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Adam Cole joined fellow wrestlers Bryan Danielson and Ruby Soho in shocking the world with their debuts at AEW's All Out event earlier this month. Cole's jump from WWE's NXT brand to its biggest rival AEW certainly "shocked the system" in more ways than one.
However, in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Cole expressed that his decision to join All Elite Wrestling was not a foregone conclusion by any means, only making the decision to put pen to paper days before AEW All Out 2021:
“My actual decision was literally only a couple days before [the pay-per-view],” Cole says. “I was awake in bed, it was close to 1 in the morning, and I was imagining being involved in AEW. That thought gave me such an excited feeling. I was so giddy I couldn’t even sleep. I loved the idea of coming to All Elite Wrestling, and that’s when I knew what I needed to do,” said Cole. (h/t Sports Ilustrated)
Adam Cole had been a staple of WWE programming since 2017, when he signed with the NXT brand and made his shocking debut at NXT: TakeOver Brooklyn III. From there Cole, along with his faction The Undisputed Era, ran NXT. Dominating the brand, and always finding a way to stand out among the rest of the NXT roster.
During his time in NXT, Cole became the second Triple Crown Winner in NXT history. Winning the NXT World Championship, the tag team championship, and the North American Championship.
Following the break-up of The Undisputed Era and his eventual loss in the feud with Kyle O'Reilly, rumors began to circulate about Cole's WWE contract situation. Despite reports of WWE, and specifically Vince McMahon, working hard to secure another contract for Cole, his contract expired on August 27th. With that, expectations of his eventual jump to AEW only grew.
Once Cole had made his decision, the task of keeping his debut a secret became a massive job. Cole explained that he had to fly into a different airport and had to keep his mask on at all times to avoid detection.
“I didn’t even stay in the same hotel as Bryan [Danielson]. We showed up to the building while the show was going on, and we waited outside in a trailer. The locker room didn’t even know until the absolute last moment. It was the most secretive debut I’ve ever been involved in, and Tony Khan took every measure to make this as big of a surprise as possible.” Adam Cole revealed (h/t Fightful)
Adam Cole will make his AEW in-ring debut on Dynamite
Following his earth shattering debut at AEW All Out 2021, Adam Cole will take on veteran Frankie Kazarian in a one-on-one contest. Cole would eventually take to Twitter, stating he's "set to make his in-ring debut for the greatest pro wrestling company in the world."
What did you make of Adam Cole's AEW debut at All Out 2021? Will he defeat Frankie Kazarian on his first ever AEW match? Sound off in the comment section to tell us what you think!
