Michael Cole vs. The Internet

[Hammy]

You probably noticed on last night’s WWE NXT that Michael Cole kept burying Daniel Bryan and internet fans. It appears this is all part of a storyline as the following was posted last night on the WWE Universe Twitter page:

“Michael Cole has requested his @WWE Universe profile be removed from our site, not wanting to associate with ‘online fans” any longer.”

WWE on Twitter are asking for fans feedback and opinions on Cole’s announcing and then re-Tweeting what the fans say.

Josh Matthews was playing along with Cole on NXT, even mentioning how Cole was getting tips on announcing sent to him. This was in reference to Jim Ross saying on Twitter this weekend that he e-mailed Cole tips for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

[Izzy]

This guy is the best commentator they can find?

[EricxGNRxSTARx]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/351320-michael-cole-versus-the-online-wrestling-community
Michael Cole Versus The Online Wrestling Community
Jacob Burman

Correspondent Written on February 24, 2010
Michael_feature

If you watched WWE NXT (and you would have been a fool to miss it), you would have noticed that Michael Cole was bashing Daniel Bryan and his internet fans all night long. A whole lot of people have complained about it, saying it would have been ok if someone like Matt Striker would have said something like that (though Matt knows a whole lot about wrestlers from around the world, ala Mike Tenay, so actually it wouldn't have made sense) and that Cole should have been putting over Daniel Bryan throughout the show. However, what those fans do not know is the real reason behind this.

As we all should know, Cole is NOT over with the online wrestling community. How many times have we read an article bashing Cole and saying he does a horrible job at announcing? How he should go back to Smackdown and how his stupid sayings are just plain annoying. It shouldn't shock anyone that Cole is striking back against these fans and dissing their golden boy.

And that is what Bryan Danielson is. The golden boy for us online wrestling community fans. He's probably one of the most gifted wrestlers of our time and we want to see him skyrocket to the top in the WWE. I mean, since Danielson has been signed to WWE, the community hasn't stopped bashing WWE's decisions of how they used this guy.

First, he was sent down to FCW. The fans bashed WWE for this, though it was Danielson himself that decided he wanted to go down to Flordia and get back in shape after his impressive dark match with Chavo. When he had his name changed, the fans once again were outraged and mocked WWE for this decision, though Danielson doesn't really care about this change. And how can one forget about the uproar that us fans made when we saw The Miz of all people get named as the pro for Mr. Danielson. We took this as a slap to the face of Danielson and a way to show him he is nothing, though Miz is the most charismatic wrestlers and one of the most over heels at this present time while Danielson does need work on doing a promo by himself (which I will touch upon in my next article and I hope you all read it). Danielson, though, doesn't seem to mind any of this and is looking forward to working with the Miz.

Now what seems like Cole burying Daniel Bryan throughout the telecast seems like a mockery to the online wrestling community. But Cole is smart, he isn't as dumb as he looks. He knows how these fans hate him and he's going to use it to get himself over. And on Tuesday night, he did just that. He verbally slapped Daniel Bryan around and probably gave him a bigger lashing than what Miz or even Jericho gave him. He called him a nobody, that he hadn't heard of the guy until his name came up on NXT, and how wrestling in high school gyms is nothing like wrestling in sold out arenas. That pissed off the whole community of online wrestling fans.

As with everything else in the WWE, this is nothing more than a work, and a work that was perfectly played off. How do I know this is a work and not Cole just talking out of his ass? Easy thanks to the WWE Universe twitter account:

"Michael Cole has requested his @WWEUniverse profile be removed from our site, not wanting to associate with "online fans" any longer."

He's going to attack these fans and mock them after the years of abuse he had to suffer reading the tarnishing articles about himself. This is the perfect opportunity to get himself over. The online wrestling fans will feel they are attacking their boy while casual fans will think Cole has a point that Daniel Bryan has not paid his dues in the WWE and shouldn't be handed things.

If Cole continues to play this off not only on NXT, but on Raw, I feel this could do big things for his on air character. No longer will we have the "vintage" announcer, but an announcer with an axe to grind and one with an agenda. He'll have something to focus on and we can finally have the good versus evil announce team that we have been dying for. So I say bravo, Cole, bravo for your performance and hopefully to the future success you have in your announcing career. You found your nitch boy, so run with it, run with it and do not stop.

[Hammy]

Great article, and like it says, he was hardly buried, a ready made feud with The Miz and nearly beating Chris Jericho, not bad for your first night on tv.