Adam Cole recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio to discuss his history of concussions.
Cole hasn’t wrestled since AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on June 26, 2022 in the Fatal 4 Way for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title. Before that, he suffered a concussion in a match with Samoa Joe at Double or Nothing.
“I still have a little ways to go until I get to a point where I think I’m ready to rock and roll as far as going to the ring and having a 35-45 minute match,” he said. “But compared to even two in a half to three months ago, I feel fantastic, I feel really good.”
Cole suffered a torn labrum and strained his rotator cuff while warming up for his match with Hangman Page at AEW Revolution in March 2022.
The second concussion was during the Forbidden Door match in June and was much worse than the one earlier in the year.
“I took a bump where I felt a little bit weird, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault, it was a normal bump,” Cole said of Forbidden Door. “And I remember thinking ‘okay, that felt a little strange’. And about thirty seconds go by, and then it’s like I have no recollection or memory of what I’m supposed to do [or] what happened in the match.”
He also talked about having memory issues and sometimes he would cry for no reason. He said he needed to take a driving test two months after the concussion, but failed it so badly that it made him think he could no longer drive. He took it two months later and passed it.
