Michael Cole (wrestling)
Sean Michael Coulthard (December 8, 1968) is an American professional wrestling commentator and former journalist. Since 1997, he has been signed to WWE in which he has performed multiple on-screen hosting and commentary roles across his 2-decade plus long career, beginning with "WWF LiveWire". Currently, he serves as the play-by-play commentator for the SmackDown brand, and since 2020, has served as Vice President of Announcing. Journalism career. Coulthard began his career in the media as a journalist, working for CBS Radio. His first high-profile assignment was to cover the 1988 US presidential  campaign of Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis. In 1992, he reported on the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Coulthard covered the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993. The following year, he spent nine months covering the Yugoslavian civil war. In 1995, he was also selected to cover the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. He returned to the presidential campaign trail in 1996 to cover the campaigns of Steve Forbes and Sen. Bob Dole. Professional wrestling career. World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE (1997–present). Backstage interviewer and Raw (1997–1999). Coulthard came to the  World Wrestling Federation in mid early-1997 after being recommended to company officials by Todd Pettengill, and started using the stage name "Michael Cole". He provided voice-overs for promotional videos and later became the host of "LiveWire show". Cole first appeared on screen at the June 30, 1997 episode of "Raw is War", interviewing The Legion of Doom and replaced Todd Pettengill as a backstage interviewer after SummerSlam. In late 1997, Cole became one of the three announcers for the first hour of "Monday Night Raw", alongside Jim Ross and Kevin Kelly. Eventually, Cole was permanently replaced by Jerry Lawler  in mid-1998. In December 1998, Cole became the regular play-by-play announcer for "Monday Night Raw", subbing for Jim Ross when Ross was ill with Bell's palsy. He continued in this role until WrestleMania XV in March 1999. SmackDown! (1999–2008). When the promotion's new "SmackDown!" television program debuted later that year, Cole was chosen to be the show's play-by-play announcer. Originally his broadcast partner was Jerry Lawler, but when Lawler briefly left the WWF in 2001, he was replaced by Cole's "WWF Sunday Night Heat" broadcast partner Tazz shortly before the WWF vs.  WCW/ECW invasion storyline. After the WWE Brand Extension, Cole worked exclusively for the "SmackDown!" brand, cutting down to doing play-by-play on "SmackDown!"-only pay-per-views, while "Raw"-only pay-per-views were announced by Raw's announce team. Cole also had a stint doing commentary on "SmackDown!"'s former sister show "WWE Velocity". As an announcer, Cole was rarely involved in storylines; however, he has had minor roles in storylines involving Heidenreich, Stephanie McMahon, Vito, and D-Generation X (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, and Rick Rude). His 2004 angle with Heidenreich became infamous due to an implied  scene where Heidenreich "Heidenraped" him in the arena restroom. In a 2008 interview, Heidenreich explained that the Cole rape angle was McMahon's idea and that "Pulp Fiction" came to mind when Stephanie McMahon approached him with the idea. He also appeared in the "Taxi Driver" parody trailer in promotion of WrestleMania 21. Cole called play-by-play at the 2006 Royal Rumble match because Jim Ross, who had commentated the last two Royal Rumble matches with Tazz, had been (kayfabe) "fired" and replaced by former ECW play-by-play man Joey Styles, reuniting the original "SmackDown!" team of Cole  and Jerry Lawler. On February 3, 2006, it was announced that Cole and Tazz were starting a radio show on Howard Stern's Howard 100 on Sirius Satellite Radio, but the show was a trial run that only lasted a couple of weeks. On April 26, 2006, WWE announced that Cole would become the managing editor of WWE.com. Shortly after, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon told shareholders in a meeting held on September 14 that he thought that the website "sucks". In response, Cole replied on WWE.com about updated content for the website: a broadband network with original web-only shows  have been scheduled for October, with a new mobile offering, a revamped subscription site, and more exclusive videos and photos. Cole went on to say, "So in summary, the website does suck, compared to where we are going to take it, but it won't suck for long. Wish I could say the same for the boss." On the June 9 episode of "SmackDown!", Cole's broadcast partner Tazz left SmackDown! to ECW, leaving Cole at that moment without a broadcast partner. At ECW One Night Stand, John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) announced he would replace Tazz as color commentator. This  proved true five days later when JBL appeared on that week's episode of "SmackDown!" as Cole's new broadcast partner. After JBL left the broadcast booth and returned to wrestling action on "Raw", Jonathan Coachman became Cole's new partner on the January 4, 2008 episode of "SmackDown!". Coachman was then replaced by Mick Foley beginning at Backlash on April 27, 2008. Return to Raw (2008–2009). As a part of the 2008 WWE Draft, Cole was drafted to the Raw brand as Jim Ross was drafted to the SmackDown brand. This effectively ended Cole's nearly 10-year run  as a play-by-play commentator on "SmackDown" in which he called every episode except for two. (The two episodes were the series premiere and the 9/11 Tribute show, both of which were called by Ross.) On the July 7, 2008 episode of "Raw", Cole was attacked by Kane. He repeatedly asked Cole "Is he alive or dead?" before Cole was saved by Jerry Lawler. Cole made his in-ring debut as Lawler's partner against the tag team of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase; a match for the World Tag Team Championship. Cole and Lawler lost after Cole inadvertently  tagged himself in, and was quickly pinned by Rhodes after a lariat. At the 2009 Slammy Awards, Cole won The "Oh My God" Moment of the Year award for vomiting on Chris Jericho at "SmackDown"'s 10th Anniversary show on October 2. Feud with Jerry Lawler (2010–2012). Cole was the lead commentator for "WWE NXT" for its first three seasons. During the first season in 2010, Cole began showing signs of arrogance and cockiness towards face wrestlers and WWE fans alike, turning heel for the first time in his WWE career. He also began to belittle Daniel Bryan and took  a liking to The Miz, leading to confrontations with Bryan throughout the season. Meanwhile, on the Raw brand, Cole was made the official spokesman for the Anonymous Raw General Manager beginning on June 21, 2010. Cole returned to "SmackDown" to join Matt Striker and Todd Grisham on commentary beginning on October 1, and branded himself the "Voice of the WWE", stating that he should be on all WWE shows going forward. On the November 29, 2010 episode of "Raw", Cole interfered in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWE Championship between Jerry Lawler and The Miz, costing Lawler  the match and helping Miz retain his title. This began a feud with Lawler that built towards a match at WrestleMania XXVII. During this time, Cole revealed that Jack Swagger was his trainer and he antagonized Lawler with antics such as making light of his mother's death and inviting his son, Brian Lawler, to air family secrets. At WrestleMania, special referee Stone Cold Steve Austin announced Lawler had won the match but the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision and declared Cole the winner by disqualification, due to Austin getting involved in the match. A month later at  Extreme Rules, Cole teamed with Swagger to defeat Jim Ross and Lawler in a Country Whipping match. Lawler and Cole had a final "Kiss My Foot" match at Over the Limit on May 22, which Cole lost. After the match, Bret Hart returned and put Cole in his signature submission move, the Sharpshooter, to help Lawler make Cole kiss his foot. Cole apologized to Lawler the following night on "Raw", ending their feud. Cole continued to favor most heels and question the actions of the faces to regain control in matches. Cole continued to wrestle sporadically after this. On the  July 25 episode of "Raw", Triple H placed Cole in a match against Zack Ryder, which Cole lost quickly. Cole and Alberto Del Rio lost a tag team match to John Cena and Jim Ross on the October 17 episode of "Raw". This prompted Cole to challenge Ross to the "Michael Cole Challenge" (a series of three contests); Cole said that if Ross won each challenge, Cole would quit his job. During the challenge on the November 14 episode of "Raw", Ross won the first two challenges (arm wrestling and dancing), causing Cole to declare that the third contest was  who weighed less, which Cole won. Ross was subsequently fired and CM Punk came out and attacked Cole; Cole vowed revenge and said he would sue Punk for injuring him. Cole was a surprise entrant in the 2012 Royal Rumble match but was quickly eliminated by Lawler, Booker T, and the returning Kharma. Cole was put in a match with John Cena on the June 4, 2012, episode of "Raw", which he lost, and was forced to make an apology for all of his wrongdoings. On the July 9 episode of "Raw", Cole was booked against Jerry Lawler in a  WrestleMania XXVII rematch, which he quickly lost. The Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision, making Cole the winner by disqualification following interference by Booker T. Santino Marella then came out and pulled out Hornswoggle from hiding underneath the ring, claiming that he was the Anonymous Raw General Manager. Face turn (2012–2019). Cole was lauded for his handling of his fellow commentary partner Jerry Lawler's legitimate on-air heart attack on the September 10, 2012 episode of "Raw". Despite being a heel commentator for two years, Cole provided updates to television viewers on Lawler's condition throughout the episode  and was described as "classy and professional", and praised for his handling of the emergency. The incident effectively turned him face, as he began favoring the face wrestlers and began receiving cheers. Cole also joined in commentary during "Raw" and pay-per-view events, including Night of Champions and Hell in a Cell by Jim Ross and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Cole cemented his face turn when he hugged Lawler in the ring when Lawler returned on the November 12 episode of "Raw". On the March 30, 2015, episode of "Raw", Cole, along with JBL and Booker T, was attacked by  Brock Lesnar after Seth Rollins refused Lesnar his WWE World Heavyweight Championship rematch. Cole did not appear on commentary the following week as part of a storyline injury. On June 8, Cole welcomed Byron Saxton as the color commentator for "Raw", replacing Booker T. On the January 15, 2018 episode of "Raw", Cole was attacked by Braun Strowman due to Strowman's anger at being fired by General Manager Kurt Angle and was subsequently replaced by Tom Phillips for the remainder of the broadcast. Return to "SmackDown" commentary (2019–present). Three days later after Raw, on September 26, 2019, WWE  announced as a part of their "WWE Premiere Week" that a new commentary team will be on "SmackDown". Cole would return to commentary on SmackDown for the first time since he was drafted from SmackDown to Raw in over 11 years, alongside former "Raw" commentators Corey Graves and special contributor Renee Young. Reality of Wrestling (2013). In December 2013, Cole served as a special guest announcer for fellow WWE employee Booker T's professional wrestling promotion Reality of Wrestling, along with Rich Brennan (formerly known as Anthony Pratt and Rich Bocchini). Legacy. Arn Anderson has praised Cole stating "I think  he does a very good job. I think he is very professional. He can call a wrestling match very well". Legendary professional wrestling commentator and former broadcast partner colleague Jim Ross has also praised Cole stating "Michael works his ass off. He's a good family man, he's a company man, he works diligently to do his job. I respect him for all those things. I've always liked him, he's a good dude, and folks won't understand that. They only judge him for his television persona, rightly or wrongly. It's kind of frustrating". Other media . Cole has appeared as a commentator in numerous WWE video games, providing his voice. He has also appeared as a non-playable character in several and is a playable character in "", "WWF No Mercy" as an unlockable character and "WWE '12" as a downloadable character. Cole appeared on the September 12, 2012 episode of "Fox & Friends" to address fellow WWE commentator Jerry Lawler's heart attack that occurred during the September 10 live broadcast of "Raw". Personal life. Coulthard has been married to Yolanda since 1987 and together they have two adopted sons.