Michael Cole misses WWE SmackDown, Wade Barrett fills in

Michael Cole missed WWE SmackDown.

On this week’s SmackDown, Corey Graves announced that Cole was on ‘special assignment’ and as a result, wouldn’t be doing commentary. Wade Barrett instead called the action alongside Graves.

Cole has only missed WWE events a handful of times since he joined the company in 1997. He last missed a show during Raw’s season premiere last October due to a personal commitment. Before that, he missed a show back in September 2017 to attend his son’s wedding.

As WWE started their new television deals this fall, they have once again reshuffled their announce teams. Cole and Corey Graves are now the announce team for SmackDown on the USA Network, while Barrett and Joe Tessitore are the new Raw announce team as the show’s time on the USA winds down. When Raw moves to Netflix in January, Pat McAfee will return to commentary following college football season.

It was announced earlier this year that Cole had signed a new contract with the WWE this spring.

Source