Lawler suffered a heart attack live on air. Cole dealt with the stressful situation with great care and class, updating the viewers regularly, as they were rightly concerned about Lawler’s health.

A large part of this professionalism under duress would have been down to Cole’s experience as a broadcaster. While people might be tempted to look down on the WWE product, it’s a multi-billion dollar company that hires some of the very best people available. Before Cole joined them, he was a journalist for CBS Radio. He covered the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, and spent nine months covering the Yugoslavian civil war, reporting from the ground. He was also dispatched to Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, to cover the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

With Cole moving back to SmackDown and all the other changes to the announce teams, it seems a larger strategy is at play at World Wrestling Entertainment. With Endeavor seeming to flex more and more decision-making muscles around the flagship products of WWE, it seems likely that more changes will be on the horizon sooner rather than later.