Michael Cole pushed for SummerSlam 2023 match against released WWE star

Michael Cole has made some rare in-ring appearances, last stepping foot in the ring to compete back in 2012 - a year that saw him have a whopping four matches. He apparently looked to get back into the ring at SummerSlam 2023 against a released WWE star, but things didn't work out.

On the latest episode of Keepin' It 100 with wrestling legend Konnan, AJ Francis, fka Top Dolla, revealed that despite incessantly mocking him over his infamous botch on SmackDown, Michael Cole genuinely loved the former Hit Row star.

Top Dolla even shared that Michael Cole pushed for a SummerSlam 2023 match between them, but it didn't go through:

"[Michael] Cole would talk about it all the time because me and Cole were trying to have a match. Me and Cole were trying to...Cole loves me. Cole only talks about people he really likes. That's why he talks so much about Bayley, that's why he talks so much about Austin Theory, me. He wants the audience to care about these people. So like, Cole was actively trying to get them to talk about me because if he wasn't talking about me and I wasn't being put on TV, then there wasn't any traction for us to be doing anything. And also, me and him wanted to have a match at SummerSlam [2023]."

He added:

"We went to Vince [McMahon] and were like...it's not like they said no, it's just like, it wasn't even a concept to them. Like me and Cole were trying to put these things in order and it didn't work. There are a million reasons why you could say it didn't work. The biggest reason why I think it didn't work was because we never got to cut promos to cut promos." [0:24 - 1:31]

He continued, stating that there is plenty of proof that Hit Row cut many promos and was effective in doing so:

"If you look at any of our house shows or dark matches, there are plenty of clips of them online. We're cutting promos, we're getting reactions from the crowd, we're getting babyfaces over. Everywhere in the world, from Germany to the United States." [1:32 - 1:47]

You can listen to the full clip below:

Michael Cole holds a unique Royal Rumble record

One of the four matches that Cole had in 2012 was in the Royal Rumble match, where he created a rather unique record.

This was brought up after Pat McAfee eliminated himself from the 2024 Men's Rumble match after realizing it was a better idea than to get involved with Omos and Bron Breakker - the two men standing in the ring at the time of his entry.

Michael Cole let Pat McAfee know that he still holds the Royal Rumble record for the longest time spent in the match for a commentator. His record time? One minute and 24 seconds.

While Jerry Lawler had a 36-minute performance in the 1996 Royal Rumble, he wasn't a commentator for that event.