10 Shocking AEW Behind The Scenes Revelations

4. The Lengths Taken To Keep Adam Cole's AEW Debut A Secret

AEW All Access CM Punk
AEW.com

Right now, Adam Cole is very much back in the AEW spotlight in a major way, with the ridiculously talented fella having made his triumphant return to action after a nine-month concussion-enforced absence; not to mention being front 'n' centre alongside his partner Britt Baker in AEW All Access.

Cole is great, Cole has been great for years now, and Cole is only going to become a greater, more important part of the AEW puzzle across the next few years. As such, it was no surprise that AEW had major interest in the former ROH World Champion when he became a free agent back in 2021. What maybe is a surprise, though, is the lengths taken to keep Cole's debut at All Out 2021 a secret.

As the star himself detailed to Sports Illustrated shortly after his arrival in AEW, it was only a couple of days before All Out that he decided he wanted to sign with AEW rather than pen a deal become part of the WWE main roster. From there, everything was done to keep Cole's impending debut hush-hush.

This "hush-hush" meant that only a handful of people in AEW knew that the one-time Undisputed Era man was a) signing with AEW, and b) was to appear at All Out. Likewise, Cole's AEW contract wasn't actually signed until the day of All Out 2021, and he was kept hidden on that night until the CM Punk vs. Darby Allin match was in motion; as in, the third-to-last match on the card.

Even when Cole did appear backstage, that was only to meet privately with the talents who would be involved in the post-main event segment where both he and Bryan Danielson would be making their company debut. To further keep all of this hidden, the real-life Austin Jenkins didn't even fly into the Chicago locale that was housing All Out. Instead, he flew to a different city on the day before the PPV, wore a face mask for his entire flight, stayed out a different hotel to Danielson, and waited in a trailer outside the Now Arena throughout the bulk of the show.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.