The visible emotion from Adam Cole as he relinquished the TNT Championship at AEW All In was only a fraction of a much more serious situation unfolding behind the scenes. The decision to pull Cole from the event was abrupt, born from a frightening health collapse that left both the wrestler and AEW President Tony Khan deeply shaken.
According to a report on Wrestling Observer Radio, the situation escalated rapidly. As of Friday night, Cole was fully expected to defend his championship against Kyle Fletcher. By Saturday morning, everything had changed. Dave Meltzer detailed the timeline of the collapse.
“So what happened is, again, it’s like—I don’t know that it’s a concussion, but what happened to him would lead one to believe it was a concussion, OK? But I don’t know that. Like, look, Friday night he was still doing the match. And it wasn’t like it was touch and go. You know, maybe yes, maybe no. I mean, if he was diagnosed with a concussion Friday night, he’s not doing the match. That’s just reality. They’re not going to let anyone—especially with his history—go out there. Absolutely not.”
The symptoms that emerged Saturday morning made competing impossible. The injury reportedly occurred during a lariat exchange with Fletcher in a six-man tag match on the go-home edition of AEW Collision.
Meltzer explained that the call to withdraw Cole was immediate and decisive, with no debate about trying to work through it.
“So what that tells me is Friday night, they didn’t know he had a concussion. Saturday morning, he woke up and something had happened. And it was just like—he can’t do the match. And he needs to take time off. And it wasn’t a debate. It wasn’t his call. It wasn’t Tony saying, ‘Can you just go through and drop the title?’ It was like, no. It was a no.”
The gravity of the incident, which is being treated as a potential concussion, was reflected in the reactions of those involved. The health crisis was so significant that Cole was apparently prepared to end his career that night. He was talked out of making a permanent decision while in an emotional state, but he acknowledged in his address that his in-ring career could be over.
During the post-show media scrum, the impact on AEW’s president was clear.
“Tony’s reaction, as best I could tell, was—he was really shaken up. And Adam was shaken up. You could tell from the interview. I think what he said was that he doesn’t want to make a rash decision or anything, but it was a scary situation.”
Cole’s history, including a nearly nine-month absence following double concussions in 2022, adds significant weight to this latest setback. In the wake of his withdrawal, Dustin Rhodes stepped in to win the now-vacant TNT Championship.
For Adam Cole, the future remains completely undetermined. He is out of action indefinitely, with his health being the sole priority as the wrestling community awaits his next update.