Adam Cole Was Reportedly Expected To Sign New WWE Deal
With Adam Cole seemingly at the end of his WWE contract, a new report has suggested that the company had expected him to re-sign by now but plans appear to have changed.
Cole’s WWE contract reportedly ended in July with the former NXT Champion signing a short-term extension that was originally believed to take him to the end of SummerSlam weekend. At NXT TakeOver: 36 on the night after SummerSlam, Cole faced Kyle O’Reilly one more time in what was billed as ‘The Undisputed Finale.’ O’Reilly won the hard-fought Two Out Of Three Falls match, putting his singles record against Cole in huge NXT matches at 2-1.
Now Andrew Zarian of The Mat Men podcast has shed more light on the situation with Cole and WWE, saying that those inside the company had expected him to ink a new deal but the mood seems to now have shifted:
“For the longest time, the anticipation was that he would re-sign with WWE. Something changed. And now, I’m not being told that he’s leaving, but I’m also not being told that he is signing with WWE. So a lot of people have changed. Now the conversation with Vince McMahon apparently went well. That was a positive conversation at that SmackDown on Friday a couple of weeks ago. So I don’t know what changed, but you gotta outweigh the pros and cons right. This guy is a wrestler. He’s seeing, and I’m not saying he’s going to AEW or whatever, but if he does stay with WWE you know he’s gonna have allies there. He’s extremely talented, he’s been there for 4 freaking years already. It’s a difficult decision to upward yourself when you’ve become the king of the castle in where you are.”
“Now he’s not going to stay in NXT, he’s going to go to the main roster. WWE needs fan favourites at this point. But you know, his partner is in another company, that plays a big part. I’d want to travel with my wife. I’d want to travel with my girlfriend. I want to see them more often. Your buddies are all there. You’re seeing the buzz that is happening with this company right now and the positive future of the company with a guy like Daniel Bryan potentially debuting in a couple of weeks. You have an opportunity to do something different and cool for the next 3 years of your career. And you’re very young still. Adam Cole is what, 31? Early 30’s? Go for 3 years [co-host corrects Zarian and says Cole is 32]. If it was me, I would go. We’ll see and we’ll find out.”
Adam Cole is the partner of current AEW Women’s World Champion Dr. Britt Baker DMD. He briefly used Baker’s Lockjaw submission hold in his match with O’Reilly at TakeOver. Cole also has a long association with AEW World Tag Team Champions and EVPs, The Young Bucks. The Bucks and Cole formed The SuperKliq when the trio was part of Bullet Club.