I'm sure by now, everyone has seen the Adan Cole thread, the one where he has been working without a contract. Anyways, let's assume he'll be heading to AEW (afterall it's the #2 wrestling company + Britt Baker being there), what would you do with him?

Do you debut him right away, in-between CM Punk's and the rumored Bryan Danielson debuts? Do you wait until after Bryan Danielson shows up? Assuming he does show up at all (most likely), who does he work his first program with?

I'd say it's kinda tricky, you probably don't want to debut him in-between your two biggest acquisitions in company history (Punk and Danielson) and risk Cole getting lost in the shuffle. At the same time though, you probably don't want to risk him signing a contract with I dunno let's say Ring of Honor either. So do you sign him ASAP and just have Adam Cole sit at home, until after Bryan Danielson debuts?

Basically, what do you do with Adam Cole in AEW?

Feed him to The Yeti.

Cole has to be brought in ASAP. The longer you wait, the lower his stock gets and I think you could easily insert him into the Elite storyline without it interfering with Danielson or Punk. I would try to avoid it but you could also pair him with Britt. I just don't like the idea after what happened with Seth and Becky, I don't think it helped either talent.

Also I'm going to have nightmares with Page/Cole. It's ROH circa 2013-17 all over again.

Yeah he's got to be on tv on WEdnsesday. Put him with the elite if you don't know what to do right away

Can he appear or does the 90 day begin today? Unless him being without a contract overrides it?

He has a 30 day no compete most likely.

Aug 23, 2021 17:21:23 GMT c said:

He has a 30 day no compete most likely.

Wouldn't that only apply if he was released though, if his contract ran out and he's been working without one, then surely there wouldn't be a thirty day window.

Pretty sure the release still hits. Will see if he appears on dynamite or not Weds.

This was one doesn’t feel as big a deal to me. I know he’s younger and could be a wiser investment, but the jury is out on him as a true star. His non-descript look and history of goofing around with the Elite leaves me with some questions, despite his obvious talent.

All the news sites have said his contract has run out. He didn't quit, he wasn't fired, he didn't get released. His contract ran out and he has fulfilled all his oligations to the company and therefore can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

Aug 23, 2021 18:10:52 GMT Todd said:

This was one doesn’t feel as big a deal to me. I know he’s younger and could be a wiser investment, but the jury is out on him as a true star. His non-descript look and history of goofing around with the Elite leaves me with some questions, despite his obvious talent.

For a while I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I find it very hard to believe that Adam Cole is as important as many people are making him out to be.

You're right, Adam Cole isn't CM Punk or Bryan Danielson and doesn't deserve the big debut/return segment. 

September 5, 2021 ( ALL OUT )
In the semi-main event, Kenny Omega defeats Christian to retain the AEW World Championship when the Young Bucks interfere. Jurassic Express make the save, but it's too late to change the outcome. The Elite, including The Good Brothers beat down the babyfaces and essentially execute Jurassic Express.

September 8, 2021 ( DYNAMITE )
Christian opens the show, and he calls out The Elite. He wants to fight. Don Callis tells Christian it's 5 v 1 kid and to giddy-up and find some friends, because it goes down on RAMPAGE (September 10) The Elite then change their mind and descend on Christian. After a quick beat-down, Moxley & Kingston make the save and drag Gallows back into the ring for a triple power-bomb through a table. They sell the injury to Gallows throughout the night, as The Bucks and Kenny argue about 'making a call' - Moxley & Kingston and later Christian all cut promos throughout the night, Christian noting "he'll out work everyone" 

September 10, 2021 ( RAMPAGE )
4 v 3 brawl for our main event of the evening. The Elite ( Omega, The Bucks & Anderson ) v Christian, Moxley & Kingston. The babyfaces maintain control of the ring in the beginning until the numbers are too much. 5 minutes of superkick parties and V-Triggers ignite a fire under the babyfaces and for the next 30 seconds everyone pops off their signature moves. Everyone is down. The babyfaces regroup on the outside of the ring, the heels on the side

ADAM! COLE! BAY-BAY! his music hits and Adam Cole comes strutting down to the ringside and stands side by side with The Elite. Both teams slide into the ring, and for a moment they sell the divide. Then Cole turns, and steps across the divide and joins the babyfaces. They sell the moment for a second, then it's a brawl, quickly the babyfaces take the ring as Kenny Omega eats a superkick from Adam Cole to close the show. 

Fast forward to 4:12 to see it play out in NXT UK. 

Alright...Adam Cole's impact or popularity aside, I'm going to make a few assumptions here:

-I'm going to assume Adam Cole has a no-compete clause of some kind because he signed a small extension through yesterday. The WWE is probably smart enough to work something in there because of the Aleister Black fuck up and because they assume Cole is leaving and want to keep him away from AEW for as long as possible.

-I'm also going to assume that Bryan Danielson is debuting at All Out in some capacity. The guy that broke the CM Punk news also said the plan is for Danielson's first match to be at the New York Dynamite episode on Sept 22nd, so I'm going to assume that's true, which means they'll want to get Danielson to debut in a big way sometime before that show.

...

So, let's assume Adam Cole can't debut until late September anyway, I'd keep him off TV until after Danielson has his first match and that buzz dies down, then bring him in as a heel. AEW has too many faces, and with all these major debuts happening the crowd is going to get spoiled rotten with surprises and pops. Adam Cole could debut in such a way that the crowd gets that big pop, gets to yell "ADAM COLE, BAYBAY!", then the cheers turn to boos in a huge swerve.

I'd set up his debut in such a way that in coincides with Hangman Adam Page's return to television. Maybe The Elite allude to a new member joining the group, but make it off-hand so that the audience forgets they even said it. Or they speculate on who it could be, and Cole's name comes up but given how he left The Elite people expect him to return and feud with them.

Adam Page returns, says he's going to fulfill his destiny of being the man to take the AEW Championship off Kenny Omega, The Elite walk out and beat the shit out of him once again, the crowd is booing and growing tired of this old shtick, when suddenly new music hits and Adam Cole walks out. Crowd goes fucking nuts, The Elite look like they've seen a ghost (wink wink), and they all back off.

Cole steps into the ring and stands Page up, dusts him off, does his little taunt to get the crowd yelling and cheering and on his side with an earth-shattering BAYBAY.....then Cole hits Page with a super kick.

From there, Adam Cole eventually becomes the reason The Elite start to crumble and break down. He's the odd duck. He's not a stooge or a manager, he's not in a tag team, and he's a threat to Kenny Omega. Maybe he tries to get the TNT title so all the gold is in The Elite, maybe he succeeds, maybe not...but I'd have The Elite begin to implode under their own glory after Cole joins.

Another point with all these signings, is understanding that each play different roles. 

CM Punk doesn't need to work the main event and challenge for the World Championship, and can easily work with Darby Allin at ALL IN and follow it up with say, MJF at FULL GEAR in November. It's an easy sell to make, MJF feeling disrespected for not being called out first, calls out Punk, makes some crack comments about AJ Lee, being a bitch for 7 years and being older than MJF's dad. OK kid, Punk will make you famous. A lot of great promos from both guys throughout the duration of this mini-feud. 

Come 2022, Eddie Kingston pops his head up. He says he's been waiting for this as both guys are great smack-talkers. He says, the two are a lot a like. Punk disagrees, and that he's been retired longer than Eddie's been relevant and it slowly escalates over the next month until a match at REVOLUTION in March with some top-notch savagery on the microphone selling the fight. 

Jon Moxley likes what he sees. He says he saw Kingston at his most savage, Punk at his most savage.. and got to thinking, wait.. Moxley is the most savage son of a bitch in AEW. And calls out Punk, and challenges him to a match at DOUBLE OR NOTHING in May. 

--------------------------

With Danielson, I would blend fantasy with reality. 

Danielson makes his debut at FULL GEAR and challenges Malakai Black. Who issued an open challenge - " Will someone knock on my door " Danielson just defeats Black, Danielson is then later shown sitting in the locker-room lapping up all the praise from the young boys. In walks 215lb of arrogance in the form of Cody, who tells Danielson, it was Cody who bought him here, and it's Cody who can make or break Danielson's AEW career. 

Cody wanting to humble Danielson, pimps him out week after week, essentially booking him in match after match. Cody throws FTR 1 on 1 at him, followed by Almas, PAC, etc.. he works through the roster eventually, until he throws Danielson to the Bulgarian Beast, Miro at REVOLUTION in March for the TNT Title. Danielson defeats Miro. 

Cody wanting to break Danielson, makes him run the gauntlet again throwing all those names mentioned above at him for the TNT title. Danielson retains. And Cody, being Cody believe he was born the messiah of professional wrestling, the father of the first born mixed-race child challenges Danielson to a title match at DOUBLE OR NOTHING in May. 

--------------------------

So, three big names have debuted

FULL GEAR
Kenny Omega (c) v Christian (World Title Match)
CM Punk v MJF
Bryan Danielson v Malakai Black, due to Danielson answering Black's open challenge. 

REVOLUTION 
Kenny Omega (c) v Adam Cole (World Title Match) 
CM Punk v Eddie Kingston
Bryan Danielson v Miro (c) (TNT Title Match)
Malakai Black v the debuting, Buddy Mathews. Cody, playing up his VKM gimmick hasn't forgotten about Black at FULL GEAR and it's 'eye for an eye' get it? 

DOUBLE OR NOTHING
Kenny Omega (c) v Adam Cole II (World Title Match)
CM Punk v Jon Moxley
Bryan Danielson (c) v Cody (TNT Title Match)

I am not so sure Cole has a long no compete. He did WWE a favor by staying for the PPV, so he had leverage.

I am hoping with Cole coming in AEW starts to think about a trios division and reform the SuperKliq and feud them with Death Triangle to start the division. They got a lot of guys, and trios division allows six guys to get used in a single match. Also several three man groups in AEW now so not that hard to populate this division. Do trios matches with lucha tag rules, something half the roster already used at one point or another and you get a fast paced match that WWE does not offer.

Cole will not likely be a main event star or going after the title, but simmering in upper mid card until the Hangman angle is complete and giving them time to do Cole vs Omega angle in AEW for the battle of who runs the elite.

Aug 23, 2021 18:10:52 GMT Todd said:

This was one doesn’t feel as big a deal to me. I know he’s younger and could be a wiser investment, but the jury is out on him as a true star. His non-descript look and history of goofing around with the Elite leaves me with some questions, despite his obvious talent.

You’re not wrong. The AEW crowd will be excited because they get excited about any former midcard WWE guy showing up… but I doubt him showing up on it’s own really moving the needle that much, especially compared to Punk and Danielson.

A lot of people are basing his potential arrival in AEW on how he would be perceived on the WWE main roster.

And you're right, if he debuts on Smackdown for example, he'll get a lukewarm response. Because the audience doesn't watch NXT. He's short, he's got the upper body of Dominic Mysterio and doesn't have the somewhat familiar imagery of the UE to remind people, "oh yeah, NXT is a thing"

The difference is, AEW's audience is motivated. And smart. That's the key. They'll make it special because they need it to be special.

I think people also are trying to make it out like if Cole is not as big as Punk why bother. Which is really silly. Cole will be there after Punk and Dragon retire for good. If they can get him back into the fold now, why would they not do it? And why would Cole stay in WWE when he seen how most people who get called by WWE from NXT just end up getting released within a year or two? 

And frankly, for Cole, it seems to be more about he wants to manage his career, instead of WWE telling him what he can and cannot do.  End of the day it seems that simple.

Aug 24, 2021 22:48:29 GMT NATH45 said:

A lot of people are basing his potential arrival in AEW on how he would be perceived on the WWE main roster.

And you're right, if he debuts on Smackdown for example, he'll get a lukewarm response. Because the audience doesn't watch NXT. He's short, he's got the upper body of Dominic Mysterio and doesn't have the somewhat familiar imagery of the UE to remind people, "oh yeah, NXT is a thing"

The difference is, AEW's audience is motivated. And smart. That's the key. They'll make it special because they need it to be special.

If the idea is just to keep the same “smart” audience, what’s the point?

Aug 25, 2021 1:35:53 GMT mikec said:

Aug 24, 2021 22:48:29 GMT NATH45 said:

A lot of people are basing his potential arrival in AEW on how he would be perceived on the WWE main roster.

And you're right, if he debuts on Smackdown for example, he'll get a lukewarm response. Because the audience doesn't watch NXT. He's short, he's got the upper body of Dominic Mysterio and doesn't have the somewhat familiar imagery of the UE to remind people, "oh yeah, NXT is a thing"

The difference is, AEW's audience is motivated. And smart. That's the key. They'll make it special because they need it to be special.

If the idea is just to keep the same “smart” audience, what’s the point?

They could completely ignore and ridicule the 'universe' like the WWE...

It's about engaging it's existing fanbase first and then a potential new fanbase comes.

Engaged fans become motivated fans and then become advocates for AEW. And thus share their experience with new potential fans. Maybe they're WWE fans, or casual fans or guys that have a pinch of an interest in wrestling but haven't really taken much notice since the Attitude era or Ruthless Aggression era.

I talk, you talk, we all talk and potentially someone listens and gives AEW a go. And enjoys what they see and becomes part of that motivated fanbase.