Tony Khan would have kept Adam Cole under AEW’s employ, even if the reigning ROH World Tag Team Champion had to retire due to a concussion.
Cole would suffer a concussion last year and would miss close to a year of in-ring time before returning to action in March of this year.
During the post-AEW All In 2023 media scrum, Khan spoke about Cole’s concussion and said he would have kept the popular wrestler as part of AEW. He said,
“He came back [to in-ring action] purely for the love of the game. This man … I think it’s fair to say this wasn’t money motivated or greed motivated because if you don’t mind me saying, I would’ve paid you every f*****g dime, even if you never stepped in the ring again. And that’s what I told you.
“I wanted you to feel no pressure to step into this ring and put your safety at stake and I wanted you to know you were getting every f*****g dime of that contract … And you came back because you love pro wrestling and you wanted to be here. And that’s what makes this so special. Thank you.”
Cole and MJF captured the ROH World Tag Team Championships during the All In 2023 “Zero Hour” kickoff show, and MJF would retain the AEW World title against Cole in the main event.
