Are errors made referencing WWE history unforgivable?

[HeenanGorilla]

Last night on Raw, Michael Cole said Doink was in two Wrestlemanias--9 and 17--which is incorrect, as he was also in WrestleMania X. This to me is unforgivable. I know this tool had to have looked it up beforehand, as he is not a big wrestling history expert by any stretch. But, that's fine...as long as you are prepared when you speak. And DON'T give me this "Vince is feeding him lines in his headset". Yes, Vince will do that for certain things. But, "fun facts" about a character that they knew would be appearing ahead of time ? Unacceptable!

Do you guys feel that historical errors---not on the fly, those can happen---but, when given time to look up the answers, are unforgivable? How hard is it to confirm such an easily found answer?

PS Michael Cole's smile and demeanor as he sent us to the No Holds Barred clip....What a goof! Check it out online or on a replay. Laughable enthusiasm. haha...legitimate nerd

 

[JaceEvans]

No not really maybe since i didn't know he was lying lol.

How do you know he looked it up? I have got to believe that there is someone else besides Vince who's sole job is to feed Cole facts ie Del rio's car and value and pointless other trivia.

Yea it looked really forced when he did the no holds barred segment, but I can't blame him for not being legitimately enthused lol

 

[#heel420]

Yes, as it certainly bothers the hell outta me. I've been watching WWE since 2000 and I have 1000x the knowledge on the history of the company Michael Cole has been working for since I was a toddler. He constantly spews made up facts. I listen to his commentary purely for comedy at his point if I listen to him speak at all. At least when J.R. would throw out some facts they were correct. Damn it I miss J.R. We didn't know how good we had it then.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think it's safe to say I've seen as much if not more wrestling than almost anyone here. I have a pretty solid knowledge of WWE and it's history, and I could care less about something like this. WWE constantly makes up their own facts and stats as we all know, but something like this is minor at best. Yeah, Doink was in more than two Wrestlemanias, but sweet goodness you're going to jump on a guy for making a small error like that in the middle of a live broadcast in a match that ran 80 seconds? Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?

 

[closet_fan]

If it was someone more relevant than Doink, I'd care. But considering the subject of the inconsistencies, it doesn't bother me.

Those stupid "Did You Know" sections irk me more.

 

[SuperKick36]

I think it's safe to say I've seen as much if not more wrestling than almost anyone here. I have a pretty solid knowledge of WWE and it's history, and I could care less about something like this. WWE constantly makes up their own facts and stats as we all know, but something like this is minor at best. Yeah, Doink was in more than two Wrestlemanias, but sweet goodness you're going to jump on a guy for making a small error like that in the middle of a live broadcast in a match that ran 80 seconds? Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?

THANK YOU!

Like klunderbunker said, WWE always makes up their own facts or changes their own history just to move a story line or for no reason at all.

I've been watching wrestling since I was a little kid, and I know there are MANY people on these forums that have watched wrestling longer than I have, but there is so much history that WWE throws away or "alters", sometimes for no reason at all.

Cole may have made that mistake (like he always does), but I think we miss J.R. just because he made less NOTICEABLE mistakes. JR was a great commentator, but it is because he was paying more attention to the matches themselves. Half the time, I'm ignoring what Cole is babbling about anyway.

 

[Ithil]

"Unforgivable" is a little melodramatic, but certainly making errors about your own company's history, in a planned segment that you had time to write for, is bad form.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

UNFORGIVABLE!!! ...well, inexcusable. How relevant Doink is/isn't shouldn't matter. Either get the fact correct, or don't mention it. This isn't padding PPV buys or attendance or "Raw was seen by more than these 8 shows combined". It was a stated fact that was wrong. Did it ruin my night? No. If I am watching professional wrestling, my night was ruined way before that point. (Most of you are so pathetic, I love pulling your strings...insignificant puppets) But, the fact is he was wrong and I find it inexcusable. And since I hate Cole, I upgraded to UNFORGIVABLE!!!

 

[Tripleb2k1]

Last night on Raw, Michael Cole said Doink was in two Wrestlemanias--9 and 17--which is incorrect, as he was also in WrestleMania X. This to me is unforgivable.

he said he was in those WrestleManias...didn't say that he was ONLY in those WM's. Announcers are not supposed to list every appearance and accomplishment, just enough to get the point across. thanks for overreacting to a non-issue that your post was proof against yourself

 

[Workrate]

"Unforgivable" is a little melodramatic, but certainly making errors about your own company's history, in a planned segment that you had time to write for, is bad form.

Yeah, this. Unforgivable means that in 10 years when someone asks you about that moment on Raw, you'll still be upset about it and refuse to let go.

Making errors is obviously bad, but it's live television and stuff happens. Human beings make mistakes. Haven't you ever stopped mid-sentence because for some reason you just can't think of a word you want to use? Or forgotten a detail that was told to you moments before? It isn't all that different.

 

[whoopin' ass]

honest errors - no. people make mistakes so it isn't a big deal. but wwe tends to make a lot of "errors" when talking about that history in an effort to make them look better. those are unacceptable. for example, then tend to glaze over the fact that when wwe replaced wcw on TBS, rating dropped big time. not everyone wanted to be a wwe superstar, some liked nwa. but a lot of the time, they make it sound like Turner just backed out of the deal for no reason. those "errors" are annoying.

 

[The Hardcore Kid]

Unforgivable? No, I can't say that I feel that way about Michael Cole missing one WrestleMania appearance for DOINK THE CLOWN. Sure, he messed up and got the fact incorrect, and if he purposely changed history to further a storyline or make a point seem more important, it would be a different story. But what benefit does anyone gain out of accidentally forgetting to mention one of Doink's WrestleMania appearances? A simple slip of the tongue, or a simple human error. Not a big deal at all.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

It seems a strange mistake to make, I'm sure if someone asked KB to name the amount of WM appearances and the actual event numbers for Doink, it wouldn't just roll off the tongue. Why? Because that would be autism level knowledge. I don't find it unforgivable, I just don't understand the need for Cole to kayfabe have that type of knowledge on the tip of his tongue about a surprise appearance. Maybe it is to give him a JR play be play commentator feel but this was covered in going into the King/ Doink history anyway.

Like I say, not unforgivable but not ideal - I believe Matt Striker lost his commentating role for continually making similar outlandish gaffs.

 

[ccotreau1]

I wouldn't say unforgivable, esp in the case of Doink the Clown. If it was let's say someone like Cena or Hogan, and made a similar style mistake, it would bother me more.

 

[suleman09]

I dont think it was "unacceptable" but it was knocking the carrer of Doink a bit by forgetting that or just simply forgetting it. If you aren't going to give me correct information then dont give it to me at all is how i see it. But i wouldn't take it as hard as you are taking it.

 

[DirtyD79]

No wrestling commentator honestly gives a crap about all the details and minutiae of a wrestler from almost 20 years ago who was a midcarder at best and most of the current crop of fans weren't even born when he was on. Even most of us who were watching back then either forgot or simply don't care.

 

[TheTemp]

Michael Cole has ruined the "sound" of the product since they started headlining him as the "main commentator". He's constantly getting moves wrong, as well as facts about athletes. On last week's Smackdown he also mentioned Justin Gabriel was never in a previous Money in The Bank Ladder Match..Gabriel was in it last year...when Cole also called the match...come on!

 

[EastCoastFan]

I think that was just a slip-up. Vince was known for changing history to suit his whims back in the day, but thanks to the internet, he can't do that as much anymore.

An example of a less forgivable fact error would be back in the 80's during the buildup to WrestleMania 3 when Vince and the announcers told everyone that Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant had never faced each other before. They faced each other numerous times in Japan and America, the most famous one being the one at Showdown At Shea in 1980.

 

[Kizzani]

Last night on Raw, Michael Cole said Doink was in two Wrestlemanias--9 and 17--which is incorrect, as he was also in WrestleMania X. This to me is unforgivable. I know this tool had to have looked it up beforehand, as he is not a big wrestling history expert by any stretch. But, that's fine...as long as you are prepared when you speak. And DON'T give me this "Vince is feeding him lines in his headset". Yes, Vince will do that for certain things. But, "fun facts" about a character that they knew would be appearing ahead of time ? Unacceptable!

Do you guys feel that historical errors---not on the fly, those can happen---but, when given time to look up the answers, are unforgivable? How hard is it to confirm such an easily found answer?

PS Michael Cole's smile and demeanor as he sent us to the No Holds Barred clip....What a goof! Check it out online or on a replay. Laughable enthusiasm. haha...legitimate nerd

I guess it depends how you look at it. If you look at it from a singles point of view Doink wrestled in 2 wrestlmania's like cole said the other was as a tag team. So it is all in the semantics.

You stopped to call Cole a nerd and etc, but when did you decide to jump up and run to your computer and check how many wrestlemania's Doink ( the crap ) was in? We are talking 1983- 2012 that is a long time and a lot of history. Is he prepared maybe, does he think about the true geeks of the world who are worried about a scrubs WM appearances? Or Maybe he didn't want to mention the beating he took at the hands of Bam bam. Maybe Dink didn't want to show and WWE didn't want to mention him.

There are tons of reason why not to mention it. I think your worried about something that holds no merit.

 

[Canadian_SXE]

Someone earlier said that know one should be able to rattle of all the WM appearances. IMO, if you are working for a company, u should have a general knowledge of what you are talking about. Michael Cole is not the only one that gets stuff wrong though. Everyone goes on and on about how they miss JR, but this guy messed up constantly. You knew he didn't know the name of a particular move, because he would utter his trademark "high risk maneuver" line. He said that only Hulk Hogan and Triple H ever held both WWE and IC titles at the same time during Randy Orton's feud with Jeff Hardy. And I remember he replied to a post on his website about someone asking him about Matt Classic from Wrestling Society X and he stated he never heard of the guy, yet Matt Classic was wrestling for the WWE at the time, better known as Scotty Goldman. Jerry Lawler had to have notes everytime they had a smackdown guy on raw because he didn't know who the hell was wrestling.

 

[Canadian_SXE]

Oh and to the poster stating that that would be autism level knowledge to know who wrestled at what Wrestlemania, well no that is just basic knowledge. I can name every single person who has competed in every title match on every WWE, WCW/NWA, ECW, TNA and ROH ppv and every Clash of the Champions event too. The last time I checked, I am not autistic, that just makes me knowledgable. Just like every person who is comentating on a wrestling promotion pretending to be an expert should have basic knowledge.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

You stopped to call Cole a nerd and etc, but when did you decide to jump up and run to your computer and check how many wrestlemania's Doink ( the crap ) was in?

This proves my point. I didn't look it up. I knew as soon as he said it. This is something I watch once a month and not seriously since I was a kid. It is Cole's career and he got it wrong and I, a casual fan, knew the answer. He is a disgrace. And anyone who doesn't think Doink had a place in the WWF back in the early 90's has no sense of awareness of that era.

 

[Richard]

I think for me it really comes down to the individual error.

There are errors where it doesn't really matter too much where it's easy to forget such as Doink. I mean, it's not like they're going to bring back Doink for a run so we have to learn about him again and majority of young kids will probably forget about Doink in a few weeks anyway. The older people are more generally aware of these things and that's all that matters.

If it was Michael Cole saying "We have The Undertaker trying to go 6 - 0 at WrestleMania 29 this Sunday." then yeah, that would be a bit of an issue and I would probably be concerned as the relevance would be that much higher and important to talk about the streak.