• Jim Ross Defends Michael Cole Over WrestleMania 37 Mistake
As seen in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Bianca hit Sasha with her finishing move, the KOD (Kiss Of Death), and then pinned her.
Michael Cole botched the finish call on commentary and said that Sasha kicked out.
You can listen to it below:
Cole then said the following after making this botch:
“I was so shocked that I thought Sasha kicked out!”
WWE Commentator Corey Graves addressed this on WWE’s After The Bell podcast and noted that Cole felt terrible for this mistake:
“If there’s anybody that’s truly unshakable, it’s [Michael] Cole. Cole felt bad, he felt terrible but I can relate. I almost thought the same thing, from our vantage point, it was not crystal clear.
I’m not making excuses cause it was what it is, it didn’t take anything away from the amazing moment, it was reality.
It was a very genuine real reaction, take into consideration, yes we have the monitor, yes we have audio in our headphones, but we’re also in a stadium full of 20,000 people.
Any wrestler’s book that you have ever read says being in a stadium is very different than an arena because it takes a second, the sound has to leave and come back before anybody can truly register. I myself, wasn’t sure.
Hey, it’s the main event of WrestleMania, people have kicked out of each others finishers 35 times already tonight, why wouldn’t this be any different?
It was a genuine shock after that so everyone, leave Michael Cole alone.”
Cole’s former colleague & current AEW commentator Jim Ross also defended him and had the following to say on his Grilling JR podcast:
“I thought some of the audience was a little hard on Michael Cole for having a couple of mistakes. You know, this damn job is not easy.
You know, you think about it in logic and think about it logically, you do a two or three-hour show without a script, with, you know, you’re not reading the lines, you are creating lines. You are creating the content.
You’re bound to make a mistake here and there, and because of social media, a lot of the fans just have no patience. ‘Oh, he made a mistake.’ Yeah? And what is your point? Are you pointing out that he is human?
You know, I make plenty of them? And then, of course, when you make a mistake, everybody calls for your head. ‘Oh, they’ve got to get rid of JR. They have got to get rid of this; they’ve got to get rid of that guy.’ Easy Einstein. You’ve got to be sh*tting me.
This, what are you basing this on? How old are you, 12? What do you got? 19 Twitter followers? You’re going to be an expert and tell me how to do my job? You can make suggestions, but you’re only going so far with that logic.
So, it’s a tough time to be on television where the digital imprint that’s there because everybody knows more than they’ve ever known, the curtain has been pulled back vividly.
So now everyone is a quasi-booker, and it’s just sometimes not fair, quite frankly.”
Also Read: WWE Hall Of Famer Compares Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair To Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant
WATCH: Old Revealing Video Of Asuka (Part 3):
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• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (April 22, 2001) – WWF Sunday Night HEAT
On this day in 2001, the World Wrestling Federation aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Sunday Night HEAT’.
It was broadcasted from the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee and featured pre-taped matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWF Backlash 2001’ PPV.
The match-card can be found right here:
1. K-Kwik vs. Haku
2. Hardcore Holly & Crash Holly vs. Justin Credible & X-Pac
3. Perry Saturn vs. Raven
