WWE’s Reported Plans For Adam Cole Involved Being More Of A Manager
Adam Cole made his AEW debut this past Sunday at All Out and he debuted on Dynamite last night. If he stayed in WWE following his contract expiring, apparently the creative team had a surprising idea on the main roster.
Over the past couple of months, there have been a lot of rumors about Cole’s wrestling future. While Cole’s contract expired in July, he decided to extend his contract until late April so that he could put over his good friend Kyle O’Reilly at NXT Takeover 36.
Before leaving WWE, Cole reportedly had a face-to-face meeting with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about remaining with the company after his contract expired. There were reports that talks went well.
On last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that WWE had plans for Cole that involved him being more of a manager instead of a wrestler:
“So this is the basic gist, they were going to bring him up. The basic idea was to turn Keith Lee heel, have Adam Cole be his manager, probably with a different name because of the last name Cole – the main roster has Michael Cole and you know how that goes. With the idea kind of like a Lio Rush/Bobby Lashley thing where you have this little guy who’s a big talker and he hides behind this big, massive, African-American guy. So that was kind of the dynamic that they were looking for him, more as a manager than a wrestler.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGbZbUYlOY
When it comes to who came up with the idea for Cole to be in a role like that, Meltzer noted it was WWE’s two top decision-makers that came up with it:
“From what I understand, I’ve heard that it was Vince [McMahon] and I’ve heard that it was Bruce [Prichard], I’ve not heard that that was from creative. One person told me it was Bruce’s idea and another person told me it was Vince’s. It doesn’t matter whose it was but it does fit into Vince’s line of thinking and Bruce understands what Vince’s line of thinking is because they’re both stuck in that other era where that would be what you come up with for him.”
It was not reported by Meltzer how many ideas that WWE may have had or if this was considered the best idea. It was just what he said on the radio show.
Adam Cole will make his AEW in-ring debut next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite with Frankie Kazarian as his first opponent.
#TheElite is complete with @AdamColePro, who makes his #AEW in-ring debut next week on #AEWDynamite – Tune in NOW to watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on @tntdramapic.twitter.com/O42bmeCDRC
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 9, 2021