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Michael Cole is known as the voice of WWE. The veteran is currently the main commentator of RAW and premium live events. Cole recently talked about who should replace him after his retirement.
Cole began with the company in 1997. Since then, he has called action on just about every company show and worked behind the scenes to train future generations of commentators and on-air personalities.
Corey Graves retired from the ring in 2014 and began working as an on-air talent for the company. He and Cole have worked side-by-side on various WWE shows. During an interview with Awful Announcing, Cole said he sees the former NXT Tag Team Champion as his heir apparent from the announce desk.
"[It was] a matter of giving him the opportunity to sit side by side for many years, to watch, learn, study, and see how I do things. And at the end of the day, when we gave him the shot? He’s been killing it. I believe he’s the heir apparent," he said. [H/T to WrestleZone]
Cole continued about how Graves has improved and reiterated how he will likely be the replacement when it's time to hang up the headset.
"Corey now has a Corey Graves Voice. A lot of the issues we had were that we tried to develop commentators to be Michael Cole," he admitted. "Now we have a chance to develop Corey Graves. I truly, honestly believe he’s going to be the one to replace me. He’s an incredible human being. He has a great opportunity."
Cole calls the weekly RAW show with Pat McAfee on Monday nights. Graves is currently calling SmackDown with Wade Barrett on Fridays.
Michael Cole congratulates AEW star on WWE TV
The wrestling world came together last week to pay tribute to Sting as he retired at the AEW Revolution event in Greensboro. The Stinger and Darby Allin retained the World Tag Team Championship over The Young Bucks under Tornado Rules.
The Icon was honored on WWE RAW by Michael Cole and Pat McAfee. Last week, during the opening contest between Gunther and Dominik Mysterio, Cole praised the former WCW star and congratulated him for his retirement, while McAfee said his last match was epic.
"I want to send our congratulations out to another great champion. The great Sting has retired from professional wrestling. Thanks for the memories. Congratulations to Sting," Cole said.
Sting was forced to retire in 2015 in WWE. However, the legend returned to pro wrestling at AEW Dynamite in December 2020 and recently retired with a 29-0 undefeated streak in All Elite Wrestling.
