Some things in professional wrestling happen at the last moment, and it seems like that was the case for former NXT Champion Adam Cole signing with AEW.
All Elite Wrestling’s latest marquee signing recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso about the decision to make the jump from WWE to AEW.
“I didn’t even fly into Chicago [the site of All Out], I flew into a different city the day before. 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.”
Cole says he didn’t even decide to sign with AEW until a few days before All Out, explaining what solidified the decision in his mind.
“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.”
Cole would then delve into the already-made stories with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks that await him in AEW, explaining that there are so many directions they could go, adding that The Elite has changed so much since the last time he’d been with them.
Adam Cole made his AEW in-ring debut on Wednesday’s edition of Dynamite against Frankie Kazarian. Check out full results from this week’s show at this link.
