Adam Cole is excited to be back, and he wants to enjoy his return to the ring, but he still has his sights set on the AEW World Championship.
Cole missed several months with a severe concussion he suffered at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. He made his return on the January 11 episode of AEW Dynamite, where he received a huge pop from the live crowd. Since then, he has continued to tease his looming comeback, though it’s currently unclear when he will wrestle again.
In an interview with Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzalez on Wrestling Observer Radio, Cole detailed his health issues and his recovery. He also discussed his goals now that he’s back by noting that, when he first started training, he wanted to headline WrestleMania. Once that objective seemed “far away”, he shifted his approach and noted that he started taking things day by day. Cole emphasized that, right now, he is excited to be back, he’s looking forward to competing again, and he eventually wants to win the world title.
“I do think, and I’ve had this mentality, literally since I started. To go back a little bit, I remember when I first started training, I had this [goal] of, ‘Okay, I want to get signed by WWE, and I want to be the world champion, and I want to main event WrestleMania.’ When you think about all that, and how far away that goal is, it’s so overwhelming, especially for someone like me and the way that my brain operates. So I remember, very early on, saying, ‘I’m gonna drive myself crazy if I obsess on certain goals, especially goals that I can’t control, per se.’ I’m gonna take every day by day, and just be the best version of myself, in the ring or on the microphone, that I possibly can be. I’ve kind of instituted that mentality throughout my entire career.
“At this current time right now, I’m just so excited to be back. I can’t wait to get back in the ring, and I’m so thankful that I’m actually able to get back into the ring, especially with that scare of thinking it might not happen. Regarding the AEW World Championship, of course. I would love the chance to be the AEW World Champion. That’s absolutely a goal in the back of my mind. Again, that’s the stamp of approval from the company that you work for, saying, ‘Alright, we’re gonna get behind this guy. We’re gonna give this guy the ball.’ So certainly, being the AEW World Champion someday is a goal of mine, but currently, in this moment right now, I’m just thinking about being able to get back in the ring and wrestle, and being back on the road. That’s a big win for me.”
Cole also shared his thoughts on the way he has been getting a babyface reaction since his return. He noted that, if he acted like a heel when he came back, it would have been an uphill battle, as fans were naturally excited to see him. Cole described how he has been a heel for the majority of his career, so he has stepped out of his comfort zone, but the real story behind his journey has made it an easier process.
“In this particular situation, if I would have come through with a different approach of cutting a heel promo or acting like a heel right from the return, we would have been fighting upstream,” Cole said. “It was one of those things where, of course, the fans were going to be excited and be behind you, especially when they hear the story. In that sense, that process has been easier. In general, I have been a heel for 95% of my entire career. I’ve talked like a heel and wrestled like a heel for a really long time.
“To even step outside of that comfort zone and talk, like I feel, as a babyface would, was very mentally intimidating for me. Fortunately, the process of the real journey and real story makes it easy because it’s all real. It’s all things that I actually feel. The entire recovery process was all real. At this point, whether it’s heel or babyface, I’m just worried about telling my story and I’m glad the fans have my back on this one.” (Transcribed by Jeremy Lambert of Fightful).
In the same interview, Cole provided an update on Kyle O’Reilly, who has been sidelined since June.
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