Adam Cole has further lifted the lid on the concussion issues that almost ended his career.
2022 was a challenging year for Cole who picked up a shoulder injury before suffering two concussions in short order. The first came against Samoa Joe at Double or Nothing, before suffering another just a few weeks later at Forbidden Door.
Although the star initially took a break he briefly returned to television only to step away again in August. After an extended absence, Cole returned to Dynamite in January, discussing his concussion issues, before returning to the ring in March.
Appearing on the Sports Guys Talk Wrestling podcast, Cole opened up further about his concussion problems. The former WWE star admitted that he found it difficult to deal with the idea that he may never wrestle again.
“I know this is a very serious injury, and of course, time away was necessary, but it was tough to be away from the ring for so long. But aside from that, again, getting two back to back head injuries was scary not only because anytime you mess with anything head related, it’s incredibly scary. A shoulder can heal, a knee can heal, but you only have one brain, so that’s so important to make sure it’s protected and taken care of.
But on top of that, the idea at 33 years old legitimately questioning whether or not I was going to be able to get back into the ring, after seeing doctors three and four times a week for months at a time was mentally and physically incredibly draining, again, aside from the side effects that I had with my sleep being terrible and feeling nauseous and dizzy.
My emotions were all over the place. It was such a bizarre experience, on top of dealing with all of that, but then also having to try to mentally prepare for the possibility of not being able to wrestle again, it was the most challenging few months of my entire life for sure.”
Adam Cole Admits He Didn’t Realise How Bad Things Were
Continuing on, Cole stated that he didn’t initially realise how bad things were, only sensing the true gravity of the situation when he recorded poor scores in a medical assessment.
“I took it incredibly serious, but I didn’t realize that potentially my life could be affected going forward. I think in my mind up to that point, I thought okay, I had two back to back ones. I’m getting a little bit older. This is just one of those things. I’ve been going hard for 15 years. My body just needs a little bit of time to recoup and recover and things like that. I thought I’m going to bounce back and be right back to normal in no time. Give me a month or two and I’ll be good to go.
Then two months after not being able to do anything but go for walks and scoring so poorly on this test, and then having the doctor look at me with sadness in her eyes and say, ‘You were so close to not even being able to drive out of here to go home.’ That was like such a giant wake up call where at that point you realize how serious this really, really is. I knew I had a lot of hard work ahead of me, that’s for sure. Even still as discouraging as getting that result was, I honest to God never truly accepted the idea of stepping away from the ring.
I was so focused and so determined that I am going to be at rehab every single day that I can go. I’m going to do everything necessary to make sure that I’m able to get back into the ring.
Of course, if doctors tell me, ‘Hey, this isn’t a good idea. No, you’re not cleared’, then that’s a hill that I have to cross when I get there, but I was so focused and determined to do whatever I had to do as long as it took to be able to get back into the ring. That doesn’t change how discouraging it was, especially to get that score on that test, but I still had the optimism and the focus going forward.”
Since returning to AEW, Adam Cole has found himself at war with Chris Jericho and the Jericho Appreciation Society. It is believed that the pair are heading toward a showdown at Double or Nothing on May 28th.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co