JDC Reflects On Appearing On NXT While In TNA, Michael Cole Has Nothing Bad To Say About Vince McMahon, Elimination Chamber
– JDC, formerly known as Fandango in WWE, spoke with “For The Love Of Wrestling” about his recent appearance on WWE NXT on The CW Network while being an active TNA Wrestling performer.
“TNA has a working agreement, a three-year deal with NXT and WWE,” he said. “So a few weeks ago, I was having dinner with my family, and some friends over in WWE called and they said, ‘Hey, can you be in Orlando for TV next week?’ I said, ‘Sure, of course.’ They brought me in to do a program with Lexis King. I’m a big fan of his character, he’s very intriguing. He has a unique ability to communicate on the microphone, which is really hard. Either you have it or you don’t. So his character is very intriguing, and I thought our characters would mesh [well] together on the stick. So they brought me in for the first week. I was a little nervous about people kind of remembering me. The Fandango music hit, [the reaction] gave me goosebumps. It was an emotional day for me. Being out of WWE for four years, to go back, and I was with the company for 15 years…So I did the promo segment week one. Came back, had a match last week for the Heritage Cup. Really good match. Good to see everybody. WWE, you see people everyday. It’s a routine, it’s kind of like Groundhog Day. Then you leave that environment, come back, and it feels like everything’s just kind of the same where you left it. The machine just keeps rolling on.”
– Michael Cole made it clear during his appearance on the IMPAULSIVE podcast with Logan Paul that he has nothing bad to say about Vince McMahon from a professional standpoint.
“I will never ever disparage Vince McMahon,” he said. “He has his personal issues and whatnot, but from a professional standpoint, I’ll never disparage the man. I would not be here today without Vince. He gave me everything. Stuck with me when I was learning to be a wrestling guy, wasn’t a wrestling guy when I came here. I think there were two things [why Vince stuck with and believed in him]. Jim Ross, obviously, was the man. I still think the greatest ever. I think Vince understood JR was getting older and he needed to bring in somebody younger. Because of my background, I was a good announcer at the time. JR came to WWE already a wrestling guy. Me being new and fresh and not a wrestling guy, Vince was able to mold me how he wanted me to be an announcer. He stuck with it. Even when I sucked in the beginning and the fans hated me, Vince stuck with me. I talk to Michael Hayes about this all the time. It’s amazing that I’ve lasted in this company this long because there are certain things that would set [Vince] off and he would go, ‘Okay, you’re done. You’re fired.’ Sometimes, for no reason, but he stuck with me 100% of the time. So, I’ll never disparage the man.”
– As the road to WWE Elimination Chamber: Toronto continues, WWE continues to offer content from past Elimination Chamber shows on their official YouTube channel. Their latest offering, which was released on Thursday morning, features a look back at the complete Women’s Elimination Chamber match from the WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 premium live event.
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
