AEW's Adam Cole on WWE Contract Expiring Early: 'It Was a Surprise'

Even Adam Cole was a bit that taken aback he could make his All Elite Wrestling debut Sunday at All Out.

During a media conference following the event, the former NXT champion told reporters he was "surprised" to see his WWE contract expire when it did:

"Yeah so, funny enough, believe it or not, I was also surprised. Yeah, I was under the impression that it was like six months later. So it was a surprise to me. It was a surprise to them. It was public knowledge for a lot of people that I had signed a little extension, I was in the middle of a really serious angle with Kyle O’Reilly, which was very important to me. He’s one of my best friends in the entire world. Then after that is when stuff kind of opened up for me, but very surprising to me. It was just as surprising to me."

Cole lost to O'Reilly at NXT TakeOver: 36 on Aug. 22, which was his last match in NXT. Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp (via Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc) reported his WWE deal was due to run out soon after.

Because he fulfilled the terms of the deal, the 32-year-old didn't have to adhere to the kind of non-compete clause that can delay how quickly a former WWE wrestler resurfaces with another promotion.

Jon Moxley encountered a similar situation, which allowed him to debut at Double or Nothing in May 2019, a little more than a month after his final WWE bout.

There's only so much WWE could've done to re-sign Cole if he had made up his mind about leaving. Their failure to get him to commit to a long-term extension was certainly to AEW's benefit.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).