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The following interview was conducted the afternoon of November 21st.
Mike Johnson: Survivor Series is just a couple of days away this Saturday, November 23rd, from the Allstate Arena, in the fine city of Chicago, Illinois. And if there is one WWE performer who perhaps has had the most miles, the most flights, the busiest schedule over the last several weeks, it is the NXT Champion Adam Cole, who is joining us right now, who will make his Survivor Series debut defending his championship against a contender that will be determined this Saturday night at NXT Takeover: War Games, also in Chicago with the Allstate Arena. So Adam, have you had a chance to inhale and relax, and if so, what are you doing two seconds later?
Adam Cole: So not so much. Yeah, these past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. For me, the busiest of my entire career, and looking specifically at this week with the Ladder Match last night, War Games on Saturday, and then defending my championship on Sunday, it's been brutal physically, it's been exhausting, but in the best way possible. These past few weeks have been so insane and so crazy. So, when it's all said and done, I'm very excited to sit back and smell the roses, and hopefully look back on these past few weeks and say, "Wow, that was a lot of fun."
Mike Johnson: We've talked to you a lot over the course of your career in different places, and you've held championships, and you've worked all over the world, but what does it mean to you knowing that WWE is investing in you in this major way? There are a lot of talents who are NXT Champions, and that run in NXT was their prologue to Raw and Smackdown. You are the first NXT Champion to walk onto a cornerstone WWE pay per view, and defend his championship. You were one of the talents tapped, "We need you. Get to Buffalo."
Adam Cole: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mike Johnson: And with very little notice, you were in there with Seth Rollins and everyone else that you could think of. You're in the middle of all the NXT Undisputed ERA versus the World. You're in the middle of a War Games situation. You're in a Ladder Match last night. Triple H talks about how, on a conference call this week, what a consummate professional you are and that you put the professional in professional wrestler. You're on FOX promoting the company. A lot of responsibility thrust upon you. What does it mean to you that the company thought so highly of you and went, "Yep, we need somebody. He's the guy. We can trust him." And they plug you into 50,000 things at once, and they know that you can go and handle the load, from a personal level, what does that mean to Adam Cole?
Adam Cole: Yeah, exactly what you said. From a personal level, I mean that's maybe the coolest part about this whole deal. Again, seeing guys like Triple H and really WWE as a whole, believing in me enough to say, "Yeah, we're going to throw all this stuff at this guy because we know he's going to knock it out of the park. We know he's going to do exactly what is asked of him, and then some," is the coolest feeling in the world. Because having your peers and your superiors, just again, go to you as someone they can count on is a really, really good feeling. Just as a human being, that's a good feeling, and then just again, thinking about me, I've been doing a lot of this these past few days actually, but thinking about nine-year-old me, and seeing WWE for the first time and going, "Oh, I want to do that." And not only did I want to do it, but I want it to be a feature guy, a guy, again, that the company could count on, and that has kind of happened for me over these past few weeks. So, it really makes all of it worth it. It makes all of it so exciting. I feel like these past few weeks have been the most exciting of my entire career. And, again, personally as a human being, there's nothing more rewarding than having a company that I've dreamed of working for since I was a little kid, and them having my back, or counting on me as much as they have. It's been really cool.
Mike Johnson: All right. So before we dive into the next question, you had the Ladder Match last night. Physically how are you feeling coming out of the Ladder Match and the chaos and the huge brawl that followed all that? In terms of physical status, and mental status, and emotional status, how do you feel going into War Games and how do you feel going into Survivor Series?
Adam Cole: Yeah, yeah. So physically, I'd be lying to you if I said I felt like a million bucks. I'm definitely a little sore. I'm as sore as you can be coming out of a Ladder Match. There's no really avoiding it. There's no choice. Your body's not meant to fall on ladders. It's not meant to fall from high heights like that. So, yes. I'm definitely feeling the fact that I just wrestled a Ladder Match last night. As far as mentally and emotionally though, I am so fired up. Again, just looking at the task at hand that I have the rest of this week. To me, it's the biggest weekend of my entire career, or biggest week actually, because part of it was that Ladder Match. So yeah, looking forward, I'm excited. I'm stoked. I've never been more ready for a wrestling weekend in my entire life. And yeah, again, just really thrilled and ready to rock and roll.
Mike Johnson: And last time we saw you, a couple of weeks ago at the Performance Center, you were still nursing the wrist injury. How's that healing up given all the physicality that you've been putting your body through?
Adam Cole: Sure, sure. So it's not where it needs to be yet. My wrist is not completely healed yet, but it is moving along. It's at least going in the right direction. So it hasn't gotten worse. It hasn't become stagnant. The wrist is, fortunately, healing with some stuff that I've been doing to make sure that it heals properly and things like that. Obviously, for anybody who knows, I've stayed active, I'm still wrestling, I'm still competing and traveling and all that stuff. So the delay in the healing of the wrist is going to be there, but, knock on wood, nothing has happened to make the wrist worse. So hopefully here soon my wrist will be 100% and back to normal.
Mike Johnson: So one of the things that I always talk about when I sit down with an NXT is the fraternity of that brand.
Adam Cole: Yeah.
Mike Johnson: And I feel like there's a certain chip on the shoulder of someone who comes through the system, especially since the Performance Center was created. Talk about what the locker room feel has been like with NXT being tri-branded with survivor series for the first time, NXT invading all these different shows and NXT's united front being presented as a united front. What has that meant to the locker room? What has that mean for the confidence level? How has the confidence level even changed since the USA Network show? Take us into the minds and sort of what it's like in the realm of the locker room as everybody's preparing to really be on the same level as Raw and Smackdown in a competitive sense.
Adam Cole: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, it started with the USA Network. Again, our move to USA Network was so huge for us as far as confidence and excitement, because forever, again, our team, our brand has been very confident that we put on a really exciting pro-wrestling show. So to get the chance for more people to see us, we knew and we thought, oh yeah, people for sure are going to become fans and they watch this product and I'm glad that NXT's getting the chance to be seen by more people and that this snowball has just kind of continued now leading into Survivor Series with us competing and having dream matches with guys from Raw and guys from Smackdown and standing tall in the middle of the ring on Raw. It's just been such a cool thing and morale is great. We're really excited for this opportunity we've gotten. I know Raw and Smackdown guys look at it as just an exciting time because, again, there's just so many different match-ups and so many different things that can happen. I know for me personally, after being at Raw and at Smackdown and even at NXT, the vibe and not just the locker room, but the audience is different. People are so thrilled and so pumped at the idea of all these different dream matches that they get to see. And then again, a bunch of fans who have really, maybe never seen NXT before and will get the chance to tune in and say, "Oh, I've got to check out this show. I've got to see what it's all about." So it's just great stuff all across the board. And, again, all going to culminate at Survivor Series and it should be awesome.
Mike Johnson: So you mentioned as a kid you've always wanted to work for WWE. Now you work with Triple H, you work with Shawn Michaels. Was there a moment, and I know there was a lot of chaos through all the last couple of weeks, but has there been one of those moments in the Raw or the Smackdown locker room where you kind of look around and go, "How did I get here," and you have to kind of take a step back to keep yourself from enjoying the moment because you've got to be all business?
Adam Cole: Yeah, absolutely. And actually that time for me, and I was able to enjoy this as chaotic as the day was, but the day that I absolute last minute showing up at 8:20 when I wrestled Daniel Bryan in the main event at Smackdown. I remember sitting there and getting warmed up and looking over and seeing Bryan in the corner also getting warmed up, ready to go. And I've watched Bryan since I've been in middle school. Again, similar to CM Punk was a guy that I had watched on the independent scene and almost idolize these guys, and were so impressed by them, what they did in the ring and what they brought to the table. And Bryan was the guy that I had never wrestled before. So for him to do all that he's done and become the absolute massive star that he is, for the first time for us to get the chance to wrestle in the main event of SmackDown, my debut on Smackdown, I was like, "Wow, this ride has been absolutely crazy and I want to make sure I enjoy it as much as I can."
Adam Cole: But yeah, I've definitely had that moment quite a few times over these past few weeks.
Mike Johnson: All right, Adam, you got one of three potential challengers at WarGames, Pete Dunn, Damian Priest, or Killian Dain. All very interesting personalities.
Adam Cole: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mike Johnson: Who do you predict is going to be your challenger that night? Who would you like to work with?
Adam Cole: It's tough to say. When you look at Pete Dunne and you see all he's done, not just in NXT UK but NXT, he's without question one of the most impressive guys that our roster has. Damian Priest is the guy who's made quite the name for himself very, very quickly, but in my opinion, if he got into the ring with me, he'd realize he's not ready to be NXT Champion. And then Killian Dain, a massive, strong, deceivingly agile competitor who is looking to kind of reinvent himself here in NXT. I'll tell you this, whether it's Pete Dunne, whether it's Damian Priest, whether it's Killian Dain, it doesn't matter because my debut at Survivor Series is going to start with me as NXT Champion and it's going to end with me as NXT Champion.
Mike Johnson: Adam, I thank you for the time. I know you've got a crazy week. You've got a lot of other interviews to do. Stay healthy. We hope the wrist keeps healing and we look forward to your continued adventures and we look forward to getting you back on here again. Best of luck to you and thank you for sitting down with us.
Adam Cole: Hey, thanks so much. Always a pleasure talking to you.
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