From The Rumor Mill: Adam Cole forced to pull double duty at Takeover: New Orleans?

What's the story?

Bobby Fish suffered a knee injury a few weeks ago at a WWE live event and it seems that he may not be cleared to compete in time to defend his Tag Team Championship at Takeover: New Orleans, which means Adam Cole could be forced to step in.

In case you didn't know...

Cole and Kyle O'Reilly were aware of Fish's injury when they invaded the finals of The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic this week on NXT, in the hopes that Raw General Manager William Regal would cancel their title defense if the number one contenders weren't crowned.

Sadly, this didn't go to plan and instead Regal announced that it would be a triple threat match which pitted the Undisputed Era against The Authors of Pain as well as Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne.

Adam Cole has already been announced as one of the six men who will compete in a ladder match for the newly unveiled North American Championship, which means that he could be forced to pull double duty and compete in both Championship matches.

The heart of the matter

Bobby Fish suffered an ACL tear at a WWE live event a few weeks ago, which has forced him to undergo surgery, writing him out of NXT Takeover: New Orleans. Despite the injury occurring a number of weeks ago, WWE have only recently revealed the extent of the injury and their apparent solution.

#WWENXT GM @RealKingRegal has spoken!OPTION 1: @AdamColePro competes in the #LadderMatch AND The #TagTeamChampionship Match.OPTION 2: @KORcombat defends the gold on his own.OPTION 3: Cole withdraws from the NXT North American Title Match.What lies ahead for #UndisputedERA? pic.twitter.com/AvhtpZ2Cy2

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 5, 2018

Those are Cole's three options and whilst there are rumors that there could be another superstar joining The Undisputed Era, it seems more likely that the Panama City Playboy could be set to pull double duty and become the first NXT star in history to take part in two completely different Championship matches in one night.

This is a travesty. Literally sick to my stomach. They expect us to defend our titles while I have my hands full already at #TakeoverNewOrleans...this is an outrage...absolute outrage. https://t.co/rYnCLo900r

— Adam Cole (@AdamColePro) April 5, 2018

What's next?

NXT Takeover: New Orleans takes place in just two days' time, so it seems that the plan for Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era will become much clearer heading into the event.

Author's take

Fish's injury has left Cole and O'Reilly in a difficult spot, but Cole will want to be part of the ladder match so that he can become the first ever Champion. In his mind, the Tag Team Championships could be seen as an afterthought, which could be a huge risk to their reign. Hopefully, there is a way that both matches can still take place and Cole isn't forced to pull double duty, but if it comes down to it, then he is the perfect person to pull it off.