Michael Cole: Three Hour Raw’s Are “Difficult”

In an interview with Busted Open Radio, WWE announcer Michael Cole talked about the difficulty of calling a three hour show.

Cole talks about how he was initially excited at the prospect of turning Raw into a three hour show, but noted that things got difficult as time went on.

“It’s the energy level”, said Cole. “It’s really, really difficult. Your mind really starts to wander. You get past 10 o’clock  and your mind really starts to wander. So you’ve really go to focus on the task at hand.”

“For some reason the three hour Raw seems real long, but then other days, like [Monday Night] in Washington DC for the go-home for Wrestlemania, that show flew by. I looked at my watch and it was quarter to eleven. I was like, ‘holy cow, where did the show go?’ Then there’s other days where it’s like 10:15 and you’re like, ‘oh my god, how do I stay awake? Get me another Red bull.’ Again, it’s nothing to do with what’s going on in the ring or anything it’s just mentally trying to stay focused and alert for that amount of time on live television.”

Cole then went on to discuss the creative difficulties brought on by the three hour format and the work involved in producing a live broadcast of such a length. “The thing about 3 hours is coming up with creative and different ways to say things, say different stories. How many times can we say The Rock’s going to be here tonight? Ten times you’re promoting it a show; you’ve got to try to come up with a different way to say it each time. There are a lot of things that go on that just a guy watching at home doesn’t realize. Tweaking ways you say things and trying to drive you guys in the right direction on certain characters and giving background on guys and there’s a lot of work that goes into this. Following Twitter, social media, oh my god that stuff is nonstop.”