Adam Cole Shares “The Hardest Part Of The Decision” In Leaving WWE For AEW
Adam Cole is really going to miss being a part of WWE’s UpUpDownDown gaming channel. That’s according to Cole himself in a new interview.
Cole’s AEW debut took place earlier this month at the AEW All Out pay-per-view. Cole’s debut was an unadvertised surprise. Cole entered the arena to a huge ovation and looked like he might fight Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. Instead, he superkicked Jungle Boy and then hugged Omega as well as the Bucks to reveal to the world that he had joined The Elite with his friends.
During an interview on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast, Cole said that the hardest part of leaving WWE was that he no longer gets to be part of UpUpDownDown as part of DaParty. Cole was a regular member of a team that included Xavier Woods, Cesaro and now former WWE superstar Tyler Breeze every week as part of Woods’ UpUpDownDown gaming YouTube channel (it is approved and run by WWE). Cole spoke about how tough it was to leave that:
“Very hard. That was probably the hardest part of the decision I think. I really formed a close bond with Woods and Swiss (Cesaro) and Breeze over the pandemic. The backstory of that is so funny too, because Claudio and Breeze and Creed all wanted to start producing more content since the pandemic started. And they were like ‘I think we want to start playing Uno, we need a fourth guy.’ I didn’t know this, but when I did the first episode, I was kind of on trial. That was my audition and I didn’t know that. I was like ‘alright, I’ll do it’, and they all knew immediately ‘oh my god, this is our four man crew.’”
“I talk to those guys every single day. We have a group chat and we talk every single day. So that makes me feel better, because it feels like I haven’t lost that connection with those guys. But the most important thing, for sure, was so many different messages that we have gotten, so many different situations that people have been in. I’m talking about family members passing away or an animal passing away or them losing their jobs or whatever it was. And them saying those videos really helped them get through a really rough time is so crazy and so humbling and so cool.”
“I wish so badly there was a way for us to still do stuff together, I really do. But I did say it’s not goodbye, it’s just see you later. So it doesn’t mean it’s done forever. But I love those guys to death, I loved everyone who watched Uno and watched all the content we did, because what an amazing group of people. I’m going to miss it a lot.”
Cole was a major player in WWE NXT for the last four years. Cole is 1-0 in his AEW career so far after beating Frankie Kazarian on the September 15 edition of Dynamite.
You can catch Cole’s second AEW match tonight on Rampage when he teams up with The Young Bucks against Christian Cage and The Jurassic Express. The match was taped on Wednesday.