Subscribe
Follow Us
When Adam Cole showed up at the end of All Out 2021, it was an incredible surprise for AEW, WWE, and NXT fans alike.
The long-time face of NXT during its greatest era, the “Black and Gold era,” there wasn't some great bidding war for the former NXT/PWG/Ring of Honor Champion, with fans fantasy booking where he would go next, because frankly, few truly knew he was going to be a free agent in the first place, as his contract with WWE simply expired instead of being formally released, which is how he was able to wrestle Kyle O'Reilly in a Two out of Three Falls match at NXT TakeOver: 26 on August 22nd and then appear at All Out 12 days later on September 5th.
Asked if, behind the scenes, it was a tougher call to leave NXT for AEW on Under The Ropes, Cole admitted it was, but noted that between his aspirations and his familial obligations, the choice became rather obvious.
“It was definitely a choice I thought about for quite some time,” Cole said via 411 Mania. “There were a couple of factors that kind of really pushed me towards making the AEW decision. First and foremost, I was a massive fan of the product and I would watch it every week. It was so awesome to watch these shows … the crowds were so raucous and so wild every single week and it almost felt like an NXT TakeOver every week. At this point, me and Britt, my girlfriend, were barely seeing each other -– I was maybe seeing her one day a week at this point because our schedules were so different. The idea of not only being able to see her more, travel with her, be there for her before and after her matches, that was something that was very attractive to me.”
Considering Cole was reportedly pitched to be Keith Lee's manager on the main roster instead of the second coming of HBK, it's not too surprising the former leader of the Undisputed Era decided to jump ship to the company founded by his old PWG buddies. Factor in his relationship with Britt Baker and his championship ambitions, and in the end, it's safe to say Cole's choice to sign with AEW might not have been as hard as he asserted.
Adam Cole hopes fans think back fondly on his era of NXT.
Elsewhere in his appearance on Under The Ropes, Adam Cole was asked about the “Black and Gold” era of NXT and how he hopes fans will remember his unique era of WWE developmental, especially now that the show is about two more eras into the future.
For Cole, he simply hopes that fans acknowledge just how special the efforts of the entire promotion were during this golden era of sports entertainment.
“I certainly hope history looks back on that era as a special one. I felt like we were in the middle of something very, very special. As far as what made it work, I think it was a combination of the timing being really right, I think you had Triple H, who was eating, sleeping, and breathing NXT at the time, and a totally invested Shawn Michaels, the same thing. You had a roster full of guys who had known each other for years and just were ready to commit everything to making this the best show we possibly could,” Adam Cole said via Fightful.
“I think for fans as well, even though NXT had already started this trend before I had gotten there and before the black and gold era per say, but you could see the fans with these early Takeovers with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura, you could feel the brand growing and you could feel more and more people joining this ride that was NXT black and gold. I think for a lot of people, it was the first time that they had seen that style of wrestling truth be told. Obviously there were people that had followed a lot of us on the independents before then, but then you had some people that hadn’t seen that sort of style and are seeing it for the first time through WWE’s eyes in these huge arenas, and it just created this movement that was absolutely unbelievable.”
On paper, it's really hard to look at the “Black and Gold” era of WWE as anything other than a success, with many of the top performers in the industry right now working matches in the PC under the watchful eye of Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Shawn Michaels. Would WWE have been wise to bring that generation of NXT performers up to the main roster instead of releasing them out onto the indies for nothing due to “budget cuts?” Sure, but hey, that will now just go down as one of the all-time “What Ifs” of this era of wrestling.
