Michael Cole was a guest on the Pat McAfee Show and McAfee, who also works for WWE, asked Cole about what he thought of All Elite Wrestling.

“I’m excited about it for a number of reasons,” Cole said, explaining that he started in 1997 with WWE and that was at the beginning of the Monday night war and he remembers what competition did to WWE back then.

“We haven’t had competition in a very long time…it’s fresh, it’s new, it’s exciting,” he continued. “Listen, Cody Rhodes, his wife Brandi…I respect the hell out of them. I’ve known Cody for a long time, obviously close to his family. And Chris Jericho and all the guys there I’m really happy for what they have developed,” Cole added.

The new Smackdown commentator then said that it’s one thing having a great debut show but it’s another thing producing 52 weeks of episodes with no re-runs. “I hope they can pull it off, and if they do it’s going to be a hell of a year coming up!”