It’s been more than a year since Adam Cole was put on the sidelines with a devastating ankle injury. Running down to ringside for a save at AEW Grand Slam 2023, Cole broke his ankle and thus started a year-long rehabilitation process.
The injury was a tough pill to swallow for Cole, who had already been out of action in prior months due to a pair of concussions. But, it now looks like Cole is settling back into being part of programming. Cole has made a few on-screen appearances in recent months, including at WrestleDream just a couple of weeks ago.
Following his appearance at WrestleDream, Cole spoke to Sports Illustrated about his “freak accident” injury. He opened up about the severity of his ankle woes, mentioning that a new cadaver bone had to be installed in his foot to replace the one he shattered at Grand Slam 2023.
“I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was that bad … Did I think I was going to be out for a year? No,” Cole said when asked about what he initially thought about the injury.
While he initially expected to be out for just six to nine months, Cole remembers waking up from surgery and being told that he had to go under the knife once again.
“The first piece of news that I heard was ‘Your ankle is way worse than we anticipated,'” Cole remembered being told after Grand Slam last year. “‘You have to get another surgery in seven days.’ So, not only did I have to get double the amount of screws in my ankle, but also I had to get someone else’s bone put into my ankle because the bone piece within my ankle just completely disintegrated.”
A long time out of the ring, especially compounded by previous injuries, might hurt someone’s career aspirations. But as Cole noted in the interview, his time away from the ring has only made him hungry for what he can do upon his return to wrestling.
“If you could say there’s any positive to the situation that I’ve been in, as far as injuries go, it has constantly reminded me of how much I love and want to be a part of pro wrestling,” he said. “I am so unbelievably amped, so unbelievably stoked, excited to get back into the ring and have matches and be on AEW TV every single week. I’m 35 years old, but I have so much more of my career left to go.”
