It seems downright improbable that a company as large as WWE would get through the recruiting and hiring process before realizing that they’ve signed the wrong guy. However, over the course of WWE history, we’ve heard about this happening on more than one occasion, and current NXT Champion Adam Cole has added one more tale to the list. In an interview with The Wrap, he recalls his first time working for the fed and how it was all a huge misunderstanding.
Adam recounts how, nine months into his career, the big leagues emailed him, called him up, and talked to him for 30 minutes. “And [WWE] ended up calling me and talking to me on the phone for 30 minutes — 30 minutes, explaining, going, ‘This is who you’re going to be rooming with. This is when you’re gonna fly down. This is what you’re gonna do.’ And at the end of the conversation he goes, ‘And listen, I just want you to know, if you just show up, you work hard, it’s pretty much a done deal. Like, you just gotta not screw up. We’re that level of interested.’ I’m like, I’m getting hired, I can’t believe it.”
Of course, it wasn’t meant to be. Cole wasn’t the in-ring general he is now, he just shared a name with who WWE was really after.
I get the email with the flight itinerary. Long story short, it’s the wrong name and I’m very confused and like, wait, what?” he continued. “I Google the name and up pops Xavier Woods [Real name Austin Watson]. And I sent a picture of myself, I said, ‘Hey, this is me.’ And they went, ‘Oh my God, we’re so sorry. We’re gonna book you as an extra for ‘RAW’ and ‘SmackDown
Cole ended up as an extra alongside Serena in a bar as part of the Straight Edge Society angle. Of course, since he was only 19 at the time, he was drinking Ginger Ale instead of any beverage CM Punk would disapprove of. Now that they’re both in WWE, the two Austins can laugh about everything.
A few years later, I actually did go down to FCW for a week to try out and he was there and he had known the story and I told him the story, and we laughed and kind of became buddies because of it. And now he’s one of my very good friends.
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