Adam Cole Explains His Approach When Being Cheered As A Heel In AEW
Adam Cole was on a recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast with Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone. During the podcast, Cole answered questions from fans, and one fan asked about Cole's AEW theme song, as well as how he times the "boom" on time.
"So talking to Mikey Rukus was such a fun process because I had explained to him kind of my vision of where I wanted the song to go," Cole recalled. "I said I wanted it to be Rage Against the Machine, a vibe in that sense, and then also, 'Something For You' was a song I used to come out to in Ring of Honor, and I loved the drum and the bass in that song. So I wanted something involving that also, and he just literally mesh the two together so, so perfectly. It was incredible how he did it and how he nailed it on the first go. It was wild, but as far as the timing of the 'boom', funny enough, Rukus had that ready to go for a while, actually.
"So for anyone who was like, oh, the timing of the 'boom' was kind of off, that's on me because I wasn't sure if I wanted to have a timing for the song to have to hit the 'boom'. And then after a couple of weeks, I saw how many people really wanted that to exist in the song. I finally told Ruckus, I said, 'Hey man, alright, let's put that in there.' So really, the timing of the 'boom' was more so on me. I was thinking, okay, maybe I'll do it just at any point of the song because you guys know, sometimes, depending on the size of the ramp or the speed at which you get into the match or the time on television, I'm like, do I have to go? My entrance every time is going to be a minute and 30 seconds. But when I saw how important it was to everybody, I said, okay, alright, we got to put it in there. But Rukus had that ready to go from the gate."
Whether it be in ROH, WWE or AEW, fans love to chant "Adam Cole bay bay" along with Cole. However, Cole has been a heel throughout a good portion of his career, and he talked about balancing being a heel while also getting cheers from fans.
"It has been a thing that I've gone through for a few years, and I take it as a giant compliment," Cole said. "My match with Jungle Boy is a prime example. So, in the beginning, they're excited for the entrance. They want to do the 'boom', and they want to do 'Adam Cole bay bay' and they're into me at the start of the match, but my theory and my thought process is, if I have enough time, I'll get them to change their mind.
"The moment with the Jungle Boy match where me and you, Aubrey, we had our moments, and then Jungle Boy ends up locking me in the submission. Everyone in that arena wanted Jungle Boy to win. That's when I was so happy. I was like, okay, we got them. Now, we're good. So if they choose to cheer me in the beginning, I'm okay with that. I don't have that inner battle of like, oh, I'm not doing my job because my job starts to get done as the match progresses, and as I start doing more hellish, dastardly evil things to where as long as I get them by the end, then I'm happy with that. That's kind of my thought process on it."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.