Adam Cole talks about his last days with WWE and his talks with Vince and creative.
Cole recently debuted with AEW. He was in contract negotiations with WWE for a while and it was unclear if he was going to stay with WWE or move on.
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Adam Cole obviously ended up leaving and was a guest on Talk Is Jericho to talk about his transition to AEW and his thoughts on WWE. Jericho asked Adam Cole whether moving up to the main roster was part of his contract negotiations.
“That was the pitch from the gate,” Cole said. “I did have a meeting with Vince that went really well. It was a 30 minute convo, which was cool. I’ve only talked to him for maybe two or three minutes prior to that. I got to work the Survivor Series event and he wanted to talk to us afterwards. He was really happy with the match, but no real conversation with him before.
That was the first time, but it was really cool. He was very complimentary, very nice, but yeah, the idea was for me to go to RAW or SmackDown and not stay in NXT just because I had been there for so long and I think they knew, as much as I do love NXT, I was ready to, if I stayed in WWE, to take that step of going to RAW or SmackDown.” H/T To Wrestling Inc. For Transcription
Adam Cole Did Everything Left To Do In NXT
Adam Cole was a mainstay of NXT for a long time. It seemed like he had become their go to guy for feuds They knew they could put him in against anyone on the roster and he would have very solid matches with them He was ready for the main roster, but I think they would have struggled with finding a good way to use him.
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Cole was rumored to be called up to become Keith Lee’s manager on RAW, but Cole was unaware of this idea. That is probably the best he could have hoped for because he would have been buried by the big men if he was called up as a wrestler. However, Cole is a good talker and being Lee’s manager would have gotten him a lot of screen time. This could have led him to having a good singles run in the future because the fans would have been more familiar with him.
Adam Cole admits that WWE had a lot of ideas for him and not all were something he was interested in like a name change:
“It was funny because apparently, there were a lot of ideas, but they were very vague on what exactly they wanted to do,” Cole said. “This is interesting too because I remember when I first had the conversation, they had mentioned something about ‘maybe we’ll do a name change or maybe we’ll change your look a little bit.’ So that scared me a little bit just because I’d spent nearly 14 years as Adam Cole, and then our latest conversation, they were definitely more open to me being me and being myself and stuff like that. They could tell I was not too thrilled about the idea.”
Why Would Changing His Name Be A Good Idea?
I don’t see why WWE was thinking about changing his name if he was going to move to the main roster. It is one thing to do a Matt Riddle to Riddle, but if they were thinking of a completely different name I don’t see the benefit to that. NXT has a lot of fans and even with a name change fans would still know he is Adam Cole. However, a lot of people only watch TakeOver events or just hear about Cole and don’t know what he looks like. All the momentum he gained from his run in NXT could come to a halt if he changes his name and especially if it comes with a big change to his character.
Jericho asked if this big change raised any red flags for him and his future on the main roster:
“It was definitely something that made me a little bit more timid about maybe pulling the trigger on that one,” Adam Cole said. “Of course, they could not have been nicer, but when I think about me and my career and what is best for me, the idea of that being an option did scare me a little bit, where I was like, okay, what if I do go and then something happens anyway because at that point, I can’t really say or do anything. Red flag is the perfect way to put it.”
It is completely understandable Cole would be apprehensive to move up to the main roster especially when WWE is suggesting something he isn’t necessarily comfortable with. If he resigned with WWE he would be under their creative control and the best he could do was try to make it work.
Adam Cole explained why he was so against changing his name and how he felt it would hurt what he had worked so hard to create in NXT.
“I understand where they’re coming from, to some extent, but I feel like a big part of what has made me work is, I’m not 6’3″, and I’m not, 285 pounds,” Cole said. “The ‘Adam Cole baybay’ and the ‘boom’ and all that stuff is such a big part of what I do and how I connect with the audience, aside from the wrestling and the promos. I feel like it would have been quite the challenge if that would have happened, as far as the name change goes, to kind of build myself back up.”
It would have really been almost like starting from zero. Moving to the main roster is already like starting from zero, but taking away some of the catchphrases and recognition would just make it even harder for Cole to be successful on the main roster.
Do you think Adam Cole would have been successful on the main roster? What about if WWE did a big name change? Would you have liked to see Cole as Lee’s manager? Let us know what you think should have been Cole’s new name on the main roster.
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Sources: Talk Is Jericho, Wrestling Inc.
