Vince McMahon Fined Michael Cole Every Time He Ended A Sentence With This Word

Michael Cole has had a long career in WWE, starting off as a backstage interviewer and working his way up the ranks to eventually become the lead play-by-play announcer for both "Raw" and "SmackDown" (he now exclusively broadcasts on the latter). With more responsibility though comes more attention to detail, which is what Vince McMahon expected out of Cole every time he put on the headset. Former WWE writer Brian Gerwitz joined Inside The Ropes and recalled what would happen every time Cole would finish a sentence with the word "now."

"We all have our personal verbal tics," Gewirtz began. "Announcer Michael Cole used to say 'now' at the end of every sentence. 'Jeff Hardy, into the ropes now...' Vince took it upon himself to fine Cole every time he ended a sentence with the word 'now,' and sure enough, Cole stopped doing it."

This is hardly the first time we've heard of McMahon doing whatever he could to control the verbiage of his announcers.  There have been reports over the years of the former boss yelling in their ears both directions and frustrations, and in the case of former announcer Renée Paquette, she was still on the air talking to the camera. 

Regardless of the intense pressure associated with the job, Cole has outlasted most. In 2020, he was promoted to Vice President of Announcing. With the hiatus of his colleague Pat McAfee, who is currently serving as a member of ESPN's College GameDay, in full effect, Cole reunited with his former broadcast Corey Graves to call the action for the Friday night show.