WWE Makes Significant Change to Raw and SmackDown Commentary Teams

Michael Cole is once again the voice of the red brand.

By Liam Crowley

Much like the company's in-ring rosters, WWE likes to shift around its announce teams. Monday Night Raw has seen dozens of different commentary table pairings over the years, with talent from the greater sports world putting on the headset as well as former backstage interviewers getting the bump up to play-by-play duties. The latter was the case for Michael Cole, as the longtime voice of WWE got his commentary start a couple of years after he broke into the company as a on-air talent mostly used in a backstage and voiceover capacity. Cole began calling the action in 1997 and went on to front the WWE SmackDown announce team before taking his talents to Monday nights for the majority of the 21st century. Cole returned to SmackDown in 2019.

Michael Cole Set to Pull Double Duty

As reported by Variety, Michael Cole is returning to the red brand's announce table. Beginning this Monday, August 7th, Cole and Wade Barrett will serve as Monday Night Raw's commentary team.

This change pulls Barrett off of WWE SmackDown but not Cole. Cole will remain on the blue brand and will work alongside now-former Monday Night Raw commentating duo Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves.

Since transitioning to announcing in 2014, Graves has always served as a color commentator. Like Cole, Patrick began as a backstage interviewer before getting the opportunity to call Monday Night Raw in late 2022. It's unclear as to if Cole and Patrick will split play-by-play duties or if Patrick will become more of a color presence.

Retirement Tour Beginning?

This news led to speculation that this could be the beginning of the end of Michael Cole's WWE career. The 56-year-old announcer has said in recent interviews that he expects to "slow down" in the next four years.

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"Oh, well, I'm gonna have to stop or else," Cole said. "It won't be anytime soon. I still got a lot of work to do with this company. I mean, there's still a lot of stuff to do. Still a lot of shows to call. I told somebody that I'm 56 now, so 60 sounds like a pretty good age to maybe slow down a little bit."

Cole calls the action tonight at WWE SummerSlam which streams live on Peacock at 7:30 PM ET.

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