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Adam Cole would prefer to begin his WWE career in NXT

Thursday’s Rude Awakening looks at Adam Cole’s preferences, Cody Rhodes’ home promotion, and WWE’s Dubai tryouts.

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We publish a whole lot of content here at Cageside Seats. We’re also [looks around and whispers so the bosses can’t hear] not the only place producing wrestling content on the internet. So, as a service to you on the weekdays, we’ll be producing a wrestling newsletter, "Rude Awakening." Well, it will be a newsletter eventually: for now, it’ll just be part of your experience here at Cageside, collecting the news, recaps, and social moments from the greater wrestling universe daily so you won’t fall behind, with a newsletter format to come.

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Adam Cole is a free agent soon. It’s an open secret that WWE is likely his next destination once the Bullet Club member is free to sign wherever he’d like. Maybe some fans will be annoyed if he ends up on NXT instead of on RAW or SmackDown Live if slash when he finally does sign with WWE, but Cole himself? He’s fine with a move to NXT. In fact, given a recent interview with ESPN, he even prefers starting there:

"I would want to [start in NXT] because, first of all, I'm a fan of NXT," Cole said. "I think the brand is cool. I think the Takeover shows are awesome. I think the fans are great. I love the roster of guys. I think it's something that's going to be looked at as a very special time in pro wrestling, so I want to be a part of it. Secondly, of course in a perfect world if I went to NXT, I wouldn't want to be there forever; but I like the idea of going there and performing there and getting accustomed to the WWE audience and them getting accustomed to me and then eventually making the move to Raw or Smackdown.

NXT is just now getting back the kind of characters and performances that caused so many to flock to the brand and label it as the best thing WWE had going. Throwing Adam Cole (and others) into that mix to help avoid a dip in quality the next time there is a wave of promotions would help keep fans happy and WWe’s developmental brand chugging along.

It’s also good to see that Cole makes a point of both embracing NXT and its purpose while also saying wrestling there “forever” isn’t his goal: he still wants to show up on the main roster and make a splash there, but there is value in a stint with NXT and its proximity to the performance center and its resources. Look no further than the difference between, say, NXT graduate Neville and many of the other cruiserweights who were just thrust onto RAW following the Cruiserweight Classic. Even veterans like Cole could use a transitional period to make sure everything is just right before he’s put in front of WWE’s largest audiences.

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