AEW's Adam Cole Opens Up About Injury Recovery And Aging

AEW star Adam Cole has had a rough two years or so due to two different injuries, which he has discussed, detailing the hardest part in his road to recovery.

Cole suffered back-to-back concussions in 2022 which kept him on the shelf for eight months, and a few months into his return, he injured his ankle, which again meant he had to sit out for a few months. On "Q101," Cole talked about the toughest aspect of being away from the ring.

"Without question the mental part [was the toughest during his time away due to injury]," began Cole. "Don't get me wrong, there were certainly physical challenges, both with the concussion and then definitely with the ankle injury. Not being able to walk or get around, obviously, is soul-crushing. Obviously, it's painful going through rehab and therapy and stuff like that. But, mentally, it was the hardest part. The past two years have been an uphill battle. To come back from that concussion injury, be back for six months, rocking and rolling and ready to go, and then for this freak accident to happen, mentally it was definitely really, really tough."

Cole, though, said that he had a good support system around him to help navigate the injury issues while adding that he has tried to stay optimistic despite the tough circumstances. The AEW star revealed that ankle injury happened when he jumped off the ramp onto a camera cable, which caused his ankle to "explode," resulting in him needing two surgeries.

Adam Cole, who has been in the pro wrestling business for over 15 years, also touched upon no longer being the young guy in the locker room. He discussed how several young stars have told him that they were fans of him in their younger years, which he feels is a little "wild" to him.

"I'm meeting people or talking to very talented wrestlers who were like, 'I was there in the Hammerstein Ballroom when you wrestled Kyle O'Reilly in 2012, I was there as a fan,' and that's so, so wild to me. I try not to think about it too much because I do think, hopefully, I have a long career ahead of me, at least that is the plan. But it is cool now to have been around for a while and being able to help the young guys or talk to the young guys, while at the same time, knowing I have a lot of my career left. But it is weird to think, 'Oh, I'm not the young blue chipper anymore.'"

When asked about young stars who he feels have an exciting future ahead of them, Cole named Daniel Garcia — the new AEW TNT Champion — as one star who's exceptionally talented in the ring and on the microphone, foreseeing a bright future for him.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Q101" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.