The former NXT Champion knows how talented his friends in NXT are.
At All Out, Adam Cole made his All Elite Wrestling debut after finishing up a run with WWE’s NXT brand. Prior to Cole’s AEW in-ring debut against Frankie Kazarian, he chatted with Hollywood Life about coming to AEW and also reflected on his time in NXT.
This week, the official reboot of the NXT brand began and it is now being referred to as ‘NXT 2.0’. Cole said he is hoping that his friends like Roderick Strong, Johnny Gargano, Kyle O’Reilly and the newly crowned NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa are able to shine in the new NXT.
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. 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.
Cole is now working in the same company as the AEW Women’s World Champion, his significant other Britt Baker. He said things have been easier for them time-wise because they are traveling together and see each other far more often than they used to.
There was a phase, especially these last few months, where lots of times I would see Britt for half-a-day in a week. Britt has really blown up and is busier than ever. I was also very busy, but we were on two totally different schedules. Now getting the chance to travel with her and stay in the same hotel with her and spend more time with her and get to be at work together, it has been awesome. Actually, it made me realize how much I wanted that, now that I have it. When you really love and care for somebody, you want to be around them as much as possible, especially when it is something we are both passionate about. So being able to watch her wrestle and then have her walk through the curtain and me be there to give her a hug or a kiss or just talk to her about it, it’s so nice. It was something we didn’t have for a really, really long time. So, it is wonderful. It is great to spend time with her, not just in our personal lives but at work now!
[Britt] is a little bit more competitive than I am, so she constantly has that, ‘I want to outdo everyone and outwork everyone,’ and that is why she is so awesome. I am a little more laid back in that sense, but at the same time, I don’t want to go out there and have a match where people go, ‘Oh, that wasn’t as good as so and so’s match!’ So, I would say yeah, naturally there is competition between me and her. Britt might be a little more focused on it, which is something I love about her. [laughs] We absolutely have exciting competition amongst each other, but at the same time, and she would say the same exact thing, she is really proud of what I have accomplished, and I am proud of what she has accomplished.
POST Wrestling’s John Pollock was joined by John Siino for Rewind-A-Dynamite and to hear their recap of the show, head over to this link.
