Adam Cole

Before signing to WWE, Cole appeared on the July 2, 2010 episode of *SmackDown* where he played a man at a bar drinking with Serena in a Straight Edge Society segment.

On August 14, 2017, Cole had signed with WWE and would be working in the company's developmental territory *NXT*. Cole made his *NXT* debut on August 19 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, attacking newly crowned NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, alongside Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, establishing himself as a villain in the process. The following month, the trio of Cole, Fish and O'Reilly was officially dubbed “The Undisputed Era”.

Following weeks of attacking other teams, The Undisputed Era was put in a WarGames match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames against Sanity (Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young, and Killian Dain) and the team of The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) and Roderick Strong. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames on November 18, The Undisputed Era won after Cole pinned Young. On December 12, Cole was defeated by Aleister Black in a qualifying match for a fatal-four-way number one contender's match for the NXT Championship, which also involved Johnny Gargano, Killian Dain, and Lars Sullivan on the December 27 episode of *NXT*, where Cole and the Undisputed Era interfered and cost Black the match. This led to Cole facing Black at the coming NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia in an Extreme Rules match. At the event, Cole was defeated by Black, despite interference from Fish and O'Reilly.

On January 28, 2018, at the Royal Rumble, Cole made a surprise appearance in the Royal Rumble match at entry #23; his first appearance on the main roster. He was eliminated by a returning Rey Mysterio. Cole became the inaugural NXT North American Champion at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans on April 7, 2018, in a ladder match, and later in the night he won the *Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic* as well as defended the NXT Tag Team Championship in a triple threat Winner Take All match with Kyle O'Reilly. On April 25, Cole defeated Oney Lorcan in his first title defense after interference from The Undisputed Era. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, Cole lost the NXT North American Championship to Ricochet, ending his reign at 133 days. On the October 10 episode of *NXT*, Cole failed to regain the NXT North American Championship in triple threat match that also included Pete Dunne. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Ricochet, Dunne and the War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match.

Cole participated in the WWE Worlds Collide event in January 2019. He defeated Shane Thorne in the first round and Keith Lee in the quarterfinals before losing to Tyler Bate in the semifinals. The following month, Cole, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were defeated by Ricochet, Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream on Halftime Heat.

On the March 20 episode of *NXT*, Cole defeated Velveteen Dream, Ricochet, Black and Matt Riddle in a Fatal 5-Way match to become the No. 1 contender for the NXT Championship. At NXT TakeOver: New York, Cole was defeated 2-1 by Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match. Cole received a rematch with Gargano for NXT TakeOver: XXV, where he defeated Gargano to win the NXT Championship. At NXT TakeOver: Toronto II, Cole successfully defended the NXT Title against Gargano.

On the November 1 episode of *SmackDown*, Cole was one of the many members of the *NXT* roster to invade SmackDown under the orders of Triple H (who had officially declared war against Raw and SmackDown). After Triple H declined a request for a match by Daniel Bryan, he instead brought out Cole, who successfully defended his NXT Championship. On the following Raw, Cole would face Seth Rollins in the main event, losing by disqualification after interference by The Undisputed Era. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Cole and the Undisputed Era lost in the titular WarGames match to the team of Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and the returning Kevin Owens. The following night, at Survivor Series, Cole retained the NXT Championship against Pete Dunne.

In the build-up for the *NXT* and *NXT UK* co-branded pay-per-view, Worlds Collide, The Undisputed Era began feuding with Imperium (WWE United Kingdom Champion Walter, Alexander Wolfe, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel), which was further intensified during the closing moments of NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II on January 12, 2020, where the group attacked Imperium following Walter's successful title defense against Joe Coffey. At the Worlds Collide event, Imperium were victorious.

At NXT TakeOver: Portland, Cole successfully retained his title against Tommaso Ciampa after receiving help from the rest of The Undisputed Era, and from Johnny Gargano, who attacked Ciampa with the belt; due to Fish and O'Reilly losing the tag team titles earlier than night, this left The Undisputed Era with only one championship for the first time since August 2019. On March 19, 2020, Cole became the longest reigning NXT Champion, breaking Finn Bálor's record of 292 days. The reign would continue to increase the record, surpassing an entire year in length come June 1, 2020.

On night two of NXT: The Great American Bash, Cole lost the NXT Championship to Keith Lee in a Winner Takes All match, ending Cole's 403-day reign. After losing the NXT Championship, Cole began a rivalry with announcer Pat McAfee. This led to a match between the two being set up for NXT TakeOver: XXX, which Cole won. Cole cemented his face turn on the September 30 episode of *NXT* after calling out Austin Theory, who had insulted Kyle O'Reilly earlier in the night during a backstage promo. Cole and the other members of Undisputed Era would go on to feud with Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. Over the next few weeks on *NXT*, Pat McAfee would mock the Undisputed Era until they returned on the November 18 episode of *NXT*. General Manager William Regal would announce that both teams would face each other at NXT TakeOver: WarGames. At the event, Undisputed Era would go on to defeat Team McAfee.

Heading into 2021, Adam Cole and Roderick Strong would announce their participation in the men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. On the January 13 episode of *NXT*, Cole and Strong would face Breezango in the first round and would be victorious, On the February 3 episode of *NXT*, Cole and Strong would be unsuccessful in moving on as they were defeated by the team of Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher in the quarterfinals. At NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, The Undisputed Era would come out in the main event to assist Finn Bálor after he was attacked by Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. As The Undisputed Era and Balor stood tall, Cole would suddenly superkick Bálor and then turn on stablemate Kyle O'Reilly, subsequently turning heel in the process. On the February 17 episode of *NXT*, Cole would attack O'Reilly during O'Reillys six-man tag team match that involved Roderick Strong, Finn Bálor, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch and Pete Dunne. After Dunne's team picked up the win, Cole would deliver a superkick to Bálor and raise the NXT Championship in the air. On the February 24 episode of *NXT*, Cole would apologize for what he did to Kyle O'Reilly before Roderick Strong would come out and confront Cole. Finn Bálor would then come out and attack Cole and Strong until Cole would hit a superkick on Bálor. After crying and apologizing profusely to Strong, Cole would then deliver a low blow to Strong, further cementing his heel turn. On the March 3 episode of *NXT*, Bálor challenged Cole with the NXT Championship on the line the following week, which Cole accepted. The following week on *NXT*, Cole was defeated by Bálor after O'Reilly distracted him, and was viciously assaulted afterwards, ending with O'Reilly ripping off Cole's Undisputed Era armband, officially kicking Cole out of the group. On the March 24 episode of *NXT*, after many heated encounters between O'Reilly and Cole, they would officially sign a contract for their unsanctioned match on night two of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver. At the event, Cole would lose to O'Reilly. On the June 1 episode of *NXT,* Adam Cole would return and take out Kyle O'Reilly, Pete Dunne and Johnny Gargano in a triple threat match to determine Karrion Kross's opponent for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. Later that night, Cole and Kross would confront each which would lead to a match being made at NXT TakeOver: In Your House where Kross would defend his title against Cole, O'Reilly, Gargano and Dunne. At the event, Cole would be unsuccessful in winning the NXT Championship. After failing to win back the championship, Cole reignited his feud with O'Reilly; a rematch between the two was made for The Great American Bash, where Cole defeated O'Reilly. On the August 11 episode of *NXT*, It would be announced that O'Reilly and Cole would face each other in a two-out-of-three falls match at NXT TakeOver: 36. At the event, O'Reilly would defeat Cole. This was Cole's final match and appearance in *NXT*, as his WWE contract expired later that week.