Kyle O’Reilly’s WWE contract officially expired this month, allowing him to appear in any other promotion following his farewell on the Dec. 7 episode of NXT. And just like Adam Cole, O’Reilly isn’t wasting any time teasing what his next move will be. AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming featured a backstage segment with Cole, The Young Bucks and Bobby Fish where Cole promised a special “Christmas present” on next week’s edition of AEW Dynamite (which has been given a Holiday Bash theme). O’Reilly seemigly responded to Cole holding up a present box by tweeting out the famous Brad Pitt gif of him shouting “What’s in the box?” from the movie Seven.
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Were O’Reilly to arrive in AEW (as many fans presume he will), it would mean AEW would have the original three members of the Undisputed Era under contract. Cole talked about that possibility during an interview with ComicBook days after AEW signed Fish.
“Obviously in pro wrestling, never say never,” Cole said. “But I remember someone recently asked me this about Kevin Owens. So like personally, when it comes to Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong, of course, I love the idea of working in the same company as those guys. I love those guys. All that talk that we did for four years about being brothers and talking every single day, that’s all true. That’s true to this day. We still talk every single day. So I’m very, very tight with those guys. But at the end of the day, I do want those guys to do what’s best for them. So whether that be them showing up in AEW, whether it be them staying in NXT, whether it be them going to Raw or SmackDown or going over to Japan or what have you, I’ve always been someone, because I do care about my friends, I want them to do what’s best for them. So, yeah, I guess we’ll see.”
During that same interview, Cole talked about his goals while in AEW. The Florida native has set championship records in nearly every promotion he’s been in, including becoming the only man to hold the Ring of Honor World Championship three times, the second NXT Triple Crown Champion in history and the man with the longest single reign as NXT Champion.
“I’ve been very fortunate in almost every company that I’ve worked for, I’ve gotten a chance to really shine and showcase myself as a top star whether it’s Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, NXT, and hopefully someday AEW. That has always been my mentality, to go as far with this as I possibly can,” Cole said.
“Now, the nice thing is the older I’ve gotten, the more I’m able to kind of sit back and smell the roses a little bit,” he added. “When I was younger, I was so like nose-to-the-ground focused on, okay, get to the main event. Have the best match on the show. And almost not focusing on enjoying the journey or the process. So for me, I promised myself, with a place that’s fun as AEW, every single journey, every single step, I’m going to enjoy. I’ve been doing that these past few weeks and having the time of my life. But at the end of the day, absolutely, of course, someday, I want to be the face of AEW.”
