Michael Cole has called many scary moments in WWE over the years, but one of the scariest moments of his life happened outside the ring. The longtime commentator recently revealed a rock-climbing accident where he almost lost his life after narrowly escaping a 2,000-foot drop.
Speaking on Stephanie McMahon’s What’s Your Story? podcast, Cole looked back on the frightening experience while climbing Grand Teton.
Cole explained that reaching the top of the 13,950-foot mountain wasn’t the hardest part. After making it to the summit and even FaceTiming his wife, his guide reminded everyone that getting back down would be even more dangerous.
Michael Cole’s fall nearly turned fatal
The accident happened while the group was climbing back down. Cole had just rappelled about 85 feet and safely reached the next ledge. He then tried to unclip the rope from his harness so the climbers above could use it.
After struggling for a while, he finally pulled the rope free. But the sudden movement caused his boot to slip on an icy rock.
Everything happened in an instant. Cole said he rolled down the mountain for about 55 to 60 feet before somehow stopping just a few inches from a fatal drop.
“I went off first, came down the mountain, landed, and I was having trouble getting the rope unclipped from my harness so I could send it up to the guy so Frenchie could come down next. And I just couldn’t. It was tight. I couldn’t get it out. It took me a good 30 or 45 seconds. I finally yanked it, and when I did, my boot slipped on this rock that was covered with ice. As I slipped, all I remember was tumbling head over heels for about 55 to 60 feet and legitimately stopping from here to where they’re standing from going off a 2,000-foot drop,” Cole said.
Cole thought he had broken his ankle during the fall. As he sat there trying to catch his breath, his first thoughts were about his wife and how close he had come to dying.
After the fall, Cole told his guide he believed his ankle was broken. The guide then explained the options.
“And I had a helmet on, thank God, because it protected me from any concussion, but I thought I broke my ankle. And I was sitting there like dazed, obviously, probably in shock that I almost killed myself, thinking about what the hell my wife would say if she knew this story. And I’m sitting there and I think I have a broken ankle, and Frenchie comes down next and he goes, ‘Holy, sh*t are you okay?’ I said, ‘I think I’ve got a broken ankle.’ He goes, ‘Okay, relax.’ Our guide comes down next, does what a guide is supposed to do, doesn’t panic, rolls his rope up because he knows we’re going to need it again and comes over to me and looks at the ankle and goes, ‘I don’t know if it’s broken. I don’t know if it’s severely sprained, but you got two options. We call a helicopter that’s $15,000. But he won’t be able to get here for two days because of the wind or you walk off this mountain.’ It’s not much of an option. Okay. I’m going to try to walk off this mountain. And we got up and we started walking,” Cole added.
Cole eventually made it safely off the mountain with only a badly sprained ankle, but the experience has stayed with him ever since.
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