Adam Cole debuted for AEW at All Out on Sunday, aligning with members of the Elite. Cole reportedly met with Vince McMahon regarding a potential move to the main roster in the weeks leading to his departure. What WWE had planned for him on the main roster was recently addressed on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Evidently, WWE’s pitch to keep him in the company was to have him become a manager. “They were going to bring him up, the idea was to turn Keith Lee heel, have Adam Cole be his manager, probably with a different name because of the last name Cole and its main roster and Michael Cole, and you know how that goes,” said Dave Meltzer.
Meltzer then compared what they wanted from Adam Cole and Keith Lee to a Lio Rush/Bobby Lashley dynamic.
“That was kind of the dynamic they were looking for from him. More of a manager than a wrestler,” Meltzer continued. He would then say that these ideas were coming from either Vince McMahon or Bruce Prichard and not necessarily the creative team.
WWE’s Idea To Have Adam Cole Manage Keith Lee
Mick Foley recently commented on social media that WWE is no longer the place that wrestlers aspire to be. WWE’s pitch to have Adam Cole be more of a manager than a wrestler may illustrate some of Foley’s points.
“I think younger talent sees the way that developmental characters are cut or left by the wayside or in the case of Karion Kross, greatly watered down and even made a joke of when they debut on the main roster,” Foley said in the video. “
“I’m not sure that I would trust WWE creative to do the right thing with my career,” Foley continued. Perhaps Adam Cole began to feel the same.
