Its all about The Undisputed Era.
To kick-start WrestleMania weekend for the WWE there was a Ladder match to open NXT TakeOver: New Orleans to crown the first-ever NXT North American Champion. At the end of the contest the sly Adam Cole pushed the ladder that Ricochet was standing atop on, crushing the dreams of the "The One And Only". Cole climbed to the top of the ladder and pulled down the championship as the thousands in attendance inside of the Smoothie King Center went ballistic for "The Panama City Playboy." Later on in the night Adam Cole had to help his faction-mate Kyle O'Reilly defend the NXT Tag Team Championships and in a shocking turn of events, Roderick Strong pledged his allegiance to The Undisputed Era by turning on his partner in the match Pete Dunne, and handing over the NXT Tag Titles on a silver plater to Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole.
Adam Cole was recently interviewed by Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald where he discussed the chemistry that all involved in the group have with one another. Cole stated that the chemistry and togetherness that is seen on-screen is not an act and that himself, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong & Kyle O'Reilly are great friends even when they are not trying to run rough shot over NXT.
"First and foremost for anyone who’s followed my career in any capacity, myself and Kyle O’Reilly; we’ve kind of been attached at the hip since 2009, which is the year the both of us started. So whether that’d be as opponents or whether that’d be as teammates, me and Kyle O’Reilly are kind of synonymous with one another so for us to end up in WWE and NXT together was awesome,” He continued, “Bobby Fish, obviously is another one who I could throw in the exact same category. Roderick Strong as well, our newest member Roderick Strong. I have a very strong history with him. So The Undisputed Era is a group of legitimate friends, so this is not an on-screen acting job. This is something that’s very, very real. We ride together, we talk to each other every day, we both share the exact same passion for sports entertainment; that we eat, sleep and breath this stuff. So for us to be a group together has been awesome. Its been a total blast and as far as the name, and yeah, we have thrown a bunch of different ideas out there trying to get stuff sticking, and one of the things being told to us over and over again was ‘Undisputed’ felt really, really good for this group and what the message was." He stated. "So obviously trying to come up with something different besides just ‘Undisputed’, and trying to find our own twist on it, ‘Undisputed Era’ seemed to be thing that we wanted to go with and I really think it encompasses what this group is all about.”
An eventful night at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans it was for Adam Cole. He will forever be known as the first-ever NXT North American Champion, and although he did not play a major role in doing so, nonetheless brought the NXT Tag Team Titles back to The Undisputed Era all in the midst of winning the 'Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Cole would speak on his eventful and surprising April 7th.
"I don’t think so. I mean WWE has surprised me and shocked me and made me feel like, ‘Oh, it can’t get better than this’. But that night was so wild on so many levels. First of all, to open an event… pretty much kinda open WrestleMania weekend with NXT TakeOver. The very first match being this six-man Ladder match for this new championship, this new prestigious championship, with in my opinion and many [other] people’s opinion, six of the brightest stars in NXT kind of vowing and going for this championship belt. That was crazy.” He continued, "So to be the guy at the end of the match, on top of the ladder standing there looking at this new championship, looking out into the sea of people, looking into the camera and imagining the thousands and thousands of people who are watching it all over the world, it was cool. It was a really, really cool feeling. But then knowing in only a few short minutes later I had to go in and help Kyle O’Reilly defend our NXT Tag Team Championships, that was a whole other ballgame. And for Roderick Strong to join us, for us to be the winners of the ‘Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic’, retain the championships and then have a new member who is more than qualified to be in this group, it was awesome. We thought… all of us felt like we were on top of the world."
If you are going to use any of the quotes above please credit Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald, with an H/T to Fightful.com for the transcriptions.
