Jim Cornette expressed his deep concern for the health of AEW star Adam Cole following his emotional in-ring segment at All In: Texas. On his Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru podcast, Cornette stated that he believes Cole’s promo, where he relinquished the TNT Championship, was not a work and that his health issues are very serious.
“He was choked up from the start,” Cornette observed. “He said, ‘Due to health issues, he was going to relinquish the TNT Championship, and he was going to be gone for a while’… and he started crying… This is, in no way, I don’t think he’s a good enough actor to make any kind of an angle out of just a temporary situation. It has to be serious, or he wouldn’t have been able to be that choked up.”
“I’m More Worried About Him”
Cornette, who put a 19-year-old Adam Cole on television in Ring of Honor, voiced his frustration with Cole’s physical decline and criticized AEW for potentially allowing him to compete when he shouldn’t have been. “Since he’s been back, he’s getting smaller. He’s getting frailer,” Cornette said. “I’m thinking that maybe he’s been doing it when he shouldn’t have been doing it… I’m more worried about him than his bad booking in f—ing AEW… I feel so bad for him. I like that kid and, but, and I know it’s what he’s always wanted to do, and he was doing it well, but goddamn, don’t kill yourself. Literally.”
A Future Outside The Ring?
Cornette strongly suggested that Cole’s future in the industry should be in a non-wrestling capacity to protect his long-term health, noting that WWE may have seen a similar issue years ago. “You know what they said in the WWE? Vince wanted to make him a manager for Keith Lee. They do a lot of stringent medical testing. It just occurred to me, did they maybe see something?” he pondered. Cornette then pitched new roles for Cole in AEW. “Think about this. Adam Cole, as well spoken as he is… bring him onto the announce team, or Adam Cole… make him a match producer… a guy like Adam Cole is valuable because he’s dedicated, but don’t let him in the f—ing ring for a while.”
Adam Cole relinquished the AEW TNT Championship at All In: Texas due to what he described as health issues. The move comes after reports that Cole had suffered another concussion in a recent match. Following the promo, Dustin Rhodes won a four-way match to become the new TNT Champion.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Jim Cornette and Brian Last with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
