"I’m gonna kick your a** then I’m gonna fire you!" - Vince McMahon threatened to fire WWE veteran for not listening to him
WWE Hall of Famer JBL recalled Vince McMahon threatening to fire Michael Cole for saying something on TV that he was instructed not to say.
Cole has been working for WWE as an on-air personality for over two decades. He has served as a play-by-play commentator for RAW, SmackDown and pay-per-views.
During a recent Q&A session at Steel City Con, JBL recounted the night that Michael Cole almost lost his job. According to the former, Vince McMahon informed the commentators not to acknowledge Deuce (James Snuka Jr.) as Jimmy Snuka’s son. Cole, however, unintentionally went against the chairman's words, and McMahon was not happy at all.
"I don’t even notice it. Soon as [Deuce] tags in, Michael Cole says, ‘In comes Jimmy Snuka’s son.’ Vince had just told him don’t say ‘Jimmy Snuka’s son.’ Well when he says that, they’ve got the little God camera that can look at us. I start laughing because I realize Cole doesn’t know not to say that. Vince sees me laughing and thinks Cole is making fun of him in front of the whole entire company. Vince’s response was, ‘Michael, I’m gonna come down there and I’m gonna fire you. No, I’m gonna come down there and I’m gonna kick your a**. Not I’m not, no I’m not’ and he’s debating with himself at this point."
"This is during a live show and he goes, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I’m gonna kick your a** then I’m gonna fire you! That’s what I’m gonna do! I’m coming down right now’ and Michael’s just looking at the camera like — and I’m dying laughing and there’s no commentary and then by the time the commercial comes around, there was no commentary in the match. Vince realizes what happened, that Michael did it by mistake. He goes, ‘Haha, I lost it a little bit there didn’t I? Ha, yeah,’" said JBL. (H/T POST Wrestling)
That strut though...
#RAW @VinceMcMahon https://t.co/PTXHPITIJp
JBL says Michael Cole was pranked a lot in WWE
It's no secret that superstars love playing pranks on their co-workers and other WWE personnel. Apparently, Michael Cole fell victim to a lot of pranks during his time in the company.
JBL recounted former US Champion Finlay hitting Cole with his signature weapon, the shillelagh and Titus O’Neil throwing up on him.
"We had so many different times on commentary where they would do stuff to Michael Cole but they wouldn’t do it to me and I’d be in on it; when [Fit] Finlay hit him with [the] shillelagh, I mean they abused Michael Cole for years and thank God I just got part of it. They had Titus O’Neil throw up on him one time," said JBL.
SmackDown has the best commentary team in the biz. https://t.co/QDrSbTh29t
Michael Cole and Pat McAfee are the voices of SmackDown, and their pairing in the commentary booth has been great.