Michael Cole: Pat McAfee ‘taught me how to entertain’

Michael Cole has been a part of WWE’s broadcast team for the better part of 30 years. Recently, he’s worked a lot with Pat McAfee. According to Cole, the move has helped him enjoy his job more.

Aside from football season, when his other commitments largely take him away from WWE, McAfee has been Cole’s primary broadcast partner in recent years. The pairing was reunited on the first Monday Night Raw of 2025, which was also the show’s debut on Netflix. In an interview with Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, Cole was asked about his relationship with McAfee.

“As a WWE fan, it feels to me like in some ways Pat McAfee has revitalized your career,” Glasspiegel said. “Do you think it’s fair to say that working with him has increased your enthusiasm and longevity in this role?”

“I think 100%,” Cole responded.

After detailing some of the roles he’s had with WWE in his 28 years with the company, Cole shifted his attention back to McAfee.

“With the emergence of Pat McAfee, Pat’s allowed me to understand that this business is supposed to be fun,” Cole added. “It’s not serious, right? This is supposed to be a fun place to work. Sitting back and watching Pat, the one thing I’ve learned is we’re all fans. Pat has allowed me to really open up. He’s taught me how to entertain.

“It’s sort of like two guys just sitting back on a Monday night drinking a beer and talking about wrestling as opposed to two guys that are trying to act as wrestling commentators. We’re trying to understand and decipher it just as you guys do at home.”

While individual tastes are always subjective, Cole’s commentary work has generally been better received since he’s started working with McAfee. There were exceptions, but Cole’s commentary often felt forced and unnatural. That has changed in recent years, for some of the reasons he noted. Also notable is that Cole’s partnership with McAfee has largely coincided with Vince McMahon’s ouster and Paul Levesque (AKA, Triple H) taking over the creative lead in WWE. That’s generally made the product — including the commentary — more critically acclaimed.

That said, McAfee’s style is unique in wrestling. So, even if WWE’s power structure hadn’t changed so much in recent years, it’s hard to imagine anyone working with McAfee not following his lead.