When news broke before AEW All In Texas that Adam Cole would not only not be wrestling on the promotion's biggest Pay-Per-View of the year but would be outright vacating the TNT Championship, it left fans downright perplexed.

Sure, Cole has suffered injuries in the past, from concussions to a broken ankle during his program with MJF, but he just wrestled a complete match on Collision mere days before All In. What happened?

While that isn't known just yet, Cole took to the ring before the four-way match for the TNT Championship match and laid out his past, present, and potentially future in All Elite Wrestling, which isn't as guaranteed as some might hope.

“It's really hard to put this into words, but I wanted to come out here and talk to you all. Very sorry that I let everybody down. I can't wrestle tonight.I have some health issues going on at the moment that not only will not allow me to defend this championship tonight, but I am going to be gone for a while. And I don't even want to think about talking about retiring because I am not in the right headspace, but I wanted to have this opportunity to come out and talk to you all. If this is indeed goodbye, because you are the best damn wrestling fans in the world. Thank you. Thank you. Since I was nine years old, I've always dreamed of being a professional wrestler,” Cole said.

“It's all I've ever, ever wanted to do. And all of you made that dream come true for me. You've supported me across multiple promotions all over the world. You have no idea how much that means to me. With my, with my highest moments and recently my lowest moments, all of you have been so supportive every step of the way. D**n it.

“I will love you forever. Thank you so much. I don't want to take up any more of your time because we have the best damn wrestling pay-per-view you've ever seen happening right now. We're going to have a new, a new TNT champion tonight. Once again, you will continue to watch AEW do pay-per-view like nobody else in the world does. And from me, honestly, from everybody at AEW, thank you for making AEW what it is. Thank you for making AEW so special. And thank you all so damn much for changing my life. I love you always.”

Did Cole losing not on his belt but potentially his career put a horrible damper on All In? Yes, while watching Dustin Rhodes finally become a singles champion in the promotion was sweet, it coming at Cole's expense isn't a tradeoff even “The Natural” would have accepted. Needless to say, one question Tony Khan will have to answer tonight during the All In media scrum is borderline guaranteed, as fans want to know what's next for the “Panama Playboy.”

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