Besides the weather, one of the few snafus at WrestleMania 37 came at the end of night one. During the Sasha Banks/Bianca Belair main event, Michael Cole mistakenly called the finish when he thought Banks had kicked out of the final pin attempt. Since the mistake, Cole has been derided on social media for his mistake. It was quickly corrected by his broadcast partner Corey Graves, who spoke about it on his After the Bell podcast.
Graves revealed his thoughts that Cole’s reaction came from a genuine place, and that the criticism he’s received since then has been rather excessive. While fans would gladly debate Graves’ stance, he gave a thoughtful and reasonable argument on the podcast.
“In the twilight hours after WrestleMania, everybody was mad at our good friend, Michael Cole. Cole’s the consummate pro, he’s been doing this 25 years. If there’s anybody who’s truly unshakable, it’s Cole. Cole felt bad. He felt terrible, but I can relate. Everybody listening to this that’s anxious to find some sort of headline for your internet website, I almost thought the same thing. From our vantage point, it was not crystal clear. Now you factor in, and I’m not making excuses, because it was what it was, to me it didn’t take anything away from the amazing moment. It was reality; ‘It’s over. No, it’s not. Oh, yes it is.’ It was a genuine, very real reaction. Take into consideration, yes we have the monitor, yes we have audio in our headphones, we’re also in a stadium full of twenty-something thousand people and any wrestler’s book that you’ve ever read says, ‘Being in a stadium is very different than being in an arena because it takes a second.’ The sound has to leave and come back before anybody can truly register, so all of these factors are going in and I myself wasn’t sure. Hey, it’s the main event of WrestleMania, people have kicked out of each other’s finishers 35 times already tonight, why wouldn’t this be any different. It just felt like, ‘Banks is still..Oh my God!’ It was a genuine shock after that so everyone leave Michael Cole alone, okay.”
Mistakes do happen, and it’s unfortunate that it happened on this big of a platform for Cole. It’s also possible in the eyes of some that Cole’s mistake only added to the drama, the did she/didn’t she moment of whether or not she kicked out. Regardless, mistakes do happen. No one is perfect, and Graves is jumping to the defense of his former broadcast partner now that he’s on Raw and Cole has remained on SmackDown with his new partner, Pat McAfee.
Thanks to Fightful for the quote
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