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Adam Cole Recalls The Moment He Knew “I Have To Go To AEW”

By TJR Staff • Published 26th September 2021

Adam Cole has shared more about his decision to sign with All Elite Wrestling earlier this month instead of staying in WWE.

Cole debuted at AEW All Out on September 5th. His appearance took place after Kenny Omega beat Christian Cage to hold onto the AEW World Title. After the match, Omega and friends that are part of The Elite attacked Christian as well as Jurassic Express, so Cole’s music played. While some people may have thought that Cole would fight against The Elite, he superkicked Jungle Boy.

Since his first AEW appearance, Cole has picked up two wins in AEW. He beat Frankie Kazarian in a singles match on Dynamite and then he got the win for his team in a six-man tag on Rampage this past Friday.

During his appearance on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, Cole spoke about signing a short contract extension with WWE to extend his run in NXT so that he could finish his feud with Kyle O’Reilly at NXT Takeover 36. O’Reilly won that match while Cole became a free agent about one week after that.

“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, because 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.”

When explaining why he chose AEW over WWE, Cole revealed that he had a lot of excitement and that the decision came to him when he was trying to go to sleep.

“But as far as deciding where I wanted to go, it’s kind of a boring story. It was 1 am, 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.”

Cole has also said in the past that WWE NXT’s Shawn Michaels had told him that while Shawn would love it if Cole stayed in WWE, he also wanted Cole to do what made him happy.

Adam Cole will have his biggest AEW match to date this Wednesday on Dynamite in Rochester, NY. Cole will face Jungle Boy in singles action.