Austin Kirk Jenlins popularly known as Adam Cole is an American Professional Wrestler, who is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling. Adam Cole is widely known for his tenure in Ring of Honor and WWE’s NXT, where he attained huge success. Cole has worked for multiple wrestling promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling guerilla, New japan Pro Wrestling, World Wrestling League, Eastern Wrestling Alliance, Ground Breaking Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling, International Wrestling Cartel, Real Championship Wrestling and so on.
Austin Kirk Jenkins was born on July 5, 1989 at Lancaster, Pennsylvania and was brought up in Manheim. Jenkins learned Karate in his childhood and started wrestling during his highschool days at Manheim Central High School and dropped his senior year to save money for the professional wrestling training. He then started focusing on his pro-wrestling career rather than completing his high school graduation.
Jenkins started his professional wrestling training at the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) Academy by D.J. Hyde and Jon Dahmer. He joined as a student of the academy while pursuing as a senior in high school. He made his wrestling debut at CZW in June 2008 as a tag team partner with the Reason and lost to GNC. He had a long term feud with GNC with multiple tag partners on his corner, on multiple occasions. However, Tyler Veritas stood for a long time with Cole and pursuit for the CZW Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. Veratus and Cole started focusing as singles wrestlers and participated in the CZW Wired TV Championship Tournament to crown its inaugural champion, where Cole lost to Veritas in the finals. Cole later won the CZW World Junior Championship in May 2010, marking the first championship in CZW. He eventually turned heel in the process of defending the championship against his long time partner Veritas. He held the championship for 553 days and lost to Sami Callihan, which is the longest reign in the CZW Junior Heavyweight Championship history till date. The feud with Callihan began to claim who is the better wrestler among them. Cole defeated Callihan which ended the rivalry.
While wrestling for CZW, Cole also appeared in multiple wrestling promotions simultaneously. He wrestled for MCW to win the MCW Rage Television Championship in 2009, WXW to win the WXW C4’s Hybrid Championship in 2009, Ground Breaking Wrestling in 2009, Evolve in 2010, Dragon Gate USA in 2010, Chikara in 2010, and East Coast Wrestling Association in 2012 to win the Premiere Wrestling Xperience Heavyweight Championship.
Cole made his Ring of Honor debut in February 2009 and appeared in multiple dark matches before signing a contract with the company. However, he signed a contract the following year and lost the match against Mike Bennett. Cole then started an alliance with newcomer Kyle O’Reilly and was named Future Shock. They had a long tag team run as tag team, but were disbanded in January 2012. Cole then formed a new tag team with Eddie Edwards, while Kyle O’Reilly joined with Davey Richards. They feud against each other and have a series of tag team matches against each other. Cole simultaneously participated in singles matches, which led to win the ROH World Television Championship in 2012 by defeating Roderick Strong. He held the championship for 246 days and lost it to Matt Taven.
He then changed his focus to the ROH World Championship and challenged Jay Briscoe but was unsuccessful. In July 2013, ROH World Championship was vacated and a tournament was announced to crown the new champion. Cole entered the tournament and won the ROH World Championship by defeating MIchael Elgin in the finals. While crowning the championship, Cole attacked Jay Briscoe and established himself as a heel. He successfully defended the championship on multiple occasions and overseas, but lost to Elgin in June 2014. He suffered from shoulder injury and was away from action for months, he returned as a face and teased a reunion with O'Reilly but stood heel by attacking him.
In May 2016, Cole came to the aid of the Bullet Club at Global Wars and joined the stable. He then joined hands with The Young Bucks to form The Superkliq and defeated War Machine and Moose. He then had a match against Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship and won. He held the championship for the next 4 months traveling to NJPW representing The Bullet Club. He lost the ROH World Championship to Kyle O’ Ryle at Final Battle but soon regained it at the NJPW event of Wrestle Kingdom. He became the first ever three time ROH World Champion but lost his title sooner on his third reign. After losing his title, tensions arose in The Bullet Club as to who is the leader of the stable. Kenny Omega is the rightful leader and Cole was sidelined for months. Cole had a match against Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW War of the Worlds, where Cole lost and was kicked out of the stable as Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks turned on him. Two days later his contract expired and left the company, having a farewell match against Marty Scrull in a street fight.
In 2011, while wrestling for ROH, he subsequently appeared for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla carrying his tag team stable Future Shock with Kyle O’ Rielly to the promotion. They challenged The Young Bucks on their debut match for the PWG World Tag Team Championship but were unsuccessful. Future Shock then entered the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament but lost in the semifinals to Super Smash Bros. In 2012, Cole as a heel with “Panama City Playboy” persona entered the Battle of Los Angeles Tournament and became the #1 Contender for the PWG World Championship by defeating Michael Elgin in the finals. After the win Cole attacked the PWG World Champion Kevin Steen and took the belt with him. He then defeated Kevin Steen in a Guerilla Warfare match and won the PWG World Champion.
Cole formed a new heel stable named “The Mount Rushmore of Wrestling” with Kevin Steen and The Young Bucks. He successfully defended the championship and became the longest reigning PWG World Champion, passing the longest mark of 426 days. He also defended the championship against female wrestler Candice Lerae. In March 2014, Cole finally lost his championship to Kyle O’Rielly in a “Knockouts or Submission Only” match. Adam Cole was away from PGW for over a year and returned with new members of the Mount Rushmore stable with Roderick Strong and Super Dragon. In 2017, Cole left the company having a farewell match against Sami Callihan with a loss.
In August 2017, Adam Cole signed a contract with WWE as a member of the NXT brand and made his debut by attacking the new NXT Champion Drew McIntyre brom the back, with Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Rielly. They established themselves as a heel and named the trio as The Undisputed Era. The Undisputed Era entered their first War Games match against Sanity, The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong, where The Undisputed Era won the match as Cole pinned Eric Young of Sanity. He then had a feud with Aleister Black, and ended the feud with a loss at TakeOver Philadelphia in an Extreme Rules match.
Cole made his first main roster appearance by entering the Royal Rumble and was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. NXT General manager William Regal then introduced the NXT North American Championship and announced a ladder match to determine the inaugural champion. Cole qualified for the match and won the NXT North American Championship by climbing the ladder and grabbing the belt. Cloe lost his NXT North American Championship to Ricochet after 133 days and failed to regain the championship. The Undisputed Era eventually began a feud with Ricochet, Pete Dunne and War Raiders. They had a War Games Match against them and lost.
In March 2019, Cole entered a fatal 5-way match against Velveteen Dream, Ricochet, Black and Matt Riddle to challenge for the vacant NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano. At NXT TakeOver: New York they had a two out of three falls match, where Gargano defeated Adam Cole by 2-1 and won the NXT Championship. However, Adam Cole demanded a rematch at NXT TakeOver: XXV and won the NXT Championship for the very first time. Adam Cole defended his NXT Championship on the main roster against Seth Rollins on Raw and won by disqualification. He then appeared on NXT UK at Worlds Collide, where a long term feud with Imperium began. Cole had a longest NXT Championship reign surpassing Finn Balor’s reign of 292 days, by holding the championship for more than a year. Cole finally lost his championship to the NXT North American Champion Keith Lee in a Winner Take All Match ending the reign at 403 days.
Adam Cole then transformed into a face, while having a feud with Social Media fame Pat McAfee. Where Adam Cole and McAfee had an argument on McAfee show, and McAfee punt kicked Cole on NXT. The Undisputed Era became a face and they went for a war against Team McAfee involving Pete Dunne, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. The Undisputed Era defeated Team McAfee in the War games Match to end the feud. On the return of Finn Balor, The Undisputed Era started having tension among them. They backed up Balor at first, but Cole turned on Balor and Kyle O’Rielly by turning heel. In the following weeks, he apologized to O’Rielly, but Rodrick Strong interrupted him and had an argument. Balor tried to attack Cole but Strong and Cole survived, after escaping from Balor’s attack Cole low blowed Strong. Cole had a NXT Championship match against Finn Balor but lost after O’Rielly distraction. Kyle O’Rielly and Adam Cole had a brawl series of matches by punishing each other in a two out of three falls match.
Cole’s contract expired in 2021 and he refused to re-sign as he was interested in joining All Elite Wrestling. He is later interviewed by Dave Meltzer, where Cole said that he is frustrated with WWE for a main roster call, changing name, character and persona which occurred for Keith Lee.
On September 5, 2021, Adam Cole made a surprise debut to AEW at All Out Pay Per View, as a part of The Elite, by reuniting with their Bullet Club members Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. Cole then signed a contract with AEW and got permission to have full access to twitch streaming. He also had a chance to work with his real life girlfriend, Britt Baker. He teamed up with the Young Bucks and had a brief feud with Christian Cage, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus. He then had a rivalry with Orange Cassidy, where his long time friends Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly debuted to help Cole along the feud on multiple occasions. He challenged for the AEW World Championship against “Hangman” Adam Page but failed. He then challenged the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door and failed again. Cole then suffered a serious concussion and was out of action for an unspecified amount of time. He returned months later along with O’Rielly and Bobby Fish to turn on The Young Bucks, splitting himself from The Elite, but moved away from television again.
InJanuary 2023, Cole returned after a long time recovery, but was interrupted by Chris Jericho with Jericho Appreciation Society. Both had a brutal war against each other, where JAS started assaulting Cole, but Cassidy and Bandido came to the aid of Cole. The team got balanced after the debut of Roderick Strong. They defeated JAS, but Cole attacked Jericho after the match to continue the feud. At Double or Nothing Cole defeated Jericho in an unsanctioned match. Cole and Britt Baker faced Jericho and Saraya and defeated them in a mixed tag team match to end the feud.
Men’s Owen Hart Cup (2022)
Dynamite Award (1 time)
Biggest Surprise (2022) - Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson make their debut
Feud of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano
Match of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: New York
Wrestler of the Year (2019)
CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Best of the Best X (2011)
DFE Openweight Championship/WWL Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
EWA Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
Battle of Gettysburg (2009)
IWC Super Indy Championship (1 time)
Super Indy 16 (2017)
MCW Rage Television Championship (2 times)
Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup (2012)
NHPW Art of Fighting Championship (1 time)
PWX Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
PCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
PWG World Championship (1 time)
Battle of Los Angeles (2012)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020
World-1 North American Championship (1 time)
Shinya Hashimoto Memorial Cup (2010)
RCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
RCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Devon Moore
ROH World Championship (3 times)
ROH World Television Championship (1 time)
ROH World Championship Tournament (2013)
ROH World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender Lottery Tournament (2011) – with Kyle O'Reilly
Survival of the Fittest (2014)
Match of the Year (2012) with Kyle O'Reilly vs. Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno and Stupefied) and The Young Bucks on July 21
Match of the Year (2016) with The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Will Ospreay on September 3
Wrestler of the Year (2013)
Ranked No. 2 of the top 10 male wrestlers in 2019
Big Top Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Britt Baker
Rookie of the Year (2010)
WXW C4 Hybrid Championship (1 time)
NXT Championship (1 time)
NXT North American Championship (1 time, inaugural)
NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly
Second NXT Triple Crown Champion
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (2018) – with Kyle O'Reilly
NXT Year-End Award (7 times)
Male Competitor of the Year (2019, 2020)
Overall Competitor of the Year (2019)
Match of The Year (2019) Two out of three falls match vs. Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: New York
Rivalry of the Year (2019, 2020) vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Pat McAfee
Tag Team of the Year (2020) – with Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly
Bumpy Award (1 time)
Rivalry of the Half-Year (2021) - vs Kyle O'Reilly
A. Austin Kirk Jenkins is the real name of Adam Cole.
A. Britt Baker is the girlfriend of Adam Cole, they have been in a relationship since 2017.
A. Adam Cole was born on July 5, 1989 and is currently 34 years of age as of 2023.
A. Adam Cole is currently wrestling for All Elite Wrestling.
A. Adam Cole is from Panama City, Florida, however he was born in Lancaster Pennsylvania
