Adam Cole Discusses His Goal for the NXT North American Title, Explains Why His NXT Debut Was So Special

– Sports Illustrated recently interviewed NXT North American champion Adam Cole, who discussed his goal for the North American title, his NXT debut, and more. Below are some highlights from the interview.

Adam Cole on his goal for the NXT North American title: “Who’s to say I won’t defend the North American championship later this year in the U.K. or Australia or Japan? My goal is to make the North American championship the most important championship in NXT, and I feel like I’m on the path to doing that by taking on all challengers around the world.”

Cole on why his NXT debut was so special: “That played such a huge part in why it was so special. It’s so cool when we see guys in the crowd, ones that we’ve fantasized about coming to WWE, in the crowd at these NXT TakeOver shows. You can begin to imagine what they’re going to do at the next TakeOver event. For me, you didn’t have to imagine because I showed everyone what I can do. I ran through the crowd, laid out Drew McIntyre, and stood in the ring and said, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ It was really cool to be so original. That was a testament to where Adam Cole is going and represented the impact that the Undisputed Era is going to make. Our slogan is ‘Shock the system’, and the epitome of that was our debut.”

Cole on how his grandmother was a big influence on him: “My grandmother played a huge influence in my life and helped raise me, and she and my mother saw how much I loved pro wrestling and how much I wanted to go after it. I’d been told countless times, even before I got into pro wrestling, that I would never amount to anything and that I’d never achieve this dream. You see more of the same when you’re inside pro wrestling. For me, my grandmother taught me that when you want something, you take it. Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish all share that exact same mentality. We said we’re going to take WWE and NXT over. Actions have to speak louder than words, and our actions have spoken much louder than our words.”

Adam Cole on not waiting for things to happen: “If you sit around and wait for things to happen, they’re not going to happen the way you want. When I look at my wrestling career when I first started, I was the guy who did anything he could just to get on every wrestling card he possibly could. I drove as far as I could, I flew when I could, I picked the brains of guys with more experience than me. For me, when I want something, I make sure I do everything in my power to get that.”