Adam Cole Decided To Join AEW Just Days Before All Out 2021

Adam Cole has revealed he only came to the decision to join All Elite Wrestling just a couple of days before his first appearance for the company at All Out 2021.

Cole made his shock debut in AEW at the conclusion of All Out earlier this month, joining AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and The Elite in the ring, before Bryan Danielson also made his own debut for the promotion.

Having found himself out of contract with WWE, Cole had a number of options available to him, and the former NXT Champion has admitted he didn't decide on switching to AEW until just a few days before the show he would debut at.

Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Cole said: "My actual decision was literally only a couple days before [All Out]. I was awake in bed, it was close to 1 in the morning, and I was imagining being involved in AEW.

"That thought gave me such an excited feeling. I was so giddy I couldn’t even sleep. I loved the idea of coming to All Elite Wrestling, and that’s when I knew what I needed to do.

"I didn’t even fly into Chicago [the site of All Out], I flew into a different city the day before. I didn’t even stay in the same hotel as Bryan [Danielson]. We showed up to the building while the show was going on, and we waited outside in a trailer.

"The locker room didn’t even know until the absolute last moment. It was the most secretive debut I’ve ever been involved in, and Tony Khan took every measure to make this as big of a surprise as possible."