Adam Cole has been a top member of the roster ever since joining All Elite Wrestling and Tony Khan expects that trend to continue.
AEW President Tony Khan recently spoke with PWInsider and discussed the impact that Adam Cole has had on the company ever since his debut.
“The Adam Cole that’s here has main evented numerous Dynamites and Rampages, has been one of our biggest drawing wrestlers. The Adam Cole versus Orange Cassidy program is one of the biggest drawing programs we’ve ever had in the history of AEW. They have done big numbers on every show they’ve been on, and it’s been a big part of our rating success in recent months, has been the matches they did with each other. Before Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends, Adam Cole wrestled a number of matches also against Jungle Boy. He beat Jungle Boy. Of course, Orange Cassidy and Jungle Boy, both number one contenders. He beat both of them and he’s beaten everybody else he’s wrestled in a sanctioned match, including a lot of main events. So wherever he’s been before this, he’s never been presented to as wide of an audience as consistently as a main event wrestler.”
Khan explained that bringing back Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish creates some questions about their dynamic together, especially with Cole aligning with the Young Bucks in recent months. He said that Cole is one of the most important wrestlers in the company, and his “Lights Out” match loss to Orange Cassidy won’t slow him down at all.
“His program with Orange Cassidy was huge for us and his program with Jungle Boy before that was also really big for us and he’s been in a number of big matches since he arrived and in every single match, he’s been in he has won it. The Lights Out match being an exception to that, but that was not a sanctioned match, did not go on his record.
“You mentioned Britt Baker. Britt Baker had a similar arc where Britt Baker had really come into her own as a wrestler. She had won a match against Thunder Rosa under kind of dubious circumstances, but that’s a win on her record. So she had beaten Thunder Rosa, ironically at Beach Break in 2021, and then later at the St. Patrick Day Slam, Thunder Rosa won the Lights Out match. But it wasn’t long after that where Britt Baker ended up with the best record and went on to Double Or Nothing and won the world championship.
“Of course, this is coming off just weeks after losing this Lights Out match. And it hasn’t slowed down Britt at all and frankly, Adam Cole, all the great matches and all the great wins he’s had, I don’t think that’s going to slow him down at all. We saw on Rampage, he looked better than ever. I thought his promo was very strong and I expect more of that from him, convincing performances, strong promos. So he is a very highly regarded person who has been incredibly valuable since he arrived in AEW.”
Adam Cole made his AEW debut at the company’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view event in September 2021 following a four-plus year run in WWE. Despite his Lights Out loss to Cassidy, he is still the number one ranked wrestler in the men’s division, and looked to call his shot at the close of Dynamite on Wednesday. Read more about Adam Page’s title defense and how Cole got involved after the bell at this link.
Related: Adam Cole Says Bond With Shawn Michaels Factored Into Decision On Leaving NXT
