Michael Cole loves working with Pat McAfee. Though their partnership was a marriage of convenience more than anything else, with the veteran Cole serving as the logical partner for an uber-charismatic yet wrestling naive announcer, from there, the bromance blossomed into something truly special, with the duo seemingly enjoying all 120 minutes they shared the screen together on WWE television.
Sitting down for an interview with McAfee on his eponymous show, Cole discussed his 20-plus years in the game and how, after spending the bulk of his professional life on the road for WWE, he might begin the process of winding things down before too much longer.
“I’m gonna have to stop or else I’m… I’m gonna be married 30 years, so if I want it to last longer than that, I’m probably gonna have to stop at some point,” Cole said via Fightful. “But no, it won’t be any time soon. I still got a lot of work to do with this company. There’s still a lot of stuff to do, still a lot of shows to call. I just told somebody that I’m 56 now, so 60 sounds like a pretty good age to maybe slow down a little bit. Maybe.”
Oh, no, are the days of Cole on commentary coming to an end? Will he be riding off into the sunset in the not-too-distant future and waving au revoir to the WWE Universe? And what does this mean for his long-joked about match with Bayley, who has stated she wants to “beat him up” in the past? Fortunately, Cole added a bit more context into his future and even made McAfee a promise about their future in the booth together.
“I’m about 20 years older than you, I’ve been on the road nonstop for 26 years. I mean, 52 weeks, every week on an airplane, away from home, away from seeing the kids grow. I’ve got a couple grandkids now that I want to spend some time with as they get older. Your priorities change as you get older. I know a lot of people have said this to you, but your life is gonna change drastically in a couple of weeks. Those little ones come, and they really change a lot of perspective in your life. I raised two heats sons, and I was really happy with the way they turned out, but in retrospect, I wish I had spent a little bit more time at home with them, so now the fact that I have some grandkids, I want to be able to spend some time with them, bring them out to the ranch, have a good time with them. I want to be able to do that. I think now, at this point in my life, with everything that I’ve accomplished, it’s a little bit easier, seeing the end of the road, as it might have been when I was in my mid-30s enjoying life. It’s just a different perspective on everything,” Cole added.
“Pat, I’ll make a promise to you. I won’t get out of this full-time until you and I can have at least have a little bit of a run left. Now, if you’re gonna push that off until I’m 75, we’re gonna have to re-talk.”
Welp, there you go, folks; Michael Cole isn't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon, and would love to have a full-time run with McAfee before he hangs up his headset. While this might not be the news Wade Barrett was hoping to hear, it's encouraging nonetheless.
Bayley wants a match with Michael Cole before he retires.
Speaking of Cole's retirement and his deep-seated feud with Bayley, the leader of Damage CTRL commented on a potential match with the SmackDown commentator on an episode of The Bump earlier this year, and even named her dream referee for the match.
“I would love to have a match with Michael Cole,” Bayley said via Comicbooks.com. “I mean, he comes up to me every single time I see him and he goes, ‘When are we gonna have our match? I'm undefeated. Let's do it.' And I'm like, dude, I have a lot to do. But there will come a day when I can finally whoop him and maybe take his job.
“I want it next WrestleMania. I want Kayla [Braxton] as the special guest referee.”
Whether Baley meant WrestleMania 39 or WrestleMania 40 is really irrelevant; Bayley, a journalist in her own right thanks to her hosting gig on Ding Dong, Hello!, is gunning for Cole's job, and she may just take his WrestleMania winning streak along with the bragging rights.
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