Michael Cole on signing a new WWE deal, how working with Pat McAfee caused him to change the way he approaches his WWE play-by-play work

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Michael Cole credits Pat McAfee with changing his perspective on his role as the lead play-by-play voice of WWE. “Pat’s allowed me to understand that this business is supposed to be fun,” Cole told Front Office Sports. “It’s not serious, right? This is supposed to be a fun place to work. Sitting back and watching Pat, the one thing I’ve learned is we’re all fans. Pat has allowed me to really open up. He’s taught me how to entertain.

“It’s sort of like two guys just sitting back on a Monday night drinking a beer and talking about wrestling as opposed to two guys that are trying to act as wrestling commentators. We’re trying to understand and decipher it just as you guys do at home.”

Cole also said signed a new WWE deal. “I’m having more of a blast now than I’ve ever had in 28 years here in WWE,” he said. “I’ve held just about every role. I was a manager, I ran the web site, I did all kinds of different things alongside being a talent. But I’ve never had this much fun in my career. When’s the last time you saw Michael Cole yeet’ing with Jey Uso, or doing goofy stuff like that?

“It’s never happened, so it’s that evolution process I talked about earlier – being able to evolve in my career. I’ve made myself different than I was a couple of years ago. With that said, I’ve just signed a new contract with the company. It’s a multi-year deal so I’m going to be here a bit longer, and I’m really looking forward to it because I really want to be a part of this whole Netflix launch as we roll through the next few years and bring this company to the next level – and even higher heights than it is right now.” Read the full interview at FrontOfficeSports.com.

Powell’s POV: Cole says the business is supposed to be fun and not serious, but I have enjoyed the sports-like play-by-play call that he’s provided since Vince McMahon left the company. I find the over the top silliness of Cole dancing to Jey Uso’s entrance to be a turnoff. That said, the positives far outweigh the negatives, so I’m happy that Cole has signed a new deal with the company. Cole also spoke about why he feels like he earns his money during lull periods, the creative minds of Paul Levesque and Shawn Michaels, and hosting the “WWE’s Greatest Moments” show that premieres Sunday on A&E.