Ring of Honor star Adam Cole recently spoke with Greg Oliver for Canoe.ca / Slam Sports ahead of tomorrow’s ROH Death Before Dishonor XIV in Las Vegas. You can read a few highlights below:
Adam Cole talks about his opponent, Jay Lethal, and the chemistry they have working together:
“I think the skillset of me and Lethal allowed us to go down that road of traditional heel and babyface scenarios, whether it be promo-wise or in-ring angles, or even the in-ring matchups that we’ve had in tags and things like that.”
Cole explains how the fans helped the face / heel dynamic between the two work out:
“Stuff with Ring of Honor, lots of times has happened naturally. Obviously a lot of the booking is really well thought out, but there’s a lot of things where we kind of let our fans decide and make decisions. We just give them scenarios to see how they react. Fortunately the fans have acted exactly like we want them to react. In turn, it has morphed into this really cool, traditional pro wrestling feud. To me, aside from the fact that I want to beat him for the World title this weekend, Jay Lethal is one of the best, and one of my personal favourite performers in the world today. So getting to go toe-to-toe with him in promos, I get to go toe-to-toe with him this weekend, will be really, really cool for me.”
Cole comments on how being in Bullet Club might affect his reactions:
“You have your die-hard supporters of the Bullet Club and then you have the people that boo the Bullet Club, even though predominantly you see people really, really behind the Bullet Club. In terms for strictly Ring of Honor, but again you can see this across the board, is we’re just trying to create a buzz, we’re trying to create interaction and people getting invested in these characters. So because of the Bullet Club’s popularity, again, there’s not really much you can do to turn the tide on the people who support the Bullet Club. But in turn, if people are wearing Bullet Club t-shirts and people are talking about the Bullet Club and talking about Ring of Honor, that’s a positive in our mind.”
Cole talks about reconnecting with the ROH audience after returning from injury:
“Fortunately for me, there’s something that happens too with a wrestler when he’s out for a while and you come back — the fans don’t realize that they missed you until you’re gone, so when you come back, you have a different perception with the audience, and a different relationship with the audience. Focusing a little bit more on what the actual character is as opposed to what move I’m going to do has certainly changed when it comes to my outlook on wrestling. Of course, you’re always trying to reinvent yourself and do new things to keep the audience excited. But there are other things as a character, whether it be promo-wise or mannerisms or little things that the fans can go along with. Like the ‘Adam Cole Bay-Bay’ thing really seemed to take off after I got back from injury.”
