YMMV / Adam Cole

• Awesome Music:
  • His most well-known Ring of Honor theme, "Something For You", fits Cole as an opportunistic man ready to do anything to win the big one. Bonus points for being picked by Kevin Steen.
  • "Adam Cole BAY-BAY", his theme in his brief time as a member of Bullet Club, is an otherwise solid rock number defined by his constant repetition of the titular catchphrase.
  • "Undisputed", his theme with The Undisputed Era, evokes an NWO-like vibe with its guitar, fitting for a group billed as a kind of invading force in NXT.
  • "Thunder Boom", his solo heel theme in 2021, carries vibes and elements from all three of the above, showing off Cole's swagger and independent villainous ambition.
  • "All About Tha (Boom)", his AEW theme, is a mixture of his previous theme, channeling the wild energy of "Adam Cole BAY-BAY" and mixing it with the smooth rhythms of "Thunder Boom".
• Base-Breaking Character: Many were hoping and excited to see him join AEW with his past work alongside Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks and indeed can get the fans riled up, especially with his entrance and Catchphrase. However, he soon got the ire of many when a majority of the matches he’d win would involve him cheating in some way despite constantly boasting how great he is over others, on top of viewers, even his own fans, feeling he’s taking up too much time on screen. Not helping is him being the winner of the first Owen Hart Tournament alongside his girlfriend Britt Baker of which most fans had dreaded and were disappointed to see when he already has enough star power, having wanted just about anyone else, especially fellow tournament members Dax Harwood or Kyle O’Reilly, to win instead. Negatives opinions started to simmer down, many softening up on him after he left for a long while and came back after an injury that might’ve cost him his wrestling career, as well as going through a Heel–Face Turn while showing he hasn’t missed a step, much moreso when he eventually went on to form an unexpectedly popular tag team with MJF.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: During the Unsanctioned Lights Out match between Adam Cole and Orange Cassidy on the January 26, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Cole goes under the ring for a steel chair, but struggled to pull it out as Danhausen was holding onto the other end, leading to Cole dragging him out. After standing up and posing at Cole for several seconds while the crowd went bananas, Danhausen simply walked away without interfering further and Cole went back to fighting Cassidy (although some joked that Cole went on to lose the match because Danhausen put a curse on him).
• Draco in Leather Pants: Despite Cole being one of the most despicable and greedy individuals in the world of pro wrestling, he still has a lot of fans drawn to him, either by his sheer charisma, his handsome looks, or his sheer wrestling ability.
• Heartwarming Moments: At a New Year's party shortly after Brodie Lee's death, Adam "challenged" Brodie Lee Jr. for the TNT championship (Brodie Jr. had been gifted the red strap design of the title his father held, after it had been retired in his honor). Video footage shows Cole taking bump after bump for the young kid, eating a discus lariat and the pin.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "ADAM COLE, BAY-BAY!" ^Explanation  The crowd chant often following the BOOM mentioned below, often accompanied by raising both hands to the sky and both pointer and middle fingers on each hand raised. It has become near impossible to simply say Adam Cole's name even in casual conversation without following it with 'Bay-Bay'. It is important that it is pronounced as spelled, and not 'Baby'.
  • Adam Cole is fat. ^Explanation During a match in Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Cole put down a folding chair and sat on it, but the chair somehow broke under him, leading Chuck Taylor and Excalibur, who were on the commentary that day, claim that Cole is fat. It has become a popular joke among the fans, even if Cole is lean most of the time.
  • Adam Cole is dead. ^Explanation At War of the Worlds 2017, Cole, after losing his match with Hiroshi Tanahashi, was confronted by The Young Bucks who relayed Kenny Omega's message that Cole was being kicked out of the Bullet Club due to his poisonous tendencies and replaced by Marty Scurll, after which, the Bucks and Marty brutally assaulted Cole. In Being the Elite canon, the Bucks gave Cole a Monster energy drink, which had been poisoned by Kenny, which he drank and died. He has since been resurrected via séance by the Super Elite.
  • BOOM! ^Explanation Cole's trademark entrance involves him stands on the ring apron with his head down and right hand raised with index finger out. Since joining WWE, when doing this to the Undisputed Era theme, he waits for the 1 minute mark, at which he then yells "BOOM" along with the music while pointing his thumb to himself.
  • THAT'S ADAM COLE'S GIRLFRIEND!^Explanation At NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019, after the end of the main event match, which saw Cole take a move from Tommaso Ciampa from the top of a cage onto a table, the camera panned at the crowd's reactions, highlighting in particular that of a woman, whom commentator Mauro Ranallo identified as Cole's girlfriend. Problem is, Cole's girlfriend is wrestler Britt Baker, who competes in AEW, whose TV show competes directly with NXT's in what is known as the Wednesday Night Wars. Made more hilarious in that Triple H would later reveal that directly referencing her wasn't intentional; the cameraman was simply directed to show the most shocked reaction to be found, and it just so happened to be hers. It went to the point that AEW itself would jokingly reference it.
  • BUDGE^Explanation In episode 277 of Being the Elite, Cole gets annoyed by John Silver and Alex Reynolds who are trying to make friends with him, and they are subtly poking fun at the WWE creative trying to get Cole to shave his head and change his ring name, and one of the names they suggest is "BUDGE", all capitals (a Take That! to WWE releasing absurd numbers of wrestlers supposedly because of "budget cuts"). They afterwards use it in Cole's theme song "It's all about the Budge".
• Shocking Moments: Cole and Bryan Danielson debuting back to back at the end of All Out 2021
• Tear Jerker: During one of his streams of Hollow Knight, Cole found out that his close friend Tyler Breeze had been released along with a bunch of other WWE talent. While he doesn't say anything and immediately goes back into joking, its clear that he's effected by this. Coincidentally, while he's reading the news, the game's background music perfectly fits the scene in a tragic way.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Many thought the Owen Hart tournament was going to be a nice opportunity for whomever wins or at least reaches the final round to get some shine in the spotlight, elevating them to a higher spot as they felt Owen Hart himself didn’t get enough of. To the great disappointment of many, the finalists would be Adam Cole against Samoa Joe and Britt Baker against Ruby Soho, the former three of which many feel have enough star power as is and while some feel the latter should get elevated, has gotten the ire of many fans after defeating the incredibly popular Kris Statlander, (Ruby getting a huge chorus of boos for doing so, of which she even acknowledged in the promo after the match) whom has been a long-stay to AEW and many felt deserved a big win. Fans were only further confused and annoyed that Adam Cole would win the male bracket, no less through the help of interference of which many didn’t want occurring in the tournament in respect to Owen Hart and Britt Baker the female through a victory roll, both of whom really don’t need the wins with their star power, no less have no notable feelings towards Owen Hart himself, making their victory feel hollow even while wearing colouring based on one of his famous wrestling personas. It also has the unfortunate side-effect of cheapening the otherwise emotional ceremony with Owen’s widow, Dr. Martha afterwards when she’s presenting the awards to Heels who don’t care for almost anyone else but themselves and didn’t earn them in fair and decisive matches, each.
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne are primed to win the tag titles in a three-way battle… until Strong pulls off a massive Face–Heel Turn and joins the Undisputed Era. Even Cole and O'Reilly were shocked but delighted by Strong's turn. The problem is that the match, in any other night a show-stealer, took place in what was defined as THE best of the TakeOvers, NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, and they had the bad luck to be the follow-up to the five-star rated seven-man ladder match for the North American title. For bonus points, one of the participants — no, not just that, the winner — of that ladder match was… Cole. Meaning this was a Tough Act to Follow not only in terms of the show's quality, but for Cole and the stable, in-universe as well.
  • Cole vs Gargano at TakeOver: New York exceeded every expectation, which says a lot, given that quality matches have become NXT's trademark. Although the match was intended to be the climactic blow-off to the Gargano vs. Ciampa feud, an unfortunate injury put that on hold, so Ciampa vacated the title, and Cole won the right to fight for it with Gargano. The match featured a lot of brutal spots and a finisher galore, but even The Undisputed Era's interference couldn't keep Johnny down, and he finally fulfilled his promise and became the NXT Champion and the first NXT Triple Crown Champion. Big Dave has also given the match an astonishing score of 5.5 stars, the first for WWE.