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To say the ending of Ring of Honor's last pay-per-view (PPV), Global Wars, got people talking would be an understatement. Not all of the talk was praise for the angle, which saw Adam Cole join the Bullet Club and wreck the main event between Ring of Honor (ROH) World champ Jay Lethal and Colt Cabana, but the conversation is still going on about ROH's relationship with New Japan, the company's booking and the future of some of their biggest stars - like Cole.
Bryan Fritz caught up with Cole in a new interview for Sporting News where they discussed many of those issues.
Regarding joining the iconic faction, the former ROH World champ says the attention he's gotten from it far outweighs the criticism. Saying it ranked "very, very high" on his list of career achievements, Cole says it freshens up his character in addition to all that publicity:
As far as for me personally, I think it's great as far as a direction change for me. I think it goes without saying that the Bullet Club is the hottest faction in pro wrestling in years. There's presence being felt from the Bullet Club in companies all over the world. I'll tell you this too: as far as attention for me doing anything, that has to rank up there with maybe the most talked about thing that I've ever done as far as social media goes, as far as people reaching out, things of that nature. It definitely made an impact. It definitely benefited my career for the better.
They talk a great deal about how the development came about, with both New Japan head booker Gedo and the Young Bucks lobbying for his involvement. While Fritz and Cole don't talk about the persistent rumors that the man billed from Florida has a standing offer to head to WWE (his ROH contract reportedly expires at the end of this year), it's clear from their discussion that the opportunity to work in Japan was a big reason he's energized by the angle:
Obviously, this really opens up some doors for me in New Japan. Anyone who has listened to me do interviews before knows how much being a part of New Japan Pro Wrestling is something that I'd really, really like to do. Even with me getting a taste of it back in 2014 I believe where I did one G1 Final show. Then I got hurt, scheduling conflicts and things of that nature I was like "oh man, I really hope I'm going to get a chance to go over to New Japan". This is the classic the patience paid off because not only am I going to get the chance to go to New Japan but I get to do so in a pretty big role as being a member of the Bullet Club.
That was the one thing that was a big compliment to me is they told me before that they never wanted to bring me over randomly. They wanted to make sure they had something that was big and was worth my while. Hearing that Gedo not only found something but finding that something was being in a feature role in the Bullet Club was huge for me.
When you talk Bullet Club, you usually talk fan reaction. The group are heels in the promotion where they started, but so popular in the West they're treated like heroes. Especially considering the founders and a former leader of the group are headlining WWE shows in a storyline where either side could be cheered or booed, the Club are at the forefront of a perceived move in wrestling away from traditional heel and face roles.
On that topic, Cole thinks we're only going to see more of it going forward:
A lot more now there's a focus on that shades of gray, guys becoming stars and becoming as popular as they can whether they're being cheered or whether they're being booed and almost letting the fans make the decision of who they like and who they want to cheer for and who they want to support. A perfect example is if myself and Jay Lethal wrestle for the ROH World Title. I can almost guarantee you that the crowd is going to be split 50-50. There's a lot of those moments in Ring of Honor now. Same with Jay Lethal and Jay Briscoe, same with myself and Kyle O'Reilly.
There's a lot of positioning that's being done to let the fans make the decision of who they want to support. The characters are still very different but we're almost embracing the idea of letting the fans make the decision of who they like. Really, that's almost more realistic. I understand traditionally it goes away from the traditional heel and babyface role in pro wrestling but you can really see the promotions across the world are experimenting with the new idea of letting the fans make the decision.
Check out the whole interview over at Sporting News for more on all these topics.
What do you think, Cagesiders? How will Cole do in New Japan? Will he end up in WWE before too long? Are heels and faces becoming a thing of the past?