JBL Recalls Vince McMahon Once Telling Michael Cole He Was Going To Fire Him And “Kick His A–“
WWE Hall Of Famer JBL recently was part of a panel at Steel City Con along with Kane where he discussed Michael Cole. The two men spent time working together as commentators and he shared stories from that time. JBL revealed one occasion where Vince McMahon threatened to come down and fire Michael on the spot.
"We were sitting in the back one time with Vince [McMahon] and Jimmy Snuka's son [Deuce/James Snuka] and Vince said, 'Be sure when you say he comes in, that's Jimmy Snuka's son.' Now later we tried to say that but then Vince goes on to say, 'Last thing you wanna say is he's Jimmy Snuka's son because he can't live up to the fact that Jimmy Snuka was his dad,'" JBL stated (h/t to POST Wrestling for the transcription). "Now later they tried that because he wasn't really — didn't really work out and they tried.
"But Michael Cole took copious notes," he said. "So he's writing down, 'Jimmy Snuka's son.' I don't even notice it. Soon as the kid tags in, Michael Cole says, 'In comes Jimmy Snuka's son.' Vince had just told him don't say 'Jimmy Snuka's son.' Well, when he says that, they've got the little God camera that can look at us. I start laughing because I realize Cole doesn't know not to say that, Vince sees me laughing and thinks Cole is making fun of him in front of the whole entire company.
"Vince's response was, 'Michael, I'm gonna come down there and I'm gonna fire you. No, I'm gonna come down there and I'm gonna kick your ass. Not I'm not, no I'm not,' and he's debating with himself at this point," JBL said. "This is during a live show and he goes, 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna kick your ass, then I'm gonna fire you! That's what I'm gonna do! I'm coming down right now,' and Michael's just looking at the camera like — and I'm dying laughing and there's no commentary.
"Then by the time the commercial comes around, there was no commentary in the match," JBL revealed. "Vince realizes what happened, that Michael did it by mistake. He goes, 'Haha, I lost it a little bit there, didn't I? Ha, yeah.'"
JBL then went on to reveal that WWE regularly pranked Michael Cole and he would often be in on it. He told a story involving Titus O'Neil. Vince McMahon had him throw up on Cole and then instructed the commentator to not sell any of it.
"We had so many different times on commentary where they would do stuff to Michael Cole, but they wouldn't do it to me and I'd be in on it; when [Fit] Finlay hit him with [the] shillelagh, I mean they abused Michael Cole for years and thank God I just got part of it," JBL reflected. "They had Titus O'Neil throw up on him one time. Titus was supposed to drink this pea soup and spit the pea soup out on Cole.
"Well, Titus thought that he was supposed to drink it and actually throw up. True story," he added. "So he drinks it and throws up on Cole. He actually threw up on him on live television and Michael's out there with puke all over him and he says, 'I feel like I'm in a freaking frat party back in college,' and Vince goes, 'Don't acknowledge it, don't acknowledge it. Don't say anything about it.' Michael's like, 'I'm covered in puke. You had a guy puke on me and you don't want me to talk about it.'"