Recent AEW signee Adam Cole recently appeared on the Talk is Jericho podcast. On the show, Cole and Chris Jericho discuss the shock debut at All Out and what lead Adam Cole to sign with AEW. They also talk about his time in NXT, the origin of the name Adam Cole, how ‘Bay Bay’ came to be and more. The recap can be found below:
On nearly not having his gear ready for his AEW debut:
“Last week there was a bunch of different stuff that went down. The biggest issue by far being the fact that my gear was massively delayed. So what happened was it was supposed to get there at 10:30, it was supposed to arrive at the hotel. And for some reason, the hotel actually denied the gear. I’m there freaking out, but fortunately I had old stuff, but I didn’t want to make my AEW debut with old gear that I had. We ended up calling the delivery truck and they said ‘Yeah it will be here at 2 o clock.’ I’m already stressing because I like to be on time. We get to 2pm and they tell us that it is not on the truck I’m like OK, screw it, we’ve just got to get to the building. Me and Britt [Baker] are in our Uber and we start driving. Thank God that Britt checks her phone, she goes ‘Oh my God it just arrived.’ We had the Uber stop and she ran in. The best part was that Britt said ‘Hey this package that we were waiting for that you guys denied, it’s here. Can someone go and get it?’ The lady said ‘You’re going to have to wait 3 hours.’ That’s 3 hours until someone can go downstairs and get it. Fortunately Britt is feisty, so she got it done. But between that and all the different interviews backstage, it was a very busy day.”
Chris mentions that the old gear was NXT related:
“Right. And I think I could have maybe gotten away with it. But to me, that gear was synonymous to my time there in NXT. I wanted a new and fresh thing. I would have been really heartbroken if I didn’t have that gear for that match. Fortunately it all worked out.”
On expecting a big reaction to his debut:
“Not at all. I did expect some people to be excited, because they know about my history with The Young Bucks and Kenny [Omega]. I’m still friends with those guys to this day, was during my entire time in NXT. I had heard rumblings about people being excited, but my debut at All Out was my favourite night of my wrestling career. Just for the reaction, it was so insane and so cool. Anytime I debut, just like with NXT, I’m like I hope that people care. Then with All Out, it was that tenfold, becasue everyone was expecting Bryan [Danielson]. But they are not like ‘Oh crap, we got Adam Cole instead.’ But then my debut against Kazarian, the reactions have been unbelievable. I genuinely get this feeling that they are so happy that I am there. They can tell I am really happy too, so it’s a cool thing.”
On being ‘killed off’ by The Elite:
“The beautiful thing about BTE is that we can be as creative as we want and tell all kinds of stories. I was getting ready to go to NXT. I had already been kicked out of The Bullet Club, but they needed to find a way to write me off of BTE. The idea was that Kenny was in charge of poisoning a Monster energy drink, my final scene was me laying on the ground with my tongue out. On the screen it said ‘Adam Cole’s character on Being The Elite dead.’ It also had the year I was born up until that date.”
On his contract being up sooner than expected:
“Naturally I have always been curious and excited at the thought of working for AEW. Between the roster and the fans being the best fans in the world. I think about all the cool matches I could have and I get along with everybody, I was always interested there. When it was time to make the decision, and it kind of fell into my lap. I was expecting to have this conversation in December, but all of a sudden… So here is the strangest part, me and another guy, who I won’t name, signed extensions basically at the same time. His was up in December, so I thought mine was as well. But it was a totally different case where it was another contract or it ended earlier. I don’t understand how that works, but I was surprised.”
On making the decision to join AEW:
“So they talked to me a few days prior about my contract expiring. Like it was literally 4 days before my deal was up. They asked me if I would be interested in signing an extension, which to me was a no brainer, becasue I was in the middle of a feud with Kyle O’Reilly. He is one of my best friends, so at the very least I will finish that with him. Just crazy. But as far as deciding where I wanted to go, it’s kind of a boring story. It was 1am, Britt is asleep and I am laying in the dark thinking of the pros and cons between WWE and AEW. When I started thinking about going to AEW, I felt like a 9 year old kid. I had butterflies in my stomach, I am so excited and so jazzed up. I’m 32, if this isn’t the world telling me that’s what I’m supposed to do, that is what I am supposed to do. It was me, by myself, no music, no movie. I’m in the dark, by myself going I have to go to AEW.”
On possibly being moved to the WWE main roster:
“That was the pitch from out the gate. I did have a meeting with Vince that went really well. It was a 30 minute convo, which was cool. I had only really talked to him for 2 or 3 minutes prior to that. I worked the Survivor Series event, and he wanted to talk to us afterwards, he was really happy with how it went. But no real conversation before this time. It was really cool, he was very complementary and very nice. But yeah the idea was for me to go to RAW or SmackDown and not stay within NXT. I had been there for so long, and I think they knew as much I love NXT, I was ready to take that step. But yeah that was the gist of the conversation. Apparently there were a lot of ideas, but they were very vague on what exactly they wanted to do. I remember when I first had the conversation, they mentioned something about maybe doing a name change or changing my look a little bit. That scared me a bit, I had spent 14 years as Adam Cole. Our latest conversation, they were definitely more open to me being myself and stuff like that. They could tell I wasn’t too thrilled.”
On being sceptical at a possible name change:
“It was definitely something that made me a little more timid about pulling the trigger on that one. Of course, they could not have been nicer. But when I think about me, my career and what is best for me, the idea of that being an option did scare me a bit. What if I do go and something happens anyway? At that point I can’t say or do anything. It was a red flag, perfect way to put it.”
Adam Cole’s thoughts on NXT 2.0 and the rebrand due to AEW winning the Wednesday Night Wars:
“So this is all me guessing. I think for sure that played a part in it, absolutely. I also understand the thought process of there being so many guys in NXT being presented a certain way. Then they would go to RAW or SmackDown and it was a complete 180. I see the standpoint of if I am Vince McMahon, and I am looking at NXT as this breeding ground for RAW or SmackDown, he wants his hands in it a little bit more. You know, bigger guys, I’m not saying they all have to be big. But more guys who are ready to go for RAW or SmackDown. I understand that, becasue when I was at NXT, it was treated as a 3rd brand. We got on television becasue of it and we had that big month with Survivor Series, which was really cool. It was the more athletic pro-wrestling story and style. Yeah I think them going back to this, AEW has to play a factor. But I think more importantly it is to make sure they don’t have to change a thing about the guys when they are in NXT.”
On one of his phobias:
“I am terrified of heights. So the fact that I have been thrown off the top every single one [laughs] it’s a little disheartening. So I always made myself climb to the top of it before the show. Everyone would laugh at me becasue I would shake and my legs would physically shake. But when you are out there and you are doing it, then I was fine and it was ok. You just have to go for it.”
On what Shawn Michaels taught him:
“The biggest thing he taught me was cadence. How to ride the audience and get them to peak at a certain time. When to get them to settle, when to speed up and when to slow down. It was all stuff, becasue on the independents we had a formula of what we would do. If it was a double down and they were up, we would lay there, it was supposed to be the double down. But Shawn was so good at teaching me how to listen to the audience and when to go fast and when to go slow and make it the biggest roller coaster ride possible. I know it sounds like a small thing, but he really helped me understand it.”
On himself and his girlfriend Britt Baker working in separate companies:
“I never found it strange, and I know that she never found it strange either. They [NXT] were very welcoming to her. They were never rude to her, mean to her or anything like that, everyone was pumped to see her. In the same way when I came here and meet all you guys and say hello, everyone was so welcoming. We are just so adamant about supporting each other, company lines don’t matter. I want to be there for her and she wants to be there for me.”
On where the name Adam Cole came from:
“So I was going to be named Cole by my parents up until like 2 days before, then they decided to change it to Austin. The only reason I picked Adam was because there were so many Austins. I got to pick a different name, so that was it.”
On who he told that he was leaving NXT:
“I told Hunter and Shawn. Both of them could not have been more supportive, it was awesome. I had a really really long conversation with Shawn, and he wishes that there was a world where we could see each other a lot and talk, work together and stuff. But he wants me to be as happy as possible and be as successful as possible. He could tell how excited I was to come here, and he was supportive 100%. And Hunter again could not have been cooler, more understanding and appreciative of the 4 years we have worked together. I am lucky with the relationship I formed with those guys.”
On where the ‘Bay Bay’ came from:
“The Adam Cole Bay Bay is very much influenced by Chris Jericho. When you used to stand and go ‘Come on bay bay!’ I was like that’s great. The other person who was involved was Joey Mercury. I saw him at an independent show and he was walking around, throwing his fists in the air going ‘Joey Matthews! Joey Matthews!’ I was like, that was so smart, if someone is not a wrestling fan they will remember that name. So I combined the two.”
Featured image: Ewrestling News
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