Ring of Honor Champion Adam Cole was the recent guest on this week’s edition of “The Ross Report” hosted by Jim Ross. You can listen to the entire episode at this link, and below are some highlight quotes from Cole:
On Michael Elgin’s Talent:
I was watching Michael Elgin and his development since being part of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and it’s pretty mind blowing. Me and Michael Elgin came into Ring of Honor virtually around the same time. He was always talented; h was always good, always strong, always worked really hard, but to see the way he carries himself and puts matches together, and more importantly, how the audience just eats up everything that he does, he is a total bonafide star in Japan now; it is awesome. It also helps that he teams with a star in Tanahashi. You have Tanahashi going to press conferences there and talking about how special Michael Elgin is, and then Elgin to back it up in the ring, it is a total platform and a total plan to make him succeed, he has put in the work and he has done it.
On What Makes Pro Wrestling Guerilla Special:
I think the biggest thing it is fire and foremost an underground feel to it; obviously when wrestling fans tells another group of wrestling fans who watches Pro Wrestling Guerilla, he automatically has credibility if that makes sense. It’s just very popular in the wrestling fandom culture. Biggest reason, no doubt, is as popular as it is, is because the audience there are so genuinely passionate, you can’t explain it. You see passionate crowds like NXT, great crowds of Ring of Honor, WWE, TNA, Lucha Underground, you see it everywhere, but with PWG fans, the size of that building only fits 400 people, but they are crammed in there, tickets sell out in a minute and a half, it’s crazy. There at PWG, no real structure, or reasoning to have the matches that they have; the matches aren’t built, everyone just goes out there and does the absolute best that they can, it’s almost like the Wild Wild West, and the fans eat up every single match, they have so much energy. When I go out there and wrestle for PWG, that little building in Reseda, I fall in love with wrestling all over again. At the end of the day, what is probably the biggest reason why I love doing this so much is the energy from the audience; when you want to make them laugh or jump and down for joy, they are so angry. They follow along with every story you are trying to tell, and they will do this for four hours. It’s pretty insane, but it is a very special building where all the wrestlers go out and work as hard as they can every single time, for whatever reason, magic is always created there, and I don’t know if I will ever get to work for a company that PWG does because it is so special. I even know that there are some PWG fans, who are just PWG fans, they are not even necessarily wrestling fans. You will see celebrities that will come, a lot of people that will come to the show, I think they are just very proud of their company. Another thing too is that I think these fans are proud to be wrestling fans; they are not jaded. If someone messes up, or looks like they got hurt, there is genuine concern for the wrestlers. They don’t chant, “You F’d up,” there is genuine concern, and I think that really cool. They really care about the wrestlers also.
On Going to New Japan to Become a Better Worker:
That was the biggest thing for me with New Japan. Other than trying to make this Ring of Honor championship reign as good as I can, my number one goal right now is to be part of New Japan Pro Wrestling. So many of the talents there are so top of the line and so good, and when it comes to me progressing and me getting better, I don’t focus really on where I am going, but I am focusing on how I can make myself a better performer, better wrestler, etc. For me to go to New Japan, and be as consistent as I am going, here is no doubt that the time I spend in New Japan, I will already feel like a better wrestler, so I am looking forward to it.
On Who He Thinks is the Future of Pro Wrestling:
There are definitely a handful of guys that are talents just waiting to be found. There are quite a few talents, but the number one guy, and he is in Ring of Honor, Leo Rush, he is the guy who has just started. He is just a year and a half, two years of wrestling, and his talent and his footwork and how slick everything he does, he’s a guy that is a natural. He has caught on so well, another guy that sticks out in my head is Matthew Riddle, this former UFC Fighter. It’s crazy. Dave Meltzer compared him to Kurt Angle as far as how quickly he caught on, or Jack Brisco or Owen Hart, just how quickly he is catching on to everything. Of course he doesn’t want to put him in that level yet, but he’s saying as well as he is adapted to pro wrestling and adjusting, I was just saying, wow he has been wrestling for one year? He looks great, he is working really hard, taking every booking that he can, traveling as much as he can. Those two guys; Matthew Riddle and Leo Rush are going to be two people who we will be talking about quite a bit the next few years.
To listen to this entire interview, you can subscribe to this podcast on PodcastOne.
