PWP’s Brennan Daly shines a spotlight on the man he believes we should be watching, ROH’s Adam Cole.
I’m a huge wrestling fan. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to watch all the great wrestling that goes on week to week. If I could though, that would be one hell of a life. What I like to do is read up on what is going on in Ring of Honor and New Japan Wrestling. All wrestling fans should do this as well, because there is some damn good wrestling outside of the WWE. The two best places to keep tabs are without a doubt, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Rightfully so, the WWE knows exactly how good ROH is as it has taken a lot of their past talents and brought them over. The list is long and pretty impressive. Guys like Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and retired CM Punk. In fact, all the guys that I listed are on my 10 top wrestlers in the world list.
Its pretty amazing that a minor promotion can produce so many unbelievable prospects and that they get the opportunity to learn from a lot of veteran wrestlers who know the ins and outs of the business.
The future of Wrestling is brighter than ever as the landscape is more about wrestling ability. We often don’t see super large guys who can’t go in the ring, be given such a major push. This is why I love the current state of the business. Guys who wouldn’t have had a chance 15 years ago are actually being taken seriously.
Look no further than Adam Cole (The Panama City Playboy), who is one of the hottest young talents out there. Why is this? Well it was actually pretty obvious to see that he is the total package. From the moment that I saw him a couple of years ago I knew eventually that he would get to that place that all wrestlers want to go. Even though he isn’t in WWE right now, he will be within the next two years.
Cole was an avid wrestling fan during his childhood and the match that inspired him was the Austin vs. Rock match at WrestleMania 17. That was one helluva match/rivalry. Who wouldn’t get inspired by that? Cole debuted for Combat Pro Wrestling at the age of 19, where he showed he was meant to wrestle. CZW really helped him become a well-rounded wrestler and his character there did a lot for him too.
You can watch most of his Ring of Honor (ROH) work on YouTube as he continues to develop and gain more accomplishments to his resume. He is a former one-time ROH World Champion and one-time ROH World Television Champion. Traveling all over the world he has plied his trade just about everywhere. Combat Zone Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Northeast Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he is a former one-time PWG World Champion, holding the record for the longest reign in the title’s history. In ROH he was part of a team called “Future Shock” along with Kyle O’Reilly who I think could also be a future WWE employee. When Future Shock split up, you could tell that he was going to be a great singles star. The hybrid fighting rules match with Kyle O’Reilly at Best In The World 2012 was insane. I saw the true heart, guts, and toughness of Adam Cole after he got a deep gash on his upper lip from a stiff shot by O’Reilly and he continued the match despite losing a lot of blood.
That moment and that great match instantly made me think Cole was going to be a great singles competitor in ROH. Cole won me over even more with the feud that he had with former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy. This feud allowed him to show more passion in his promos.
The WWE won’t pass on a guy that people compare to Chris Jericho and CM Punk. Cole has the unique ability to pull off being a baby face or a heel, something that many people on the current roster can’t do. This is what made Punk and Jericho arguably “the best in the world”. Often times the WWE characters/personas get bland over time, but his ability to adapt to the crowd is another strength that he possesses. Cole has proven outside of ROH that his heel character is simply fantastic. He shared his thoughts in an interview about people comparing him to Punk.
“CM Punk was a guy in Ring of Honor at the time who not only really got me into Ring of Honor but got me into independent wrestling just with his promo ability. So I think that because of how it impacted I was as a fan by him I have focused so much on character development and having articulate and interesting promos and creating really exciting angles.”
Cole is 5’11 and about 205 pounds so he fits into todays WWE’s. His style is well suited to the WWE style and he actually doesn’t really pull off the dangerous moves that many other Independent Wrestlers do. For much of his career he has had an awesome finishing move called the “Panama Sunrise (Check it out at YouTube)”. Unfortunately this move will probably change and I am not sure what move could take its place. Cole’s ability to come up with a move that fits his character isn’t something to be worried about though.
If you have some free time and want to see how good this guy is, watch the Cole/ Jay Briscoe leader match from New Orleans a couple of years ago. It is one of the most enjoyable, violent and crazy matches I’ve seen. Another awesome match that I highly suggest watching is the match against AJ Styles at Global Wars 2015.
A Heel Cole vs. A baby face Seth Rollins feud is something that I can’t wait to see. These two have proven their ability to work with anyone on their respective rosters. It’s easy to see that they could pull off in an instant classic.
Adam Cole will be the next big thing in wrestling. The guy has it all and it won’t be very long before we see him in a WWE ring. The dude kills it with PWG and ROH and is definitely one of the main guys in the two promotions. The fact that he’s only 26 is unbelievable. As much success as Cole has had so far, he’s certainly someone to watch in the coming years; the sky’s the limit for this guy BAY BAY!