Apparently, there have been rumors about Michael Cole’s future in WWE. I don’t know where the rumors started but there is nothing to them and the subject was addressed recently on PWInsider Elite by Mike Johnson.
Johnson noted that Cole is the guy in charge when it comes to announcer in the company. He is the veteran announcer, which means that Corey Graves, David Otunga, Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness and the backstage interviewers would report to him.
At this point, there are no plans to take Cole off television. However, Cole has noted in the past that he would be interested in transitioning into a full-time backstage role. He already works behind-the-scenes at NXT so working with the talent is not new to him.
The 49-year-old has been with WWE since 1997 as Todd Pettengill’s replacement. The little known fact here is that Pettengill was the person to recommend Cole to WWE as Pettengill moved on to his full-time career in radio.
Cole started out as a backstage interviewer before moving up to the full-time announcer for Smackdown. As WWE began phasing out Jim Ross, Cole was eventually moved into the role of lead announcer on Monday Night Raw in 2008.