WWE Wanted To Change Adam Cole's Ring Name, Make Him A Manager

Adam Cole had a big decision to make recently, should he stay with WWE or depart for AEW. As we now know Cole decided on the latter and made his surprise debut at this past Sunday's AEW All Out.

Details have started to emerge as to what WWE would have had planned for Cole had he stayed with the company. During the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed Cole would have undergone a name change when he was moved up to the main roster, as they already have a Cole, WWE commentator Michael Cole.

Here is what Meltzer said,

"They were going to bring him up. The idea was to turn Keith Lee heel and have Adam Cole be his manager [and] probably with a different name because of the last name Cole…with the idea kind of like a Lio Rush-Bobby Lashley thing where you have this little guy who is a big talker and he hides behind this big massive African American guy, that type of a thing. That was the dynamic that they were looking for him, more as a manager than as a wrestler."

The idea is believed not to have come from creative but Vince McMahon and/or Bruce Prichard directly. "One person told me that it was Bruce [Prichard’s] idea and another person told me that it was Vince’s," said Meltzer.