Adam Cole Talks to 411 About Tonight’s ROH PPV, If There is a Rivalry With NXT, More

I interviewed Adam Cole recently. Highlights are below, followed by the full interview.

On if there is a NXT vs. ROH rivalry: Yeah I don’t think so. What’s going on, and people asks this question a lot, “is NXT directly trying to compete with ROH?” I don’t think that’s what’s happening. I think Triple H has a vision for what NXT is and he sees the way that the industry is moving and that’s a direction he would like to go. ROH has certainly had a game plan that it has used for years and that’s been successful. I think more so it’s the fans that like to create in their minds that there’s this big feud between the two companies. And that’s fun. It’s fun to imagine. I know certainly a lot of ROH guys watch the NXT shows. A lot of NXT guys watch the ROH shows and of course in our minds we go, “aww man, we want our PPV to be better than the NXT special on the network.” And the NXT guys goes, “oh we want our show to be better than the ROH PPV!” But it’s all a friendly competition to the sense that if you’re wrestling on the show with ROH guys, we all want to have the best match on the show but we all want everyone to do well. Cause as long as NXT continues to thrive the way that it has, ROH will continue to get more and more popular because the companies are so similar.

On Jay Lethal’s evolution as a performer: I’m so glad you brought that up Jay Lethal as a performer has grown into, I’ll say this even though I’m wrestling him this Friday, he’s one of my favorite wrestlers in the game right now. He’s unreal. He’s amazing in the ring. It doesn’t matter who he’s wresting. He’s unreal on the microphone. Jay Lethal doing that Black Machsimo character, as good as that was, it was fantastic and so entertaining. But now Jay Lethal has turned himself into this very formidable, dominant world champion, who is having some of the best matches in the entire world. So it’s really cool. I think too, him being apart of Ring of Honor and being in that role where he’s one of the guys who has the company on his back, he’s taking that very seriously, and you can see it n his work. So it’s been really cool to see.

Full interview below.

Tonight, Ring of Honor has their 14th Anniversary Show live on PPV from Las Vegas. In the main event, World Champion Jay Lethal defends his championship in a triple threat match against Kyle O’Reilly and former champion Adam Cole. 411Mania’s Anthony Kennedy sat down with the Ring of Honor World Champion to breakdown tonight’s show, what it’s like to wrestle in front of an unforgiven crowd and if there’s a rivalry with NXT!

Anthony Kennedy: Tell us about ROH in 2016 and how you feel about it’s current state and future.

Adam Cole: We’ve been around for 14 years and stuff is really kicked into high gear for us. Whether it be television deals we’ve gotten, PPVs and our relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, it’s been pretty awesome. I think that Ring of Honor is a true alternative in the world of pro wrestling. Some of the best in-ring pure competition in the world you will find in Ring of Honor. Tonight, we have a huge PPV, huge main event. Myself, Kyle O’ Reilly and the current World Champion Jay Lethal in a triple threat match for the world title. It’s going to be a really, really awesome event.

Anthony Kennedy: Did you ever see yourself as playing a big role in ROH at the level it is now?

Adam Cole: No not at all. Especially when I was a fan. I remember watching Ring of Honor as a fan, going to shows in Philadelphia and New York, and I loved the guys. I thought these are some of the best wrestlers in the world, if not THE best. I remember watching these events and thinking, man, it would be so cool if ROH could capture a larger audience, whether that be on TV or PPV. Your understanding of it is so small at that time.And then when I got into wrestling, this was right about the time ROH first got the HD NET TV deal. I remember thinking “wow, that’s a huge deal.” Now that it has grown as much as it has. It has been crazy and surreal. The fact that I get to be apart of it is even cooler. Sky’s the limit for us.

Antony Kennedy: How is ROH as company doing in your opinion and what do you see the growth potential is for the company?

Adam Cole: I think it’s great! We’re definitely on the upswing. I think most importantly the reason we’ve been on the upswing is Ring of Honor has been very smart about the speed of its growth. ROH is not a company that says ok we’re going to throw all this money in and let’s just go for it. ROH has the business approach of slow but steady. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. We slowly work on getting more markets. We slowly work on building relationships. And over time once we gain people’s trust and they see what we do and they see what we deliver each and every show, more and more people are interested in jumping on the ROH train. I definitely think the success will continue.

Anthony Kennedy: Some of the moves being made by the WWE with regards to its NXT franchise, is there any truth to there being a rivalry between NXT and ROH?

Adam Cole: Yeah I don’t think so. What’s going on, and people asks this question a lot, “is NXT directly trying to compete with ROH?” I don’t think that’s what’s happening. I think Triple H has a vision for what NXT is and he sees the way that the industry is moving and that’s a direction he would like to go. ROH has certainly had a game plan that it has used for years and that’s been successful. I think more so it’s the fans that like to create in their minds that there’s this big feud between the two companies. And that’s fun. It’s fun to imagine. I know certainly a lot of ROH guys watch the NXT shows. A lot of NXT guys watch the ROH shows and of course in our minds we go, “aww man, we want our PPV to be better than the NXT special on the network.” And the NXT guys goes, “oh we want our show to be better than the ROH PPV!” But it’s all a friendly competition to the sense that if you’re wrestling on the show with ROH guys, we all want to have the best match on the show but we all want everyone to do well. Cause as long as NXT continues to thrive the way that it has, ROH will continue to get more and more popular because the companies are so similar.

Anthony Kennedy: How do you feel about the type of performance you need to give for the ROH audience and is it fair to ask that of you?

Adam Cole: Oh absolutely, I think that’s the coolest thing about our fans, they not only respect, but they demand, excellence from our guys. And being put in this situation, where it’s myself, Kyle O’Reilly and a Jay Lethal, I think it’s the best main event you can have right now in Ring of Honor. Jay Lethal, who is on the run of his life as the World Champion. Myself, fighting to getting another run with the world title, coming back from injury, feeling better than ever; and Kyle O’Reilly, questionably the best guy on the roster who’s never been world champion. The expectations for this match up is very very high. All three of us know that. So we’re more than ready to deliver. When the pressure is on, I think that’s when the Ring of Honor roster does the best. Not only the main event, the entire roster feels the pressure and are ready to deliver.

Anthony Kennedy: You’ve wrestled Kyle O’Reilly many times, tell us your thoughts on him and how will he perform in the main event?

Adam Cole: I’ve known Kyle O’Reilly since 2009. Me and him actually met each other when we had our very first match against each other for Gabe Sapolsyky’s DragonGate USA show. Me and Kyle went in there and we had a match that kind of made waves throughout the independent scene as far as us getting our names out there. We both got signed to Ring of Honor at the exact same time. The company wasn’t sure what they wanted to do with us so they put us together as a tag-team. And we gelled as a team. And then, my all-time favorite match that I’ve ever had was against Kyle O’Reilly in 2012, the ‘hybrid fighting rules match’ where we were bleeding buckets all over the place. And it was really a match that took my career to the next level. I’ve wrestled Kyle O’Reilly all over the world. I know how good he is, our fans know how good he is. A lot of people feel he is the next guy in line to be world champion, and obviously you have to tune in Friday to see, but he very well could be that next guy.

Anthony Kennedy: This card will also be highlighted by a number of He New Japan wrestlers appearing on the card, do you feel the influx of NJPW talent for this show puts pressure on you to live up to and even exceed their workrate and how to do you deal with something like that?

Adam Cole: The cool thing is, when we first did our joint ROH-NJPW, I think that definitely existed. I think the ROH guys were like, “we can’t let these New Japan guys outshine us” the new japan guys were ready to make a statement as it was this really big event in America. But the cool thing about this relationship is we’ve literally become a family now. A lot of us are friends with each. We obviously respect each other. So the ROH guys looking at the New Japan guys coming over, we’re just psyched. We think, “oh great this is just going to make our show even better.” The respect level with New Japan and ROH is at an all-time high. And anytime we get a company like New Japan Pro Wrestling on a ROH show, it just benefits our show. It has everybody all jacked up, ready to do the best we can like we always do.

Anthony Kennedy: The West Coast rarely gets ROH type shows. hHow different are the West Coast crowds from performing in front East Coast crowds and do you feel like you’ll have to change up your matches based on the fan base?

Adam Cole: I don’t necessarily notice too much of a change in the sense of the kind of matches that I have in say a Los Angeles as opposed to a New York City. The big difference that I notice, and this is what all love as New York city and Philadelphia has treated me fantastically, but man, you cannot screw up in Philadelphia and New York. If you mess up, it’s game over and they will let you know that they’re not happy with what they are seeing. Los Angles to me seems to be a little bit more forgiving. They’re just as rowdy and they’re just as excited but they understand a [botch] happens sometimes, and they’re excited to see the show and they just want to have some fun. It’s really funny, going to NYC and Philly, you’re very aware that I need to make sure I’m on my ‘A’ Game even more, cause they’ll let me know if I’m not. So that’s the difference.

Anthony Kennedy: As a wrestler does that bother you? And a do you ascribe to the same line of thinking that some in the industry maintain that you can’t comment on match quality or a wrestler’s workrate if you’ve never been in the ring?

Adam Cole: I’ve actually never been that guy. There’s a big difference between trolling and just attacking guys to attack guys, to get under people’s skin, and to genuinely express how you felt about something. Like if I go to a movie for example, and I watch a movie, and I wasn’t a fan of it. I don’t mind turning to my family or some buddies I’m with and saying “oh man, I really didn’t like that movie.” But I’ve never acted or directed in my life. But I’m able to voice my opinion about whether or not I enjoyed it or not. The only difference with wrestling is we’re like a live performance. So we’re feeding off the audience and if they do’t like something, they can let us know immediately. But that’s like the really fun, exciting thing about wrestling. There’s no such thing as perfecting this art. You’re constantly growing and you’re constantly progressing and changing up you’re style and gauging an audience to make sure that audience is enjoying what you’re doing. I’m very aware that pro wrestling fans can be some of the most vocal and passionate and descriptive about how they feel when it comes to pro wrestling. So I’m totally fine with how fans talk about how they feel, cause if they’re not allowed to voice how they feel, then what’s the point of being a wrestling fan. You gotta know what you like and what you do’t like and that’s fine.

Anthony Kennedy: Have fans let you have it for messing up in the ring and has it gotten to you?

Adam Cole: Fortunately for me, I have been there with some true pros. HEre’s a great example. I wrestled Sabian, he’s now BLK Jeez in CZW. We had a series of matches in the ECW Arena where I was really green and new to the audience. And they were kinda in the process of still accepting me. And Sabian had so much heat, that they would just boo him so much throughout these matches. And the way that this match was booked, everyone knew this was going to go to a 20-minute time limit draw. The fans not only were booing us the whole way through, but they started “sarcastically” getting into the false finishes at one point. But like I said to Sabian’s credit, he told me “everything’s fine, just keep doing your thing, keep going.” And it was fine. The pressure performing is something you have to get used to, really really quick. But I pride myself on always keeping t together.

Anthony Kennedy: What are some of the intricacies of working a triple threat match.

Adam Cole: They are definitely pros and cons to triple threat matches. The cons to them is obviously coming up wth something very original and making sure everything makes sense. Remembering certain things is very, very vital to a triple threat match. So it’s more difficult to put it together. However, the positive, and I mean this, Jay Lethal and Kyle O’Reilly are two of my favorite opponents. I couldn’t ask for two guys I’d rather be in a triple threat match with. On top of that, creatively, if we are able to make something that’s really exciting for the fans, any time there are more bodies in the ring, you can always create something that’s different because there’s more than two people in the ring. So if everything goes off great, then it being a triple threat match will make it even more exciting instead of a singles match. And that’s our goal this weekend. I think we’ll be just fine, it will be challenging but I’m excited about it.

Anthony Kennedy: Looking at the card, what is the match that will you to come from behind the curtain and sit out there amongst the crowd to watch?

Adam Cole: I’ll tell you this is a tie for me. What I’m definitely going to be watching will be the Bullet Club vs Kushida, ACH and Sydal match. The Young Bucks are right now the best tag-team in the world. Kenny Omega is finally coming into his own as a main event guy in New Japan and that’s long overdue. Against those other three guys it’s just going to be an acton packed match, it’ll be unreal. Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish and Ishii. No one saw it coming that Ishii was going to beat Roddy for the belt, that’s unreal. In 2016, he arguably had a better year than anybody. Those two matches are the one that stick out to me as totally exciting and show stealing matches.

Anthony Kennedy: ROH World Champion Jay Lethal has made great gains from his TNA Impact days as ‘Black Machismo’, how have you seen the difference in him as a performer?

Adam Cole: I’m so glad you brought that up Jay Lethal as a performer has grown into, I’ll say this even though I’m wrestling him this Friday, he’s one of my favorite wrestlers in the game right now. He’s unreal. He’s amazing in the ring. It doesn’t matter who he’s wresting. He’s unreal on the microphone. Jay Lethal doing that Black Machsimo character, as good as that was, it was fantastic and so entertaining. But now Jay Lethal has turned himself into this very formidable, dominant world champion, who is having some of the best matches in the entire world. So it’s really cool. I think too, him being apart of Ring of Honor and being in that role where he’s one of the guys who has the company on his back, he’s taking that very seriously, and you can see it n his work. So it’s been really cool to see.