Opinion: Why Adam Cole Should Be "The Guy" For WWE Going Forward

The day was 19th August 2017 and the event was NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III. Drew McIntyre captured the NXT Championship and as the celebration was running its course, Drew found Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish at the ring apron, watching him mysteriously with evil intentions.

Amidst the signs of confrontation between these three performers, the fine Brooklyn crowd started cheering loudly and a few moments later, Drew was laid on the mat by Adam Cole, who proclaimed his grand entrance into the WWE, much to the delight of the Brooklyn crowd as the night ended with over 15,000 fans chorusing "ADAM COLE BABYYYY" loud enough to blow the roof off. The Undisputed Era was born!

The former Bullet Club member was already a 10-year veteran and one of the most celebrated non-WWE performers before jotting down a deal with the company. Wrestling pundits described him as the complete package- a performer with a great look, amazing in-ring ability, terrific mic skills and a great character sense.

Cole's resume includes some of the most respected titles like ROH World Championship (3 times), PWG World Championship, and ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time with Kyle O'Reilly). Speculations in the air suggested that Vince McMahon personally was an admirer of Cole's work and wanted to sign him. When Cole became a free agent, WWE wasted no time to offer a contract successfully.

Ever since his arrival, the "Panama City Playboy" has adapted to the WWE atmosphere better than most performers do and did. Apart from WWE, if you've ever watched the products of other wrestling promotions like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, you can easily see the difference of style between distinct companies. There is always a certain degree of style difference when you compare the products of two distinct wrestling promotions.

WWE, being the largest wrestling promotion on the planet, has developed a wisely-devised product. It emphasizes a lot on the mic skills and story-telling. The in-ring style is devised in such a way that a performer can do it day in and day out so as to protect himself/herself and focuses a lot on the basics of a match. Performers are on the road over 300 days a year, performing all around the world in live events and televised ones.

Given the volume of the work the performers have to do, WWE has tried to eliminate dangerous sequences like piledrivers to keep the wrestlers safe. WWE means business and thus, the management focuses on creating stars on the foundation of story-telling ability, mic skills, and segment deliverance. Keep in mind that the WWE doesn't compromise on the in-ring product as it has some of the finest in-ring talents- both on the different brands and the coaching department.

Take John Cena for example. Over the years, we have seen John Cena as the face of the company. While he is a very good worker, he has maintained his wrestling style very basic so that he can gel well with a performer of totally different style. For example, AJ Style's wrestling style is entirely different from John Cena's but when they wrestled, they created magic.

The basic wrestling style of John Cena is sound and it provides longevity to his career. John Cena is one of the best in the business when it comes to story-telling and mic work. He knows how to handle a crowd even in the most hostile arenas. These are the basic tools of his success and his adjustment to the WWE system was better than anyone. Adam Cole has been showing a similar temperament. He has adapted to the WWE system like John did and at the same time, his in-ring work has been exquisite.

As a heel and the leader of the Undisputed Era, Adam Colehas delivered a complete performance. He has played well with the crowd, wrestled quite well, carried himself like a star and sold merch. WWE smells money better than any other promotion and with Adam Cole in the employees' sheet, they have struck gold yet again.

He has proved his mettle in matches like War Games, the 6-man ladder match for the NXT North American title, and several NXT matches. If the requirement of the storyline asked for high spots, he did it.

In the War Games match, he took a suplex from top of the cage. If the story-telling required proper heel tactics, he focused on the character more and kept the in-ring work basic but smooth.

Everywhere he goes, fans accept him like one of their own. He delivers segments very well and handles the mic as good as he handles the heel character. In the ring, Adam Cole is extremely good and thus can gel cohesively with a performer of any size and style to deliver a good match.

The sky is the limit for Adam Cole. It will be interesting to see how WWE utilizes his talents and what the future holds for him.

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