Adam Cole, part of AEW’s biggest storyline at the moment, is out for a long time again due to a nasty injury. A mysterious cliffhanger at Dynamite keeps the guesswork going
Hard blow for WWE rival AEW: Adam Cole, co-main character of the currently central and most successful storyline of the wrestling league, has suffered another serious injury.
On the current edition of the TV show Dynamite, Cole announced that he had suffered a triple ankle fracture and multiple torn ligaments last week and would need surgery. The ill-fated Cole had already been out for a long time last year due to a series of concussions that had threatened his career in the interim.
Adam Cole misses AEW for long time
Cole suffered the latest injury last week at the Grand Slam show in New York when he landed awkwardly while jumping off the entrance ramp. The mishap occurred during the title match between World Champion MJF and Samoa Joe, where Cole was trying to come to the aid of his buddy MJF.
This guy broke his ankle in 3 places on a freak accident. He still hobbled around on live tv because as we like to say “the show must go on”. @AdamColePro gives his entire heart and soul to pro wrestling. He’s one tough cookie and this is just a small bump in the road. He’ll be… pic.twitter.com/Aya1JWTTvF
– Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (@RealBrittBaker) September 28, 2023
The unlikely male friendship between the previously presented arch-villain MJF and Cole has been at the heart of the AEW programme in recent months, MJF and Cole headlined the biggest AEW show in history just a month ago in front of over 80,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Ahead of Sunday’s next big event WrestleDream, AEW made the most of the injury shock and wove it into several storylines – in particular, a puzzling cliffhanger at the end of the show provided further talking points.
AEW Dynamite: New rival for MJF
MJF announced during the joint segment with Cole that he will be in the ring at the memorial show for icon Antonio Inoki, who passed away a year ago: He will be competing alone against The Righteous duo, defending the AEW sister league ROH tag team titles held with Cole.
In addition to that, MJF was faced by a new challenger for his World Title: “Switchblade” Jay White, the ex-champion of the traditional Japanese league NJPW signed by AEW this year.
The Bullet Club Gold leader provoked MJF by, among other things, accusing him of being to blame for Cole’s injury, as well as pointing out that he was the one who seriously injured Cole last year.
MJF responded in the end with a threat that White would get the receipt for his big mouth – which quickly happened under mysterious circumstances.
Who is the masked devil?
The Dynamite show ended with White being attacked and beaten up by four masked men backstage. In the closing shot, the quartet could be seen being controlled by a leader who was also cloaked – wearing the devil’s mask that MJF had been wearing regularly for the past 12 months.
What is the meaning of this?!
“Switchblade” Jay White was just attacked backstage!Watch AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS!@JayWhiteNZ pic.twitter.com/SekllD7tdQ
– All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 28, 2023
Whether MJF was indeed the masked man is an open question: speculation immediately began as to whether Cole was the “devil” instead and whether the injury was possibly a “work”, a staged manoeuvre.
The latter does not seem to be the case, Cole’s girlfriend Britt Baker posted pictures of Cole’s battered foot and the X-ray with the three fractures on Wednesday.
Look at where the Devil mask is placed https://t.co/EASbges2dX
– Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) September 28, 2023
Despite this, there might be something about the mask that concerns MJF and Cole: The portal Fightful referred in this context to an exciting detail in a backstage segment immediately after All In, where MJF spoke from the shared booth – and the mask was hanging on Cole’s locker.