Tony Khan makes it clear that he would have paid Adam Cole his entire contract, even if he could never wrestle again.
At AEW All Out 2021, former NXT Champion Adam Cole signed with AEW. He became one of the company's top stars, but he suffered two concussions in the summer of 2022. These injuries cast doubt over his future as a wrestler, as it was unclear whether he would ever be able to wrestle again.Khan returned to AEW in January 2023, and he had his first match back in March 2023. H
Cole has since regained his status as one of AEW's leading starrs, and he headlined AEW All In, where he unsuccessfully challenged MJF for the AEW World Championship.
During the AEW All In post-show media scrum, MJF commended Cole for his toughness in coming back from such a difficult injury. Khan then stated that Cole came back for the love of the game. He made it clear that even if Cole was unable to return to the ring, he would have been paid every dime.
"You came back purely for the love of the game. I think it’s fair to say this wasn’t money motivated or greed motivated. If you don’t mind me saying, I would have paid you every fucking dime, even if you never stepped in the ring again. That’s what I told you. I wanted you to feel no pressure to step into the ring and put your safety at stake. I wanted you to know that you were getting every fucking dime of that contract. You came back because you love pro wrestling and you wanted to be here. That’s what makes this so special. Thank you," Khan said.
At AEW All In, Cole and MJF won the ROH World Tag Team Championship. More information is available here.
Khan previously discussed how putting Cole's health first in his recovery was important to him and AEW. Check out his comments here.
Click here to catch up on our coverage of AEW All In. For a full review, check out the post-show podcast on our YouTube channel.
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