Michael Cole to WWE storyline critics: “We always ask our viewers to be patient because we are going to get there”
While speaking to The Sal Licata Show, WWE announcer Michael Cole commented on the internet’s mixed reaction to Sami Zayn losing the WWE Title after just nine days…
“Sami has an incredible connection with the audience because he’s been doing this for a very long time. He’s been in the business since 2002, running independents all over the world. He finally came to us over a decade ago, has had a really nice run as Intercontinental Champion, and was one of the stars of the Bloodline story from a couple of years ago.
It felt like it was time. I know a lot of people have talked about it being a participation trophy because he’s served such a long time in WWE. I look at it from a story standpoint, and I thought it was a great story.
I thought Sami winning in a match against Cody and Gunther, two of our biggest stars—no one thought Sami Zayn was going to win the championship. They didn’t think he was ever going to win the championship in his entire career here, and we pulled it off. It was a great celebration in Saudi Arabia. Sami’s Muslim. He was a hometown favorite there. They were behind him, so it was a great celebration afterward.
I always ask our viewers to have patience because there’s a long-term story arc with Sami that is going to be playing out now over the fact that he lost his championship. We always ask our viewers to just try to be patient because we are going to get there.
We do 52 weeks of television for Monday Night RAW and the same thing with SmackDown every single year. It’s live TV every week, so sometimes storylines might not progress as fast as our audience wants them to.
Listen, the audience can have all the views they want. We can’t do this without them. Be critical about it. Voice your opinions about it. But I really think people are going to enjoy where the Sami Zayn story is going to go over the next couple weeks.”