User:AdamColePro/sandbox
| Adam Cole | |
|---|---|
 Cole in April 2018 | |
| Birth name | Austin Jenkins |
| Born | December 24, 1989 Bristol, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Paul Lloyd Justin Angel Justin Gabriel Adam Cole |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Billed from | Panama City, Florida |
| Trained by | Florida Championship Wrestling NXT |
| Debut | February 5, 2008 |
Austin Jenkins (born December 24, 1989) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Adam Cole. He is the leader of The Undisputed Era, alongside Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong. He is the current NXT Champion in his second reign. In WWE, Cole was the first-ever NXT North American Champion and a 3-time NXT Tag Team Champion. He held borth titles concurrently in April 2018, making him the first double champion in NXT history and was also the second NXT Triple Crown Champion.
Between 2008 and 2011, Cole performed in the WWE as Justin Gabriel, where he was a 3-time WWE Tag Team Champion. He returned to the main roster in 2015 but became injured shortly after. When the company confirmed to him they wouldn't clear him to compete, he requested and was granted his release.
He made his first appearances on the independent scene in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a member of the popular Bullet Club stable before joining Ring Of Honor three months later. During his short period in ROH, he became a two-time ROH World Champion. He returned to NXT Wrestling in 2017.
Early Life[edit]
Austin Jenkins was born on December 24, 1989 in Bristol, Connecticut. He has two younger brothers. His parents separated when he was 10-years-old. He attended Bristol Central High School and was best friends with deceased NFL star Aaron Hernandez.
In 2007, after graduating from high school, he moved to Tampa, Florida where he performed for Florida Championship Wrestling.
Professional Wrestling[edit]
WWE[edit]
Florida Championship Wrestling (2008-10)[edit]
In 2007, Jenkins signed a three-year developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and he was assigned to the company's Florida Championship Wrestling development territory. He made his debut as Paul Lloyd on February 5, 2008 in a loss to Kawal. His first win in FCW came the following week, when he teamed with Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta to defeat Tyler Reks, Johnny Curtis, and DJ Gabriel in a six-man tag team match.
The following month, he changed his ring name to Justin Angel and went on to wrestle against DH Smith, Barreta, Yoshitatsu, and Lance Hoyt over the next few months. In June, he formed a tag team with Kris Logan, with the pair defeating DJ Gabriel and Vic Adams in their debut match as a team. They quickly began to feud with The Dude Busters of Barreta and Croft, losing to them in several championship matches over the next month. At the 23 July 2009 tapings of FCW's television show, Angel and Logan defeated Barreta and Croft to become the Florida Tag Team Champions. They lost the championship on the same night to The Rotundos.
Following the loss of the championship, Angel and Logan dissolved as a tag team, with Angel returning to singles competition. He went on a winning streak throughout August, defeating Alex Riley, Vance Archer, and Sheamus. Angel won the Florida Heavyweight Championship from Heath Slater in a two out of three falls match at the 24 September 2009 television tapings. He successfully defended the championship against Drew McIntyre, Eric Escobar, Slater, and Curt Hawkins throughout late 2009. In February 2010, he changed his ring name to Justin Gabriel to coincide with his appearances on NXT. Further successful championship defenses occurred in early 2010, against competitors including Hawkins, Barreta, and Kaval. After a near six-month reign, Gabriel lost the championship at the 18 March television tapings, when Alex Riley won a three-way match, which also included Wade Barrett. Gabriel lost a rematch to Riley on 31 March and again on 20 May. In May, he started a feud with fellow South African Leo Kruger over who was the better wrestler. On 10 June, Gabriel beat Kruger, but Kruger reversed the result in a rematch at the 1 July television tapings, which was Gabriel's final appearance in FCW.
The Nexus and The Corre (2010-11)[edit]
On 16 February 2010, it was announced that Jenkins was going to be competing on the first season of NXT under the name Justin Gabriel, with Matt Hardy as his storyline mentor. He made his in-ring debut on the 2 March 2010 episode of NXT in a tag team match with his mentor Hardy, against the team of William Regal and Skip Sheffield. Gabriel and Hardy won the match when Gabriel pinned Regal, making him the first rookie to pin a pro on the show. He went on to defeat Wade Barrett the following week, before suffering his first defeat on the 16 March 2010 episode of NXT, when he and Hardy were defeated by CM Punk and Darren Young. On 30 March, in the first Pros Poll, Gabriel was ranked third behind Daniel Bryan (first) and Wade Barrett (second). Before the first elimination, Gabriel won the Rookie Challenge earning immunity from elimination in the following Pros Poll. In that Poll, Gabriel remained in third place behind Wade Barrett (who was moved to first) and David Otunga (second). In the season finale on 1 June, Gabriel was the first eliminated, finishing in third place overall in the competition.
On the 7 June 2010 episode of Raw, Gabriel and the other season one NXT rookies turned heel (villainous) by interfering in the Viewer's Choice main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both competitors, the announcing team and Justin Roberts, the ring announcer before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment. The following week on Raw, the rookies (excluding Daniel Bryan who had been released) attacked General Manager Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts. At the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, the seven rookies interfered in the WWE Championship match and cost Cena the championship. The following week on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new General Manager, who had signed the seven season one NXT rookies to contracts. The following week, the group was named The Nexus. On the 12 July episode of Raw, The Nexus competed in their first match together, without Darren Young, a six–on–one handicap match against John Cena, which they won when Gabriel pinned Cena. The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Gabriel was one of the final two Nexus members in the match, but Cena's team won when Cena eliminated Gabriel and then Barrett to win the match.
On 3 October 2010, Cena was forced to join The Nexus as a result of losing to Barrett at Hell in a Cell and at the following pay-per-view, Cena and Otunga won the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the 25 October 2010 episode of Raw, Barrett made a tag team match, with Gabriel and Heath Slater facing Otunga and Cena for the championship. Gabriel and Slater won when Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him, becoming the new Tag Team Champions. Gabriel and Slater held the championship for nearly two months before losing it to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a four-way elimination match, also involving The Usos and Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu on 6 December. Gabriel and Slater received a rematch for the championship at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on 19 December, but lost by disqualification when Nexus member Michael McGillicutty interfered.
On the 10 January 2011 episode of Raw, Gabriel and Slater refused to take part in new Nexus leader CM Punk's initiation and walked away from the group. The following day, at the tapings of the 14 January 2011 episode of SmackDown, Gabriel and Slater helped former leader Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson attack Big Show. The following week, Gabriel, Slater, Barrett, and Jackson announced they had formed The Corre, and later that night Gabriel defeated World Heavyweight Champion Edge in a non-title match, following interference from the other members of The Corre. After winning a non-title match against the champions Kozlov and Marella on 4 February episode of SmackDown, Gabriel and Slater received a match for the WWE Tag Team Championship two weeks later, but lost via disqualification when the other members of The Corre interfered. They received a rematch at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on 20 February and defeated Marella and Kozlov to win the WWE Tag Team Championship for the second time.
The following night on Raw, Gabriel and Slater lost the championship to John Cena and The Miz, but won the championship back minutes later after Barrett invoked The Corre's rematch clause, and The Miz turned on Cena. During this time, The Corre had continued to feud with The Big Show, and at WrestleMania XXVII in April the team of The Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella, and Kofi Kingston defeated The Corre. At the 19 April taping of SmackDown, the duo of Gabriel and Slater lost the Tag Team Championship to the team of Kane and The Big Show. In a backstage segment following the match, Gabriel was attacked by Slater, who thought Gabriel blamed him for their loss. On the 6 May episode of SmackDown, Gabriel, Barrett, and Slater attacked Jackson, removing him from the group. The three remaining members of The Corre feuded with Jackson until the 10 June episode of SmackDown, when Barrett walked out on Gabriel and Slater during a six-man tag team match against Jackson and the Usos, causing Gabriel and Slater to proclaim the end of The Corre. Gabriel continued to ally himself with Slater despite the dissolution of The Corre, and the duo began a feud with The Usos. On the 17 June episode of SmackDown, Gabriel and Slater were defeated by The Usos, but defeated them in a rematch the following week. They were again defeated by The Usos on the 8 July episode of SmackDown, resulting in the pair arguing in the ring. The following week, their team was ended when they faced off in a match won by Gabriel. During the match, Gabriel suffered an ACL tear that ruled him out of in-ring competition and he was removed from television.
NXT Championships success (2013-15)[edit]
On January 16, 2013, Jenkins returned to WWE television when he proclaimed his name was Adam Cole and defeated Sakamoto in his first match since July 2011.
In February 2013, Cole and Oliver Grey won a tournament to crown the inaugural NXT Tag Team Champions by defeating The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan). Cole and Grey, now billed as The Ambition had earlier defeated 3MB (Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre) in the first round and Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger in the semi-finals. With Grey out injured with a torn ACL (in storyline inflicted by the Wyatt Family), Cole chose Bo Dallas as his new partner in April. On 24 April on NXT, Cole lost to Antonio Cesaro while challenging for his United States Championship. On the May 8 episode of NXT, Cole and Dallas failed in their first defence of the tag title when they lost them to the Wyatt Family.
On the 29 May episode of NXT, Cole competed in an NXT Championship number one battle royal, eliminating Mason Ryan and Bray Wyatt to make it to the final two participants, but his former tag partner Dallas eliminated him to win the match. Later, Dallas won his title match to become NXT Champion. Cole continued his feud with the Wyatt Family by losing to them in two six-man tag matches, once while teaming with Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno, and once with Graves and William Regal. On 20 June, Cole regained the NXT Tag Team Championship from the Wyatt Family with a new partner in Graves. On the 6 August episode of NXT, Cole faced Dean Ambrose for his United States Championship, which Ambrose retained when the other members of The Shield caused a disqualification. Cole and Graves lost the title to The Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Rick Victor) in September. Following this, the two feuded after failing to regain the title.
Cole first became number one contender to the NXT Championship on the 27 November episode of NXT by defeating Sami Zayn, after both men previously tied a beat the clock challenge. Cole faced former tag partner Bo Dallas for the title on the next episode and won by countout, which meant that the title did not change hands. Two episodes later, Cole faced Dallas again for the title in a lumberjack match, but lost when lumberjack Tyler Breeze interfered. Cole once again became number one contender after Dallas failed to defeat Cole in a beat-the-clock challenge match on the 22 January episode of NXT that arose due to Dallas' boasting. At NXT Arrival, Cole won the NXT Championship from Dallas in a ladder match. A rematch was scheduled for the 20 March episode of NXT, which he won after debuting a new finisher, the imploding 450° splash.
Cole's first feud as champion began following a non-title match against Brodus Clay, where he won by countout. The feud ended with Cole scoring a No Disqualification match victory over Clay to successfully defend the NXT Championship. At NXT TakeOver, Cole successfully defended the NXT Championship against Tyson Kidd. Two weeks later, he retained his championship against Kidd again after Natalya prevented Kidd from using a chair. On the 31 July episode of NXT, he successfully defended his title against Tyler Breeze by disqualification as Tyson Kidd attacked him after being super kicked by Cole. On 8 September, Cole made his return to Raw as part of an NXT showcase match to promote NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, he teamed with Sami Zayn to defeat Kidd and Breeze in a tag team match. On 11 September at the NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way event, Cole successfully defended his NXT Championship against Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd in a fatal four-way match. On 4 December, Cole became the longest reigning NXT Champion of all time, surpassing the record set by Bo Dallas (which was surpassed by Finn Bálor in April 2016). Later on 11 December at the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution event, he lost the championship to Zayn, ending his reign at 287 days. When Cole offered a handshake, Zayn kicked it away and instead hugged Cole in respect.
The following week on the 18 December episode of NXT, Cole faced Kevin Owens, but the match ended in a double countout. Owens powerbombed Cole into the apron after the match. Cole received a rematch on the 15 January 2015 episode of NXT, but failed to regain the title. Cole went on to compete in a NXT Championship number one contender's tournament, defeating Tyson Kidd in the quarterfinals on 28 January and Baron Corbin in the semifinals on 4 February, but lost in the finals to Finn Bálor at NXT TakeOver: Rival.
Move to RAW and release (2015)[edit]
On the March 30, 2015 episode of Raw, Cole was promoted to Raw defeating Curtis Axel. His first storyline was a feud against Bad News Barrett, defeating him on the Extreme Rules pre-show. They had another match in the finals of the 2015 King of the Ring tournament, where he was defeated by Barrett. Their final match took place on the May 18 episode of Raw, where Cole was defeated by Barrett. After the match, Cole would be attacked by former rival Bo Dallas, setting up a match at Elimination Chamber, which Cole won.
On June 14, 2015, Cole competed against Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton and Roman Reigns in the Money In The Bank ladder match. During the match, Cole attempted to dive to the outside of the ring to Orton. The pair missed their cue and Cole suffered a concussion. Following the match, Cole was informed by WWE that he wouldn't likely be cleared to return to in-ring competition. On August 24, 2015, Cole requested and was granted his release from WWE.
ROH and New Japan[edit]
Bullet Club (2016-17)[edit]
On May 8, 2016, at the Ring of Honor/NJPW produced Global Wars, Cole joined Bullet Club, helping the stable take over the ring in a show-closing angle. On June 16, at Best in the World, Cole teamed up with The Young Bucks and formed The Superkliq to defeat War Machine and Moose. On August 19 at Death Before Dishonor XIV, Cole defeated Jay Lethal to win the ROH World Championship. Afterwards, Cole's victory celebration was abruptly ended when he was laid out by a returning Kyle O'Reilly. Cole returned to NJPW on September 22, representing Bullet Club and successfully defending the ROH World Championship against Will Ospreay at Destruction in Hiroshima. Three days later at Destruction in Kobe, Cole and The Young Bucks were defeated by David Finlay, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima in a match for the vacant NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.
On December 2 at Final Battle, He lost the ROH World Championship to O'Reilly. Cole regained the title from O'Reilly on January 4, 2017, at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, thus making Cole only the third person to regain the championship the first three-time ROH World Champion. On March 10 at the 15th Anniversary Show, Cole lost the ROH World Championship to Christopher Daniels, when Bullet Club's newest member and Daniels' longtime tag team partner Frankie Kazarian turned on him.
In early 2017, Cole began showing tension with Bullet Club stablemate Kenny Omega with The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) caught in the middle. The storyline led to an angle on March 11, where Cole tried to fire The Young Bucks from Bullet Club, but the two responded by stating that Omega, not Cole, was the leader of the stable. Despite the dissension, Cole remained a member of Bullet Club. On May 1, it was reported that Cole's ROH contract had expired and he was now a free agent. On May 12, during the third night of the War of the Worlds tour, Cole was defeated by NJPW's Hiroshi Tanahashi in a singles match. After the match, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks turned on Cole and kicked him out of Bullet Club, giving his spot in the stable to Marty Scurll. Two days later, Cole was defeated by Scurll in his ROH farewell match, a Philadelphia Street Fight.
Return to WWE[edit]
The Undisputed Era (2017-Present)[edit]
On August 14, 2017, multiple sources confirmed that Jenkins had officially signed with WWE and would be working in the company's developmental territory NXT. Cole made his NXT return on August 19 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, attacking newly crowned NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, alongside Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, establishing himself as a villain in the process. The following month, the trio of Cole, Fish and O'Reilly was officially dubbed “The Undisputed Era”.
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Following weeks of attacking other teams, The Undisputed Era was put in a WarGames match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames against Sanity (Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young, and Killian Dain) and the team of The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) and Roderick Strong. At the event, The Undisputed Era won after Cole pinned Young. It was the first WarGames match since September 2000. On December 12, Cole was defeated by Aleister Black in a qualifying match for a fatal-four-way number one contender's match for the NXT Championship, which also involved Johnny Gargano, Killian Dain, and Lars Sullivan on the December 27 episode of NXT, where Cole and the Undisputed Era interfered and cost Black the match. This led to Cole facing Black at the coming NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia in an Extreme Rules match. At the event, Cole was defeated by Black, despite interference from Fish and O'Reilly.
On January 28, 2018, at the Royal Rumble, Cole made a surprise appearance in the Royal Rumble match at entry #23. He was eliminated by a returning Rey Mysterio. Cole became the inaugural NXT North American Champion at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans on April 7, 2018, in a ladder match, and later in the night he won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as well as defended the NXT Tag Team Championship in a triple threat Winner Take All match with Kyle O'Reilly. On April 25, Cole defeated Oney Lorcan in his first title defense after interference from The Undisputed Era. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, Cole lost the NXT North American Championship to Ricochet, ending his reign at 133 days. On the October 10 episode of NXT, Cole failed to regain the NXT North American Championship in triple threat match that also included Pete Dunne. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Ricochet, Dunne and War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match. Cole participated in the WWE Worlds Collide event. He defeated Shane Thorne in the first round and Keith Lee in the quarterfinals before losing to Tyler Bate in the semifinals. During halftime of Super Bowl LIII, Cole, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were defeated by Ricochet, Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream on Halftime Heat.
On the March 20, 2019 episode of NXT, Cole defeated Velveteen Dream, Ricochet, Black and Matt Riddle in a Fatal 5-Way match to become the number one contender for the NXT Championship. At NXT TakeOver: New York, Cole was defeated 2-1 by Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match. Cole received a rematch with Gargano for NXT TakeOver: XXV, where he defeated Gargano to win the NXT Championship. He successfully defended the title against Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls at NXT TakeOver: Toronto on August 10.
In October, Cole and The Undisputed Era began a feud with Tommaso Ciampa. On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, Cole was one of the many members of the NXT roster to invade SmackDown under the orders of Triple H. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames on November 23, The Undisputed Era were defeated by Team Ciampa (Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and Kevin Owens) in a WarGames match. The following night at Survivor Series, Cole retained the NXT Championship against Pete Dunne.
In the build-up for the NXT and NXT UK co-branded pay-per-view, Worlds Collide, The Undisputed Era began feuding with Imperium (WWE United Kingdom Champion Walter, Alexander Wolfe, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel), which was further intensified during the closing moments of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II on January 12, 2020, where the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey. At Worlds Collide, Imperium defeated The Undisputed Era despite being outnumbered 4-3 after Wolfe suffered an injury early in the match.
At NXT TakeOver: Portland, Cole successfully retained his title against Tommaso Ciampa after receiving help from the rest of The Undisputed Era, and from Johnny Gargano, who attacked Ciampa with the belt; due to Fish and O'Reilly losing the tag team titles earlier than night, this left The Undisputed Era with only one championship for the first time since August 2019.
Other Media[edit]
Jenkins has appeared in the following video games: WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011, WWE 2K12, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20.
Championships and Achievements[edit]
Florida Championship Wrestling
- FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1-time, with Kris Logan)
- FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship
Ring Of Honor
- ROH World Championship (2-time)
NXT Wrestling
- NXT Tag Team Championship (3-time, 1 with Oliver Grey, 1 with Corey Graves, 1 with Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong)
- NXT Championship (2-time, current)
- NXT North American Championship (1-time)
- Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (2018, with Kyle O'Reilly)
- NXT Year End Awards (4-time)
- Male Competitor of the Year (2019)
- Overall Competitor of the Year (2019)
- Match of The Year (2019) Two out of three falls match vs. Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: New York
- Rivalry of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano
CBS Sports
- Feud of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano
- Match of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: New York
- Wrestler of the Year (2019)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Feud of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano
- Wrestler of the Year (2019)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Feud of the Year (2019) vs. Johnny Gargano