Adam Cole departed from WWE shortly after his final match at NXT TakeOver 36 last month. Cole left the company as the most decorated wrestler in NXT’s history, becoming the second man to ever win the NXT triple crown while setting the record for longest reign as NXT Champion at 403 days. But just one day before Cole made his in-ring debut for AEW, NXT held its first revamped episode as NXT 2.0, featuring a significantly different presentation and emphasis on new stars from the WWE Performance Center. While speaking with HollywoodLife, Cole said he hopes his friends on the roster will still find success despite the changes.
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“When I look at that roster of guys, I see at a lot of friends. I see some of those guys as some of the most talented pro wrestlers in the entire world,” Cole said. “I don’t know what is going to happen with this new version of NXT, but my only hope is that the people that I know and the people I got to work with — like Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano and Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong, all of my friends there — I hope they get the ability to showcase how good they are. I know they have had the chance to show that the last few years in NXT, and I hope this new version of NXT puts new eyes on the talent that those guys are because — besides the fact that they are some of my best friends — I really do believe that they are some of the most talented pro wrestlers in the world.”
As for his future in AEW, Cole was excited by all of the different matchups he has in front of him. Cole defeated Frankie Kazarian on this week’s episode and will take on Christian Cage & Jurassic Express in a six-man tag match with the Young Bucks on next week’s AEW Rampage.
“A lot of that [change] is going to depend on who I am in there with,” Cole said. “If I am in there with a CM Punk or a Frankie Kazarian or if I am in there with The Young Bucks or Kenny Omega, I often have adapted to change based on who I am facing, and on the story that we are trying to tell. So, you are going to see a lot of different stuff, especially since there is a lot of guys on the AEW roster that I haven’t had the chance to stand in the ring with before. Guys like Jungle Boy, MJF, and Darby Allin. CM Punk is definitely someone I have not stepped in there with before. On top of that, being in there with guys like The Elite, who I have known for years. Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and myself have changed so much over the years.”
“I am kind of excited to see what is going to happen,” he continued. “Because the beautiful thing about AEW is that so many stories are told and so many things that happen, they happen organically. Like the fans play a big part in how we tell our stories and where we go. So the best part is, and this is exciting for me. I don’t know what my changes are going to be, but there will be some changes, and I am really excited about it!”
