NXT superstar and former world champion Adam Cole was recently interviewed by the New York Post to hype his Takeover XXX showdown against former NFL punter, Pat McAfee. Highlights can be found below.
How his feud with Pat McAfee is unlike anything he’s ever dealt with:
This one is so different. It’s unlike anything I’ve dealt with in my entire career, strictly because so much of it is based on personal animosity. I’ve never liked Pat or gotten along with Pat. He’s never liked me, gotten along with me and obviously this went a lot further than even me or him possibly imagined. We’re at a phase now where I get to kick the crap out of him at TakeOver, which is wild considering this is a world he does not come from. I’ve said this before publicly as well, it’s a world he’s not welcome in. So it’s a lot different.
Why he and McAfee don’t get along:
Here’s the best way I could possibly put it. I would never — again as Adam Cole, the longest-reigning NXT champion of all time — I would never walk into an NFL locker room and act like I own the place. I would never act like I’m buddy-buddy with everybody, like I belong there, like this is my house and I’m hanging out with everybody. He has always, from day one, like put on this facade that he belongs there and he’s just as cool as everybody is there, that he’s just as welcome, that he deserves the same respect that all the other guys in the locker room who have been wrestling for 8, 10, 12, 15 years. He’s always been someone that’s just said whatever’s on his mind regardless of who it offends, who it doesn’t offend. It doesn’t matter. Pat McAfee only cares about Pat McAfee. And it is so frustrating that for so long he’s gotten away with it. I think this little issue that we’ve had has kind of sparked a lot of interest in who he is as a man and what he stands for. People are learning now, day by day, the kind of person he is. I’ve just really known that for a really, really long time.
Whether he considers himself the babyface in the feud:
I don’t see how anyone can see me as the bad guy in this situation. He’s the guy that doesn’t belong. He’s the guy who shouldn’t be here. He’s the guy who disrespected me. So I’ve been looked at as a bad guy for the majority of my career, but again this one — it’s a very hard argument to make.
Whether he wants a babyface run in NXT:
When I first started in my wrestling career, I was a babyface like a lot of people start, and I remember feeling so uncomfortable in that role. I just didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to act. Then I became comfortable when I got to play the part and the role of being the heel. When I really developed the Adam Cole character, that really helped me. Now I do. I think back on that time when I had no idea what I was doing. It was like a year or two into wrestling and still figuring everything out. I’m still figuring stuff out now, but I just have a much better grasp of who I am at least. Yeah, I think I would. I think I would love the chance to be in that babyface role. By no means would that babyface role mean the Adam Cole that you see now would change very much, but I do think it would be a cool challenge and something interesting for me to do to kind of be put in that role. I think it would be really fun.