Kyle O’Reilly has discussed Adam Cole having to step away from the ring.
At All In Texas on July 12, Adam Cole stood emotionally in the ring to announce he was vacating the TNT Championship on the night he was slated to defend against Kyle Fletcher. Having suffered a concussion in the lead up to the show, Cole embraced his Paragon teammates and truthfully told fans he’d be sidelined for the foreseeable future. With it currently unknown if the 36-year-old will wrestle again, Kyle O’Reilly has now commended his friend for putting his health first.
Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, O’Reilly first discussed his own experience with career-threatening injuries, emphasising the importance of taking nothing for granted.
“I mean, the truth is we didn’t know how much of my arm would come back, if any of it. So it was a very real possibility (that I’d have to retire). Thankfully, it did come back. I mean, it’s not the same. There’s a noticeable difference in my arms but, that’s beyond the point. What we do is entertainment and who needs a pesky bicep anyway? It’s just getting in the way… I had faith in the process and I love this business. No matter what would have happened, I feel like I could be involved in some degree, no matter what and when it is time to hang up the boots, hopefully I’ll still be involved in the wrestling business to some degree, and that’s the beauty of what we do and that’s the beauty of what AEW is. We create those opportunities for guys who aren’t in the ring anymore. So I think there’s definitely a career post-wrestling and you know, we never know when our last match is gonna be so I’m grateful for every match that I have at this point moving forward because that’s the thing, maybe the show before All In, me and Roddy (Strong) and Adam (Cole) were having a six-man tag and before we go out the curtain, we just have a little pow wow and a little hug and we’re just so grateful for these moments that we get to have behind the curtain right before our music is about to hit, when it’s just the three of us and we’re focused on the match and the love that we have for each other and the trust that we all have for each other and just we never know how many of those we’re gonna have again and then lo and behold, we don’t know where Adam Cole’s at right now but, for the foreseeable future, that was his last match for the time being. You can’t take any of this for granted and you gotta appreciate and love every minute you get in there, you know?”
-Kyle O’Reilly
Speaking more Cole, Kyle expressed how proud he is of his friend for making the call to step away from the ring and prioritise his health.
“We just have so much love for each other. It’s unfortunate that it had to sort of — not end the way it did, because nothing’s ever over… But it’s just such a sad and unfortunate circumstance that what happened at All In but… I’m really proud of Adam (Cole) for making that call and for being the stand-up guy that he is and for taking his health into account and for starting that process to getting well again, and it’s huge and just forever proud of him and grateful that we got to do that again together. Like I was saying earlier, you never know when (you’ll have to) hang it up in wrestling and so, it’s just really weird that we got to say that that last match. Appreciate these moments while we got ‘em.”
-Kyle O’Reilly
The pair are longtime friends who’ve shared large portions of their careers together. Most recently, they were on-screen as part of Paragon, along with Roderick Strong. Many fans also fondly recall their time in NXT as part of The Undisputed Era, while Cole and O’Reilly were a tag team in PWG and ROH as Future Shock.
These days, O’Reilly is a member of The Conglomeration. On last night’s Dynamite, it was announced that he’d team with Roderick Strong, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy and Mark Briscoe to take on The Death Riders in Blood And Guts on November 12.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
