Vince McMahon coined the term "sports entertainment," moving away from professional wrestling and presenting wrestlers as "superstars" to try to make them larger than life.
Michael Cole believes that WWE's emphasis on storytelling is why Netflix wanted the product.
"That's why Netflix wanted us," Cole told Logan Paul on Impaulsive. "Netflix understands we are a storytelling entity first. We're not professional wrestling anymore, we haven't been for many years. We're an entertainment product. We need stories so our fans can emotionally invest in our characters. Why do they hate Logan Paul? Because he's a cocky prick, right? As a character."
Cole continued, "We're an entertainment product. It's the emotional connection, whether you're a bad guy or good guy. It's one of the reasons we're on Netflix now. I tell people all the time, I've never pretended in 28 years to be a professional wrestling announcer. I'm not. I'm a narrator, I'm a storytelling, I'm a pitch man, I'm a play-by-play announcer, somewhat. I embellish stories, I create characters. I'm a jack of all trades. That's one thing, when I first started my career here, now of the reasons fans hated me, because I wasn't a professional wrestling announcer. I think over the years they've come to respect the work ethic and they also understand that I've been a soundtrack for a couple of generations. Not only in the business, but for fans watching at home. I think people are beginning to understand now, 'You don't have to call every single move in a wrestling match.' You make sure you call the big spots and big moments, but it's more important for me to explain to our audience who [the superstars] are. Especially with Netflix, we have so many new viewers tuning in now. I hear all over the country, no matter where we travel, people coming up to us and saying, 'I've never watched WWE before. I never understood what it was. I thought it was a bunch of old men running around in tights.' Now they understand that it's actually a television show, episodic, each and every week. One of my jobs now, which I love, is being able to educate this new audience on who you guys are. Who is Logan Paul? Who is John Cena? Who is Roman Reigns? But do it in a way where we're not insulting the old school fans."
WWE premiered on Netflix on January 6th.
Elsewhere during the interview, Cole confirmed the length of his WWE contract. You can find his comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
