For most of the past year, Adam Cole eventually signing with WWE was viewed as a foregone conclusion by most wrestling reporters, pundits, and fans. It was all a question of his Ring of Honor contract finally running out, and how soon after his no-compete he might pop up, either in the crowd at an NXT event (as is the custom), or directly debuting on NXT television.
Cole has never made any bones about the fact that he’d very much like to go to WWE. The only three-time ROH Champion in history has even gone on record as saying he’d prefer to start his WWE career in NXT before moving to the main roster. (Not that that’s not a mandatory step for most people who sign with the company.) The most recent report we heard after Cole’s contract with ROH expired was that he had offers on the table from every major wrestling company you could think of, as you’d imagine both Ring of Honor and New Japan would like to keep one of the (former) focal points of the Bullet Club around.
Now it appears as though the inevitable has finally happened. PWInsider is reporting that Cole has finally signed with WWE, and will indeed begin working for the NXT brand. He is expected to report to the Performance Center this week, which would certainly align with the possibility of him popping up in the crowd at Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III special.
There have been rumblings around the wrestlenet that WWE is considering forming some sort of “former Ring of Honor dudes” stable in NXT. Given that Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly have recently debuted on NXT television, and Roderick Strong is a focal point of the weekly show, but doesn’t really have anything to do after losing his feud with Bobby Roode, that isn’t a terrible idea. And Cole would be an amazing choice to be the frontman of just such a group. I mean, there have been worse ideas.
Everyone start preparing your finest “BAYBAY” for Saturday night at TakeOver. It’s looking more promising than ever that you’ll get a chance to air it out.
