Adam Cole has revealed that he’s feeling the best he has in years despite his injury troubles in the past few years.
The former NXT Champion spent nearly two years out of action due to a concussion and ankle injury from 2022 to 2024. He recently sat down with In The Kliq to talk about his recent health and how he feels at the moment.
Adam Cole admitted that, while it is cliché, he feels better than he ever has. He discussed how hard the injuries were on him mentally but said he’s out the other side better than he was.
“I really do mean this. I hope this doesn’t come across as cliché or something that everyone says, but I genuinely mean it. This is the best I have felt physically in years, even before the injuries actually happened.
“So again, like you said, it was a challenging couple of years. Between the concussion injuries and then being back for six months. Feeling like, ‘All right, we’re ready to rock and roll’. Then this freak accident happened with my ankle. It was really tough, both physically and mentally.
“But now, mentally, to be back at a place where I’m getting to do what I love again. I eat, sleep, and breathe pro wrestling. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. So to be able to do it once again obviously has me in a great headspace. But also, physically, with my training, how I feel, and the precautions I’ve taken. I just feel really, really good, man.
And again, 2025 for me is a year of gratitude. I am so thankful to be able to wrestle again.”
Adam Cole On His Freak Ankle Injury
Adam Cole continued and detailed just how bad his ankle injury was. He explained how the bone in his ankle disintegrated and a six-month injury turned into more than a year out that required multiple surgeries.
“How it actually happened—it was just a complete freak accident. The surgeon who did my ankle told me that ankles and shoulders are the two things where injuries can sometimes make no sense; they just happen,” Adam Cole said.
“But again, in New York at Arthur Ashe Stadium, I’m running down, and I just jumped down from a little four, maybe five-foot platform—not big at all. But I landed on a camera cable, and my ankle just exploded. I knew immediately something was wrong. I could feel my ankle swelling up against my shoe—I knew it was really bad.
“So, initially, I go in to get it looked at, already very upset. They originally said the recovery should be about six months, and I thought, ‘Okay, great, I’m going to go in for an hour-and-a-half surgery, they’ll put in two or three screws, and I’ll be good to go.’ Well, four hours later, I wake up from surgery, and the first thing I hear is, ‘We need to do another surgery next week. Your ankle is a lot worse than we thought.’ Seven days later, I had to go back in for another surgery.
“In total, I ended up with six screws, a plate, and—here’s the kicker—I have a cadaver bone in my ankle. A piece of bone was floating around, and they initially tried to save it, but when they did, it just disintegrated. So, someone was kind enough to donate a cadaver bone, and now I have someone else’s bone in my ankle. It was a wild, gnarly injury.”
