Michael Cole recalls family medical crisis early in WWE career: ‘My wife was literally withering away’
Michael Cole reflected on his wife, Yolanda’s kidney failure in 2001, a period that coincided with him finding his footing in WWE.
Speaking on What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon, the WWE commentator recalled the diagnosis, her battle with dialysis, and the family’s desperate search for a kidney donor. Their ordeal finally came to an end when they discovered that his brother-in-law was a perfect match for the transplant.
“The urologist tells her that she’s got 5% left function left in her kidney, and we knew something was wrong for a little bit because you know we were young, late 20s, early 30s. We go out and have some beers or whatever at night. She would literally, after one beer, get really, really sick, and we couldn’t figure out why. Find out it was because the kidney wasn’t feeling the upper system,” said Cole. “So she immediately had to go on dialysis, and my wife is 4 foot 11 at this point. She weighed about 95 pounds, and the dialysis almost killed her. It was three days a week.”
“Obviously, I’m in a new job where I need to travel, so I’m on the road. I’ve got a son at the time who’s 15 years old, who doesn’t even have a driver’s license, who’s literally driving her to dialysis so she can get there. The guilt inside of me was insane. I kept wanting to leave this company because of them, and she wouldn’t let me do it. She said, ‘You know, we got to support these kids. We got to support this family.’ And I tested my kids, all tested. None of us were exactly compatible to hit the 10 markers that you need for a transplant, and we were trying to figure out what do we do. We got put on the organ donor list, and that’s a five or six-year wait.”
“My wife was literally withering away. You know, you can see in front of you, my kids are eating up over it. The kids are trying to enjoy high school at the time, you know, and they’re trying to live their life, and they’re not able to do that.”
Cole revealed that October 1, 2026, will mark the 25th anniversary of his wife’s kidney transplant, a milestone he remains deeply grateful for. He also recalled the support he received from WWE during the ordeal, sharing that both Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon reached out with heartfelt messages at a time when he was balancing the demands of his new role in the company with his family’s medical crisis.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.