Adam Cole Recalls WWE Confusing Him With Xavier Woods in 2010

Adam Cole discussed the unique way that his first experience on WWE television came about — by way of being confused with with Xavier Woods — in a new interview. Cole spoke with The Wrap promoting NXT Takeover: In Your House and discussed how the appearance back in 2010 on an episode of Smackdown happened because his real name (Austin Jenkins) was confused by someone in WWE for Woods (Austin Watson). Highlights are below:

On being contacted by WWE for the first time: “I had been wrestling for like six to nine months at this point. I mean, brand-spanking new on the independents. I had, like, three months before, graduated high school. Just brand new. And I know I’m not a big guy, but I was even smaller then. Even smaller, no facial hair, just looked like a high school kid. And I got an email saying, ‘Hey, we’ve seen some footage of you. We’re really, really impressed. We wanna bring you down to FCW (the predecessor to NXT) for a week to try out.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I’m telling my brother, I’m telling my friends. And [WWE] ended up calling me and talking to me on the phone for 30 minutes — 30 minutes, explaining, going, ‘This is who you’re going to be rooming with. This is when you’re gonna fly down. This is what you’re gonna do.’ And at the end of the conversation he goes, ‘And listen, I just want you to know, if you just show up, you work hard, it’s pretty much a done deal. Like, you just gotta not screw up. We’re that level of interested.’ I’m like, I’m getting hired, I can’t believe it.”

On realizing WWE made a mistake: “Then I get the email with the flight itinerary. Long story short, it’s the wrong name and I’m very confused and like, wait, what? I Google the name and up pops Xavier Woods. And I sent a picture of myself, I said, ‘Hey, this is me.’ And they went, ‘Oh my God, we’re so sorry. We’re gonna book you as an extra for ‘RAW’ and ‘SmackDown.’”

On the Smackdown appearance: “I ended up being the person who was sitting at a bar, pretending to drink with Serena Deeb. And then the Straight Edge Society came in and kicked us out of the bar and I ran away. So I was very excited, 19-year-old me, I was very, very excited to get to do a backstage vignette on ‘SmackDown,’ drinking ginger ale with Serena.”