Is Adam Cole too Small?
I like to keep things as positive as possible.
I like WWE.
I like AEW.
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I will start this off by admitting, I am an Adam Cole fan. Call me what you want. Fanboy. Mark. I’ll take it on the chin and keep on going. That absolutely shouldn’t lessen the points in which I am about to present for this case.
Every few weeks, we seem to find the same people arguing over the same topic of discussion showing up on the Twitter timeline and the repetitiveness has gotten to a point where I felt the need to finally throw in my 2 cents.
First things first:
I got two words for ya, Shawn Michaels!
Do I think Adam Cole is the second coming of HBK? No, not at all. Shawn, in my opinion, is hands down the single greatest in ring performer we have ever seen, and those shoes can’t be filled by just anybody. But the comparisons have been made by plenty during Cole’s time in NXT so it’s fitting to use the GOAT here for argument’s sake.
When Shawn was making his rise through the ranks in the 90’s, he was in the same boat. He was the small kid on the block taking on the likes of Undertaker and Diesel. He’s too small to be a top guy. But what happened? Shawn killed that narrative by never having a bad match and delivering across the board as the “Showstopper!” Now by today’s standards, Shawn is standard size. At 6’1″ and 225 lbs, he would not be a small guy in this era. Adam Cole on the other hand is 6′ and 200 lbs. That’s not that big of a difference but when looked at side by side, the difference is noticeable.
Why is any of that important? Well, if Shawn was able to shed the small guy image to reach the heights he did, why is it so hard for people to accept that in a day where the landscape in general has much smaller framed performers, that a guy of Adam Cole’s size is able to achieve the same with the level of skill that he possesses? In AEW for example, your bigs are names such as Lance Archer, Keith Lee and Brody King. Hell, even Billy Gunn and Dustin Rhodes look like bigs over there. There just isn’t that many of them. This might even be one of the deciding factors for why Adam Cole decided to sign over there to begin with instead of testing the waters in WWE where size is a bigger factor.
And if you’re argument has shifted towards the tone of someone’s body, maybe you’re focusing on the wrong thing when it comes to the world of professional wrestling as we have seen many performers in all shapes and sizes throughout the years.
With that, here are the 3 factors for us to look at to help realize why size should not matter.
1. Evil Isn’t a Look, It’s a Lifestyle
You have two types of heels. Ones that look like they could absolutely eviscerate you. They are menacing and destroy people as they use their brute strength and sheer size to completely dominate the smaller competition.
Then you have the calculating, arrogant, evil bastards. The type that relies on their prowess and skill to outsmart you and take advantage of any situation they can find to get the upper hand. This is the category where Adam Cole clearly falls. His ability on the mic should never be doubted as he has proven time and time again that he is able to annihilate most people who he comes face to face with. Need proof? Look no further than the promo he cut on the much larger Karrion Kross in NXT. He buried that man. Literally buried him.
You couple his ability to chop his competition down to size with verbal sparring with his in-ring ability and it’s very easy to see why he has been booked as a top heel for the past 6 years. He has the ability to make you hate his guts and connect with the audience emotionally. This is a trait that not many people have these days. He talks a lot of shit… and then he backs it up. What he does works and up until he decided to switch companies, everybody believed it. This is why Adam Cole will always work better as a heel and not a babyface.
The Joker. Lex Luthor. Loki. Hans Gruber.
None of those guys look like they were capable bad guys in comparison to their counterparts but were still able to become classic villains in their own universes. No reason to not give Mr. Bay Bay that same chance.
2. Strength in Numbers
What is the easiest way to counteract one’s lack of size and strength? Cronies. Minions. Lackeys.
Adam Cole has had partners in crime for as long as I can remember, and he uses them A LOT. Whether it be Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong or the Young Bucks… he has help. Whenever Cole finds himself outmatched or overpowered, he always has others at ringside to cause the distraction needed for him to gain the upper hand. And if they aren’t there when the battle begins, it is all but guaranteed they will make an appearance before the match is over.
You can be the biggest and baddest man alive, but when the numbers catch up to you, it doesn’t matter. They have always been there and likely always will be there to take the heat off of Adam Cole so that he can capitalize on his way to victory. This is one of the biggest factors to help even the odds.
3. If You Ain’t Cheating, You Ain’t Trying
When the lackeys come running, what opportunity arises? The door for Adam Cole to hit his unsuspecting foe with a game changing low blow that usually seals their fate. This is a tactic that gets used quite often but makes a lot of sense for the much smaller Cole.
I’ve heard time and time again, wrestling fans complain that Adam Cole has to cheat too much to win. Well, he’s the villain. He is supposed to do the things that drive us fans crazy. He is supposed to use every dirty trick in the book to build sympathy for the babyface he is ultimately screwing over. This is the story telling aspect of professional wrestling that is lost on so many fans or just completely goes over their head. Much like strength in numbers, this is something that has been a part of professional wrestling for as long as I can remember, and it works most effectively with characters that clearly need that assistance to make up for things they lack in…. like size.
So with that, I will echo what I say all the time. Wrestling has evolved. You can choose to evolve with it or stay in the past with the likes of Vince Russo and Jim Cornette… and that is undisputed!
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