Adam Cole On What Shawn Michaels and Triple H Taught Him In NXT, Their Reaction To Him Leaving For AEW

During his appearance on Talk is Jericho, Adam Cole spoke about Shawn Michaels and Triple H and getting to work with them in NXT.

“Shawn Michaels worked with me a ton. I think he had maybe come in the year prior before I got there. So, he has always been hands-on with helping me or just listening. Shawn is really, really great about letting you come up with what you want to come up with, and as you run it by him, he’ll randomly throw in this little thing that’s brilliant. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so much better.’ Hunter was great as well as far as wanting certain ideas or approaches to things. Producer-wise, it was mostly Shawn, and Terry Taylor was there a lot, and Matt Bloom as well. I’ve gotten to work with Steve Corino, Scotty 2 Hotty, Norman [Smiley], all those guys.”

Expanding upon this, Cole spoke about what he learned from Shawn Michaels.

“Maybe the highlight of the four years I was there was building a relationship with him. We still talk to this day. He’s been so giving and incredibly insightful on so many different things. I’d say the biggest one he taught me was cadence and learning how to ride the audience and get them to peak at a certain time and when to settle down and when to speed up and slow down. It was all stuff – on the independents, we would have a formula of what we would do. If it was a double down and the crowd was up or weren’t up, we would lay there because it was suppose to be the double down. But Shawn was so good at teaching me how to listen to the audience and when to go fast and when to go slow to create the most roller-coaster ride possible. It was something I didn’t even think of, and I had been wrestling 10 years at that point. It sounds like a small thing, but he really, really helped me understand it.”

When Cole made the decision to leave NXT to join AEW, and how both Shawn and Triple H were supportive of his decision.

“I told Hunter and Shawn. Both of them could not have been more supportive. It was awesome. I had a really, really long conversation with Shawn. Of course, he wishes there could be a world where me and him could see each other a lot and talk and work together, but he wants me to be as happy as possible and be as successful as possible. He could tell how excited I was to come [to AEW] and I had his 100 percent support. And Hunter, again, could not have been cooler, more understanding, and appreciative of the four years we worked together. I’m lucky with the relationship I formed with those guys.”