Michael Cole/Daniel Bryan

Obviously we are all aware of Cole's frequent insulting of Bryan on commentary, but do you all think that he simply does it as part of a storyline, or has a genuine dislike of Bryan (ie like how JBL used bury Miz back around 07)?

think there is some truth in it which they have built upon, apparatnly Cole does have a negative look on pretty much every company apart from WWE.

Didn't it stem from Cole being teased for a heel turn, and his shtick was that he hated the IWC (who loved Bryan)?

May be wrong, but I recall it from the early days of NXT, where Cole would berate the fans on the net, and their pin-up Bryan.

hodge wrote:think there is some truth in it which they have built upon, apparatnly Cole does have a negative look on pretty much every company apart from WWE.

Do you think that there could be some form of alliance between Punk and Bryan (or at least mention of one another) as a result of their dislike and heat against Cole? In Punk's promos he talked about hating suck ups and Cole has clearly been portrayed as one while the Cole/Bryan issues are clear from every nerd reference.

There could be an interesting storyline of Cole (and possibly Lawler given his dislike for non-WWE organisations) to be the leader of a pro-WWE organisation that looks down at people from the indys while on their respective brands Punk and Bryan are the leaders of Independent / pro IWC groups?

I actually think it sort of helps Daniel Bryan in a way, because Michael Cole is the commentator that a lot of people love to hate and by having Cole constantly try and put Bryan down, it in fact bigs him up as the guy proving Cole wrong.

I'd be surprised if it was real, although there were rumors that Cole was being a bit of an bum backstage when he was heel, so I suppose it isn't that farfetched to think there is some genuine resentment there.

I've no doubt that it has in actual fact helped Bryan, but the thing is, when Cole started burying Bryan, it was as early as when NXT first started, way before Cole became a fully-fledged heel, and I just haven't been able to help but notice a JBL-esque theme to his comments about Bryan, admittedly not as bad as some of the things Bradshaw used to say.

I think though that the NxT stuff was where his heel turn started, it began with supporting The Miz and dissing Bryan and developed from there.

The WWE used Michael Cole to be Danial Bryans antagonist since day one, Cole attacks Bryans private life (being a Vegan and not having a TV) and if that wasn't in the script he'd be breaking kayfabe and that simply wouldn't be tolerated for 18 months.

Also on Shawn Michaels behalf, Brian Danialson and Jamie Noble took Cole for some training in the lead up to Mania so the heat is definitely not real.

I don't think Michael Cole would even have the balls to take some genuine heat he has for somebody onscreen. He's definetly a 'Yes Man' as CM Punk would put it.

He was a War correspondent though wasn't he? That would get him major respect, that takes balls

Fair enough if Danielson helped train him, just noticed that he seems to call him a nerd or some other derogatory term every time he shows up.

I'm glad Cole still gives Danialson pelters, at least it shows continuity instead of the pals act he's got with Lawler