AEW’s Britt Baker and NXT’s Adam Cole Describe Competing Against Each Other in the Wednesday Night War

Starting on Oct. 2, both All Elite Wrestling and NXT will air their weekly two-hour live shows from 8-10 p.m. Eastern. Since the news of NXT moving from the WWE Network to the USA Network first dropped, wrestlers on both sides of the aisle have spoken out about what many fans are calling the Wednesday Night Wars.

The “war” will have an extra wrinkle added in for NXT Champion Adam Cole and AEW star Britt Baker, given that the two have been dating for years but now will have to go head-to-head against each other each week. Both Baker and Cole spoke with ComicBook.com this week about their initial reactions once they learned the news.

“Well, I said I think we probably are going to have to break up,” Baker said. “No, I’m just kidding.!So our initial reaction… Right away obviously there’s the, ‘Well, this is kind of sad.’ Just in the sense that we won’t really be able to watch each other live. We won’t be able to go to eachother’s shows or anything like that. But it’s also exciting and somewhat, you know, competitive that we’re wrestling on the same nights against each other.

“I just have to remind him every week that the majority of his fans are going to be watching me now Wednesday nights and not him,” she added. “I think that he’s just going to have to live with that, and I hope it’s something in time that he’s okay with.”

Cole took a slightly less competitive route, saying that more than anything he’s just proud of how far Baker has come in such a short time while also balancing her second career as a dentist.

“We just think it’s so cool,” Cole said. “I know she’s said this before, but she’s one of my biggest supporters. She’s incredibly proud of me. She’s always in my corner, and the same goes for me. When I look at her not just as the performer that she’s grown into over these past four, four-and-a-half years, but the person that she is, that girl works her tail off.

“I mean, full time as a dentist, as much as she can as a wrestler,” he added. “It amazes me, it blows my mind. The progress she’s made in such a short amount of time blows me away, so for us, we just look at this as a very cool thing.”

Cole also addressed the idea of fans calling the NXT vs. AEW battle for ratings a “war,” saying that he doesn’t see it that way.

“Not so much,” Cole said. “To me, I view it as a really exciting time to be a wrestling fan. I’ve said this before so many times. There are so many different avenues and outlets for people to enjoy so many different types of wrestling, and I really do think one of the number one keys to the success of NXT is that we’ve been focused on making NXT the best show that it possibly can be.

“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I really do think bell to bell, NXT is the strongest brand in wrestling. I’m very confident in our team. I’m very proud of our team, so for us, we’re going to continue to do what we’ve always done and that’s focus on making sure that NXT puts on the best show possible, not so much thinking about what everyone else is doing.”

Baker will compete in the 21-woman Casino Battle Royale on Saturday night at AEW’s All Out pay-per-view event.