During his appearance on the latest episode of Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, Michael Cole revealed that his current deal with WWE will get him to retirement age. According to the description for the podcast, Cole’s new contract is for 8-years, which put him at 66-years old when that deal is up.
At beginning of the episode, Paul said that WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton was originally supposed to be on the show, but cancelled. Paul went on to say that he offered to teach Stratton how to improve her moonsault, but that her real-life boyfriend Ludwig Kaiser thought he was flirting with her backstage and was going to go after him (Paul) with a chair.
Below are a few of the main points of interest Cole talked about during the show.
Cole said the following when he was asked about his new contract:
“The paycheck is part of it but the new regime had a lot to do with it. When I went to sign the new deal, I sat down with my wife and I’m 58 years old now and I’m like, ‘They want to get me to retirement age.’ And this is because we had talked about me getting out of this for a long while now just because of the travel and everything else. And and she was like, ‘You got to do it. This is your legacy. Like, you’re going to be miserable if you don’t finish this up the way you want to finish it up.’ And she was great about it. So, she was one hundred percent on board with it and so I’m here for a while.”
Cole and Paul talked about the situation with Corey Graves and his (Graves) tweeting out his frustration of being moved from the main roster broadcast team to the NXT broadcast team. Paul said that he thinks Graves is a great commentary and has a special place in his heart for Graves
Cole’s response was as follows:
“I still don’t understand all the dynamics of it. I know that he sent something out on social media that was pretty critical of the company. He tried to explain to everyone that he was trying to generate some interest in maybe a type of a storyline. I don’t think the company saw it that way…I think he and the company are working that out. I love Corey to death – he’s an unbelievable commentator. Beside McAfee, he’s probably the best partner I’ve ever had.”
Paul asked Cole about the changes in WWE and the differences between Paul Levesque and Lee Fitting and Vince McMahon.
Cole said the following:
“Listen, I will never ever disparage Vince McMahon,” Cole said. “He’s got his personal issues and whatnot but from a professional standpoint, I’ll never disparage the man. I would not be here today without Vince. He gave me everything…I’ll never disparage the man but Vince was very heavy-handed. It was his company, his sandbox, whatever he wanted. So, I was never really able to break out and be myself, with the exception of a little bit of a heel run I had over a decade ago. But when Vince left and Paul came and was in charge, Triple H, he really changed things. Then we brought in Lee Fitting, who came from ESPN. Lee coming from ESPN, where the talent is the announcer, he came here and said, I don’t understand why our guys at the desk aren’t bigger and have bigger personas and aren’t as respected as the people in the ring…What Lee and Paul have allowed us to do is bring our personalities out and you’re seeing the real Michael Cole now.”
Cole talked about how he first started in WWE, his background as a journalist in radio, how he met his wife, why people hate Logan Paul, the three episodes of Raw he missed and the reasons why, the Royal Rumble and much more!
You can watch/listen to the full interview below.