AEW’s Adam Cole Details Relationship With WWE NXT’S Triple H And Shawn Michaels

When Adam Cole arrived in AEW after the expiration of his WWE contract, many wrestling fans questioned what WWE were thinking letting such an exciting talent slip out of their grasp, and wondered what Triple H must have thought about the situation.

According to Cole himself, there is no bad blood between himself and Triple H or NXT coach Shawn Michaels, telling Renee Paquette on Oral Sessions:

“The nice thing about my relationship with him and my relationship with Shawn Michaels is they are so positive. To this day, positive. I formed a bond with Hunter, with Shawn, that I would like to think, and they’ve made very apparent to me as well, that it’s a relationship we’re always going to keep. I loved working with those guys. He knew what my goals were, what I wanted to accomplish. I think a big reason I loved NXT so much was we had that freedom and that ability to wrestle super cool, longer matches and get to show ourselves off artistically in that sense. NXT was built on that mentality. I got in at the perfect time, at least for what I loved about pro wrestling.

“He [Hunter] understood that I wanted to continue doing stuff like that, he knew my Twitch was super important to me. And I know that’s a big no no in WWE, which is unfortunate. So I was very open and very honest with him, to the point where I was still thinking about what I was going to do when my contract was up. He knew that. And then when the decision was made, he knew that and Shawn knew that. So I’ve always been open and honest with them right out of the gate, because they’ve always been open and honest with me. I love Hunter, I love Shawn. They have been nothing but incredible to me, they’ve made me better as a performer. I don’t think I’d be where I’m at in AEW right now without those two and I really do mean that. When I think about the performer I was in Ring of Honor, as much as I learned and as many great people as I got to work with, getting that four years with them is priceless. It’s absolutely priceless.”

A section of fans assumed Cole would stay with WWE, due to Cole’s idolisation of Shawn Michaels:

“Shawn and I have developed a relationship, like I said, that I think will last for the rest of our lives. At least I hope so, and I know Shawn feels that way too,” Cole said. “But Shawn has always been such a big supporter of me and what’s best for me. So of course he wanted me to work something out where I could stay and things like that. But at the same time, Shawn wanted me to be happy, he wanted me to do what’s best for me.

“So he had my back. He knows how much I respect him, how much I look up to him and idolise him. So for him to be very open about ‘listen, of course I want you to stay here. But I want you to be happy.’ He was putting business aside, all that stuff aside. He just wanted me to be as happy as possible, so that was really cool for me. It was what I needed to hear honestly. Like I said, it was a big decision. So for him to have my back was really cool.”

HT: Wrestling Inc.