When Adam Cole made his AEW debut at the end of All Out 2021, his arrival was met with near-universal acclaim.
Fresh off a fantastic NXT run capstone-d by a best two-out-of-three-falls match at NXT TakeOver: 36 against long-time Undisputed Era friend/foe Kyle O'Riley, Cole emerged alongside his former Bullet Club friends as a galavanting hero who finally arrived in the “cool” promotion, even if his arrival was slightly overshadowed by another debut – a double debut, if you will – of Bryan Danielson, who also traded in his “Property of WWE” shirt for the yellow and black of AEW.
And yet, ever since Cole's first bout in the promotion, a barnburner versus Frankie Kazarian at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the hype around Mr. “Baybay” has died down with each passing television appearance, to the point where some folks have made it a point to poo-poo the performer whenever he's on television, promoted for a future event, or, you know, just comes to mind for one reason or another. Though his heat isn't quite X-Pac-level – or, for AEW-only fans, Brandi Rhodes-level – the backlash towards Cole is real, especially when a wrestling legend like Booker T opted to critique his physique for no reason in particular.
Is Adam Cole the biggest, strongest, or most muscular wrestler in AEW? Not even close, but that isn't what has made his current run feel so cold to fans of the promotion. No, the problem with Cole has more to do with his booking than his effort in the ring or efforts in the gym.
AEW fans are angry at Adam Cole for the wrong reason.
Adam Cole has been a member of AEW for nine months. He's wrestled 32 matches, including three for a championship belt/trophy, and holds a career win-loss record of 26-6.
Though he didn't challenge for the title in his initial AEW program, as it was then held by fellow Elite faction member Kenny Omega, Cole did play a role in the build-up to his eventual loss, which took place at Full Gear mere matches after Cole and the Bucks lost to the team of Jurassic Express and Christian Cage.
With Page in place as the new champion, Cole wasn't the first one to challenge for the strap, that honor belongs to fellow All Out debutee Bryan Danielson in two matches that nearly combined for an hour and a half of ring time, the former NXT champion was the first person to wrestle Page for the belt on Pay-Per-View, and followed it up with two more matches involving Hangman, including a six-way match with Jurassic Express and reDRagon, and a Texas Deathmatch for the title.
While some will quibble with the decision to stack a Cole-Page feud on top of another Cole-Page feud, or that Cole-Page 1 was the only successful Pay-Per-View title defense by “The Hangman,” having follow-up title rematches isn’t unprecedented in wrestling, even if it is somewhat in AEW.
No, the problem most folks had with Cole's run post-Page was that there was never really a Cole run post-Page; even after winning the Owen Cup at Double Or Nothing, Cole reverted right back to feuding with Hangman after Page called out Kazuchika Okada in the lead-up to Forbidden Door. All those matches, all those feuds, and yet, Cole still can't get over “Hangman,” which is especially weird considering he is no longer the champion.
But why? Has the specter of Forbidden Door hung over a Cole singles run, or a trios program with the Undisputed reDRagons – or whatever they opt to go by – and once the Pay-Per-View comes to an end, the next step in the former NXT faction will become incredibly clear. Maybe Cole will be thrust into a program with the Bullet Club, either as friends or foes, and fans will soon forget about his weird, stop-start-y feud with “The Hangman.” But it's just as likely that Cole and Page will continue to duke it out for years to come, and their feud will become AEW's answer to Cole and O'Riley in NXT, who faced off three times in the ring in the promotion and 16 times overall since their first one-on-one bout all the way back in 2009 on a pre-show match for Dragon Gate USA.
Either way, it's safe to say the internet will have an opinion on the matter.
Adam Cole has been part of some of the best feuds, angles, and matches in wrestling over the last decade. He's been in WarGames, had street fights, and if there's any luck in the wrestling world, is about to enter into a full-on civil war featuring the Bullet Club. If given the right angle to work with, there's little reason to believe Cole can't again become one of the best performers in the game and a highlight of AEW's weekly television programs for years to come, even if there's a small but vocal segment of the fanbase who will give him a hard time every step along the way.
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