All Elite Wrestling TNT champion Adam Cole discussed his recent title win, as well as the company's future in an exclusive interview with the Battleground Podcast on Tuesday (April 22).
Cole, 35, who had previously won titles in various other promotions, defeated Daniel Garcia for the TNT championship at AEW's Dynasty pay-per-view event earlier this month, his first singles title since leaving WWE and signing with the company in 2021, amid various injuries.
"I've said since I first got into All Elite Wrestling, my goal and it's been my goal in every company I've ever worked for is, of course, you want to be a champion," Cole said. "You want to be one of the guys that leads the charge in the company. I like that pressure, I like being put in that situation and obviously for anyone that's followed my career within AEW I've had some incredibly challenging roadblocks kind of thrown in my way between the head injuries and then six months later the freak accident with my ankle.
"So it was really mentally and physically discouraging, obviously, but even more so mentally. So to come back and feel the best I've ever felt, going into that ring and performing and wrestling I feel like my old self again and then on top of that to be able to win the TNT championship in Philadelphia on what happened to be my 17-year wrestling anniversary, my family was there. It felt like a cool, full circle moment where all the hard work, all the focus, all the dedication, all of that paid off so, man, it was one of the best feelings I've had since coming here to AEW, being the TNT champion is something I'm real proud of."
Cole, who is currently in a good-guy, babyface role, also discussed the outlet of playing a villainous heel for the majority of his career.
"It is an unbelievable outlet," Cole said of playing a heel character. "I remember ever since I was younger I've always been fascinated by villains. Bad guys were so interesting to me, like, their thought process, the way that they would communicate, you always notice, too, that bad guys have a lot more freedom in the way that they want to tell the stories that they want to tell. So I was always fascinated by villains and by bad guys.
"God, I remember when I was kinda developing my bad guy persona I used to just think, 'what are the things I can say, how can I walk, how can I act in ways that would annoy me the human being?' So I just tried to completely do all of that like the arrogance, the cockiness, I never do anything wrong, just thinking that you don't stink, all that stuff. It's been an absolute blast being a bad guy over the years for sure and absolutely, I think to some extent when you get to get all of that out it feels nice, it feels nice to play that character and get all of that nasty stuff out of you."
All Elite Wrestling will broadcast its flagship show, Dynamite, live from Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on TBS live at 8:00 p.m. ET Wednesday (April 23) night.