Michael Cole offers high praise for his SmackDown colleague Pat McAfee.
Michael Cole was a guest on the July 19 episode of the Pat McAfee Show and talked about the dynamic the pair have on SmackDown each week. Since joining the show as an analyst in April, McAfee and Cole have been praised for their work together, and Cole says McAfee’s influence isn’t lost on him, either.
“First I do want to say this—and I’ve read a lot about this online as well but it’s absolutely true—you’ve completely revitalized my career. I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years now and I’ve seen and been a part of everything in WWE. You go through different partners and everybody that I’ve worked with has been great, they all brought a different style to the product. JBL, unbelievable partner, Corey Graves, incredible talent, but you’re different than all of those guys. Not that they’re not fans, but you’re a true fan and you bring that enthusiasm to the product and seeing how you’ve been acting over the past couple of months has really revitalized what I do.
“I realize that I have to step up my game to keep up with what you’re doing from an enthusiastic standpoint, and that’s what I’m trying to do. It’s been a lot of fun for me and it’s been really different, and I just want to thank you for breathing some life into this old body again so maybe I can hang on for a few more years.”
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Cole previously spoke to Pat McAfee about his WWE tenure, telling him that he thought WWE would be a short stay, but he fell in love with the job and he’s been there for almost 25 years.
“So, A. I’ve always been a WWE fan, of course, but more importantly I was working in radio when I did news and I needed to get some TV experience and WWE had an opportunity for me to go and do some TV. I thought when I started this job that I was going to be here for a year or two and that was it. I was going to get TV experience and I was going to go back and I was going to be working at CNN or FOX or wherever covering the world and I got here, I fell in love with it and I got a great opportunity in 1999 to become the voice of SmackDown and like they say, the rest is history and I’m going to retire with this company and I just really enjoy it and bringing in guys like Pat gives me the opportunity to stay young and try to stay at least somewhat hip and still enjoy this job.”
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