WrestleMania XXVII Countdown: Michael Cole vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler

Lawler. Cole. THE WAR TO SETTLE THE SCORE.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The King's WrestleMania Debut
Jerry "The King" Lawler vs. Michael Cole (w/ Jack Swagger), special guest referee "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

How: Lawler made the challenge to Cole after repeated attacks on Lawler by the sniveling heel PBP man. Cole accepted only under the circumstance that he could pick the referee.

Heat Check: If you believe it, the story here began with NXT Season 1's premiere. Bryan Danielson became christened Daniel Bryan, and with his first appearance on the first segment of the show, Cole started to heel on him pretty bad. What was out of character for the normally mild-mannered and face cheerleading announcer would soon be revealed as a virulent "real face" of the character. This heeling spread to other targets, and Cole himself became the official propaganda machine for one Mike Mizanin.

This cheerleading took a much more serious turn on the RAW after Survivor Series, when Jerry Lawler received his first ever WWE Championship shot in a TLC match. Cole berated him beforehand for making it "all about him", but what he did after was what forever turned the relationship sour. After knocking The Miz off the top turnbuckle out of the ring and through a table, Lawler was scot-free to claim the title, except for Cole leaping from his announce position and preventing it from happening. Lawler, irate, confronted his announce partner, but this left him wide open for a sneak attack to leave him incapacitated. Miz kept the title.

This left Lawler wanting to get his hands on Cole in the worst way, but a ruling from the Anonymous General Manager made it so that if Lawler touched Cole, he'd be fired. This made for awkward conversation in the group, as Cole continued to slander Lawler with no fear of reprisal. The pinnacle of this was when Lawler's mother died, and Cole took to the ring to tell him that his mother was never proud of him and that she'd look down with scorn upon her failure of a son from the afterlife.

This set Lawler over the edge. He challenged Cole to a WrestleMania match, to which Cole did not accept until he was able to name his terms. The first one was allowing Jack Swagger to be at ringside, as Swagger would train him in the ways of the ring. The second was hand-picking a special guest referee. This choice was originally supposed to be JBL, but in a shocking development, before he could sign the contract, he got stunnered by Steve Austin, who promptly signed the contract.

In the following weeks though, Cole would continue the personal attacks on Lawler, bringing out his son to denigrate him and a photo album with him and his father as material to further smear him as a bad son and a failure. He also has been bringing Lawler's friends into the fray. Jim Ross, who suffered Cole's verbal wrath at Old School RAW when he tried to call a match between Swagger and Bryan, came out to try and talk sense into Cole and got an ankle lock from Swagger for his troubles. Despite everything, Lawler still has not been able to legally attack Cole, but that will all change at WrestleMania.

Analysis: To say this is the best built match on the card is an understatement. As I wrote about a week or so ago, the reason they've been able to turn the heat up on this is because Cole has been able to live his gimmick without fear of reprisal… well at least until he called Josh Mathews a "faggot" on Twitter. While going to far in that respect was pretty bad, I'd say everything else he's done to get himself over as the best heel in wrestling right now has worked to a tee. In fact, I think the way this match has been built may be somewhat of a bad thing. It's worked so well that nearly every other match on the card is put to shame. With WWE wrestlers, face or heel, needing to be media darlings as well as characters, they can't afford to go full heel on guys like CM Punk or ESPECIALLY The Miz. But instead of worrying about the bad, I'll focus on the good. The WWE has done such a good job of making people want to see Cole get the sports entertainment equivalent of being stuffed into a locker, and they deserve to be commended for it. Hell, the way they've made Cole so hateable, Lawler's old school fireball would be considered a BABYFACE move.

As for the match… oh, who gives a fuck about the match quality here. It's not about how many stars the action is going to earn. It's about catharsis, for Lawler, for the fans of Daniel Bryan, for Jim Ross, for every fan whom Cole has annoyed in the last year. It's about Cole taking an ass-whipping and about Lawler getting his moment in the sun. The only thing I hope is that they learned from last year's debacle with Bret Hart and Vince McMahon and don't have it DRAG on.

Who Should Win: Duh. Lawler should win. Lawler not winning should not be in the minds of the bookers/producers/agents, and if it is, they should be shot. This match should be about Cole eating a piledriver and Swagger getting a stunner and a beer shower. That's it. And before you say "BUT JACK SWAGGER NEEDS TO GET OVER," get over yourselves. Swagger does need better treatment, but you know what? Taking lumps is part of growth, and as long as they push the reset button on him after WM and give him a good push, him getting the Stone Cold treatment won't hurt him one bit in the long run.

Who Will Win: Lawler. Again, Eric Bischoff works for TNA.

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