{"id":60427,"date":"2018-05-24T15:25:37","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T20:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=60427"},"modified":"2018-05-24T15:25:37","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T20:25:37","slug":"nxt-tracker-adam-cole-assessing-and-predicting-the-prospects-of-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/05\/24\/nxt-tracker-adam-cole-assessing-and-predicting-the-prospects-of-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT TRACKER &#8211; Adam Cole: Assessing and predicting the prospects of NXT wrestlers\u2019 main roster future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2141737193\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future. For the five of you who aren\u2019t sick of Adam Cole debates on our podcast PWT Talks NXT, here you go. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Talent<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though his age of 28 makes him considerably younger than many of NXT\u2019s recent anchors, Cole has wrestled in a myriad of promotions all over the world. Best known are his lengthy stay in ROH where he was the first and thus far only three-time world champion, and New Japan, where his time in the Bullet Club gave him a cool factor in the eyes of many. Not surprising given his look, Cole has worked primarily as a heel. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Signature Wins in NXT<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Until recently, Cole\u2019s entry here would have had to be a \u201csignature losses\u201d entry, as he ate a lot of pins early in NXT, prompting us on the podcast to wonder why a tag team that constantly wins would link itself with a leader that didn\u2019t. Cole did stand tall in three-way, nine-man WarGames Match at TakeOver last year; though he wasn\u2019t the star as far as the work was concerned, he was given a lot of face time leading up to his cocky grin upon victory. At TakeOver New Orleans, he won a ladder match for the new secondary men\u2019s title in NXT, which is something our podcast suggested was needed &#8211; specifically for a character like Cole &#8211; for some time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Live Reactions<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cole entered NXT with a ton of equity from the type of hardcore fan that watches the show. Working in ROH, NJPW and PWG helped, and not long to his arrival, he had found massive success with the ultra-simple \u201cAdam Cole Baybay\u201d taunt, which surprised even Cole himself, according to interviews. Cole has finally of late been able to work some matches that warrant his hot reactions, like the ladder match and his street fight with Aleister Black. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Booking<\/b><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3252897500\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cole\u2019s booking was somewhat unfriendly for a while, simply because a character like Cole can lose a lot and be okay, so long as he\u2019s still running away with moral victories in his own eyes. The North American title solves basically Cole\u2019s entire problem, as it was tough before to imagine why Cole was always smirking and what he had to be cocky about. I would welcome a long reign with this title, followed by a quick run up to the main roster, as there won\u2019t be anything to hold Cole back at that point other than the usual rematch. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Future and Predictions<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Cole should worry about anything, it\u2019s Vince McMahon hearing the \u201cbaybay\u201d spot from fans and errantly thinking he should be booked like a face. Bobby Roode continues to suffer for this, and the WWE isn\u2019t exactly famous for learning from past mistakes. If Cole is given the spot that comes naturally to him &#8211; being The Miz on whichever show doesn\u2019t actually feature The Miz &#8211; he can have a long career in the upper midcard with occasional visits to the main event. <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/category\/opnionandanalysis\/specialists\/nxt-tracker\/\">NXT TRACKER \u2013 Assessing the upside on the main roster of the latest NXT call-ups \u2013 AOP, No Way Jose, The Iconics, Ember Moon<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-473909719\"><div id=\"pwtor-3344046504\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Welcome once again to the NXT TRACKER, where I pick an NXT talent, assess their progression to this point and make bold, sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect predictions about their future. For the five of you who aren\u2019t sick <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/05\/24\/nxt-tracker-adam-cole-assessing-and-predicting-the-prospects-of-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\" title=\"NXT TRACKER &#8211; Adam Cole: Assessing and predicting the prospects of NXT wrestlers\u2019 main roster future\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4381,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-nxt-tracker","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ColeAdam_3x2Charlton.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60430,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60427\/revisions\/60430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}