It was previously reported that WWE wanted Adam Cole to be the manager of Keith Lee on the main roster with the idea being similar to what they had done when they paired Bobby Lashley with Lio Rush.
It was also noted that Cole would’ve likely received a new name as WWE wouldn’t want to have two Cole’s on the main roster – Adam Cole and SmackDown announcer Michael Cole.
Cole decided to join AEW instead of re-signing with WWE when his contract expired at the end of August.
Cole appeared on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast and during it, looked back on his meeting with Vince McMahon as well as the reported plans WWE had for him. Here are the highlights:
Meeting with Vince McMahon:
“I did have a meeting with Vince that went really well. It was like a 30 minute conversation which was cool. I’ve only talked to him for maybe like 2 or 3 minutes prior to that. I got to work the Survivor Series event, and he wanted to talk to us afterwards. He was really happy with the match, but no real conversation with him before, so that was the first time. He was very complimentary and very nice. The idea was for me to go to RAW or SmackDown and not stay in NXT, just because I had been there for so long, and I think they knew, as much as I do love NXT, if I stayed in WWE, to take that step. That was the gist of the conversation. It was definitely to move me up to RAW or SmackDown.”
Ideas for him on the main roster:
“Apparently, there were a lot of ideas, but they were very vague about exactly what they wanted to do. I remember when I first had the conversation, they mentioned something about, ‘Maybe we’ll do a name change, or maybe we’ll change your look a little bit’, so that scared me a little bit. I just spent nearly 14 years as Adam Cole. In our latest conversation, they were definitely more open to me being me and being myself. They could tell I was not too thrilled about the idea.”
‘Yea, it was definitely something that made me a little bit more timid pulling the trigger on that one. Of course, they could not have been nicer, but when I think about me and my career, and what is best for me, the idea of that being an option did scare me a little bit. What if I do go, and then something happens anyway? At that point, I can’t really say or do anything. Red flag is a perfect way to put it.”
