What’s the story?
The much anticipated WWE debut of Adam Cole is back on the agenda this week, with rumours of the former ROH World Champion joining the NXT roster, alongside fellow ROH alumni, Kyle O’Reilly and War Machine, according to Cageside Seats.
In case you didn’t know...
Adam Cole, real name Austin Jenkins, is a three-time ROH World Champion and has built up an impressive reputation for himself across the independent circuit. He has recently wrestled for NJPW as part of Bullet Club, but has been rumoured to be WWE's next big name signing for a number of months.
Kyle O’Reilly’s career has largely mirrored that of Adam Cole: becoming a stalwart of ROH as well as honing his craft in the Far East. O’Reilly made his biggest NJPW impact when he faced off against Katsuyori Shibata for Never Openweight Championship in October at King of Pro-Wrestling.
War Machine, made up of Hanson and Raymond Rowe, are the current IWGP Tag Team Champions at NJPW and former ROH World Tag-Team Champions. With resumes like this, all four men would prove invaluable for WWE if they did indeed come to terms with the McMahon family.
The heart of the matter
With WWE’s current trend of taking on the biggest stars of the independent wrestling scene, it has been long assumed that names like Adam Cole and O’Reilly would eventually end up under the guidance of Vince McMahon and Triple H.
Cole, in particular, has been flirting with the idea of joining NXT for a number of months. He first gained a WWE tryout back in 2013, but has instead decided to make a name for himself outside of the biggest pro-wrestling company in the world.
O’Reilly has also been floating around the edges of WWE’s radar for some time, with Sportskeeda reporting earlier this year that only contract complications with ROH were preventing him from jumping ship to NXT.
WWE’s own Triple H, the man primarily responsible for overseeing WWE’s developmental talent, has spoken highly of KOR in recent times, describing the Canadian as ‘very talented’ and has given every indication that provided his availability was there, he would love to have the former ROH star represent the WWE on Wednesday nights.
What’s next?
While these remain rumours, rather than anything concrete, it does only seem to be a matter of time before one or more of these wrestlers finally debut on NXT.
Don’t be surprised to see Cole, O’Reilly or War Machine make a dramatic entrance on one of the upcoming NXT shows in the near future, or more likely at the next Takeover event.
Author’s take
With interest in independent wrestling on the rise at the moment, the WWE is doing the right thing by looking to sign stars that have managed to make a name for themselves elsewhere. In a perfect world, a company like WWE would be able to create and nurture its own talent from scratch, but we are in an era now where this isn’t always possible.
As for NXT, it is probably the closest thing Vince McMahon has to an independent-style wrestling show right now, and many fans have flocked to it because of its ability to offer something different whilst still under the WWE umbrella.
War Machine, O’Reilly and Cole will all be coming to the NXT roster with strong reputations, which means the fans will respond to them quickly, and they all have enough experience to help some of the WWE developmental stars in need of an extra leg up. These renewed talks can only be seen as a good thing for WWE fans across the world.
