Adam Cole recently visited ComicBook’s Nashville studio ahead of the Feb. 16 episode of AEW Dynamite. It was confirmed that same week that Cole would be challenging “Hangman” Adam Page for the AEW World Championship, calling back to the history they share in Bullet Club and Cole’s ability to become the top guy in every other major promotion he’s been in. Recent months of AEW television have also seen Cole re-align with his former stablemates in Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish, as well as team with his partner Britt Baker.ย
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Cole spoke on these topics after a lengthy discussion about his love of Halo Infinite as well as his hopes for the upcoming Halo series that premieres on Paramount+ later this month. Check out the highlights from our conversation with Cole below and stay tuned for live coverage of AEW’s Revolution pay-per-view this Sunday!ย
You’re a massive Halo fan and it’s been a couple of months since Halo Infinite dropped. What are your thoughts on the game at this point?
I am absolutely loving it. So again, I’ve been waiting for the next Halo since 2015 when Halo 5 dropped. I put hours and hours and hours into that game’s multiplayer. I played every single Halo campaign, so I had a lot of high expectations for Infinite, you know, especially for the campaign. I love a good story-driven FPS or a good story-driven game in general, and the Halo lore and the Halo universe have always been so fascinating to me.
So once again, my expectations were really high. I was still attracted to the idea of it being an open-world Halo, which had me really excited. I was excited for them to dive into more things with Cortana or The Weapon, all this different stuff with the Chief. And I can tell you I was not disappointed.
It exceeded my expectations in every single way. I’ve already played through and beaten the campaign on Heroic. I still have to go through it on Legendary and get all the collectibles and stuff. And the multiplayer has been fantastic as well. The thing that made me so happy is talking to all these different people who maybe hadn’t played Halo since Halo 3, let’s say. And now there are a ton of my buddies who were like, ‘Hey, have you tried the new Halo Infinite? It’s awesome.’ So it feels like Halo is back in every sense of the word.
How did you feel they handled the campaign?
I really enjoyed it, especially too, without going into any massive spoilers or anything. The story didn’t end actually the way that I expected it to. Halo 5 was so focused on Cortana and now we have this, this new A.I., The Weapon. And Chief still with that longing for Cortana, and wanting to figure out what happened to her, if she still is out there. I really enjoyed where they went with the story. They managed to take two brand new characters, one being an A.I. and one being The Soldier and making me completely invested into them. And I think Halo fans out there too really appreciated that they spent so much time and so much focus, literally the entire game, on the Master Chief, which is the end-all, be-all when it comes to Halo.
Is the grappling hook the best thing they’ve added in years?
Without question, you know, aside from all the cool stuff that you can do in [the] campaign and just your movement, your ability to escape the situation. Within multiplayer, it’s incredible. Like the first time I saw someone, you know, someone else was flying a Banshee and someone used the grappling hook to go up into the air and then hijack the vehicle and turn around and just completely change the title of the game. What a cool addition. I would have never thought of that as an option. The grappling hook is amazing, and because I was playing on Heroic, I can’t tell you how many times the grappling hook saved my life, just to escape situations. I haven’t gotten good enough yet to be able to grapple hook a weapon out of the air or anything like that, but I’m working on it.
We also recently got that first trailer for the Halo Paramount+ series. What did you think of that?
When I say a long time coming, this applies to this television show as well. Just looking at the trailer and the actors and actresses that they have involved, the Halo franchise has so much of a story to tell. And I do feel like this series is going to be very story-driven. The CGI and the graphics and the action shots look incredible. I will definitely be watching this series from start to finish when it comes out. And anything more Halo-related, I’m in.
They’ve confirmed this will have its own timeline separate from the games, but what story beats should they still keep?
I think it’s really important to still make the Master Chief someone that everyone admires and really looks towards as like ‘This guy helped us save humanity.’ So ย I don’t know how involved, if at all, the Master Chief is really going to be a focal point within this television series. But I want him to feel really special. I would love the idea of them diving more into The Covenant’s background as well, because I loved what they did with the Arbiter in [Halo] 2 and 3. So I think that would be really cool. I love attention to detail, and I feel like the Halo franchise has always been really good at that. But at the same time, there’s so much mystery around The Covenant and The Flood.
They got to touch The Flood! That’s the one thing that I’m really, really hoping for at some point whether it be the games or the television series, that they bring back to The Flood because the first introduction of The Flood and see what is so terrifying, all of a sudden it turned into a horror game. So I feel like an episode or two where the TV show is a little bit scary with The Flood involvement would be awesome.
The last time we talked Bobby Fish had just signed with the company. Now you’ve got him and Kyle O’Reilly backing you up and you’ve been teaming with Britt. How does all of that feel?
It’s incredible. I’ve known Bobby and Kyle for over a decade. These guys are not just two of my onscreen friends, but they’re two of my best friends in real life. I was at Kyle’s wedding. I’ve been associated with Kyle and some way, shape or form since 2009 and Bobby Fish the same thing. So we would travel together. We talk every single day. So to come from the run that we had in NXT together and now be here in AEW is a dream come true for me. And then as far as Britt goes, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that. For forever, when she’d be done with a promo or a match, she would FaceTime afterwards when she gets to the hotel and we would talk. But now to be able to be there in the back and when she walks through the curtain and to be able to give her a hug or talk to her about how it went and just celebrate the night with her, physically being there is the best. And then getting to actually go out there and work with her is even cooler. It doesn’t get any better than getting to do what you love to do with your partner.
There’s been a lot of talk about how you’ve been used in AEW so far. Would a program with Hangman finally shut up the critics?
I don’t know. I think I think some people look at it and they think it’s really exciting to finally be able to get the chance to step in there with a guy like Hangman, who I respect dearly. He’s a great AEW World champion. At the end of the day, I guess what I’m trying to say is I know some people will be happy with the direction of where I’m going, and some people won’t be happy.
And that is that’s just the reality of our situation and the pro wrestling business. I do think fans have a lot to be very excited about. I think especially where we’re going and what’s about to happen. So trust me when I tell you there’s some good things coming for Adam Cole.
AEW Dynamite airs at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday nights on TBS. AEW Rampage airs on Friday nights at 10 p.m. on TNT.
