Before he joined WWE in 2017, AEW star Adam Cole had the opportunity to wrestle for NJPW on several occasions, where he stepped inside the ring with the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and AJ Styles. Since then, Cole has yet to return to Japan to wrestle for the promotion, but was given the chance to compete at AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door in 2022.That said, in a recent interview with "Bleacher Report," the former NXT Champion expressed interest in wanting to do more than just wrestle for NJPW, and wants to perform in Japan again, especially after not being able to compete in other promotions when he was with WWE.
"The one for sure that I think I would love to do is I definitely want to go back to New Japan. I got the chance to wrestle there a few times and I got to do a Wrestle Kingdom show, which was amazing. But then right as I started going to Japan more often is when I left [for WWE], so I was not able to continue going to Japan. So now that I'm back in All Elite Wrestling, the idea of being able to go over and wrestle for New Japan again is very high up on my list."
Cole's last match in Japan was against YOSHI-HASHI at ROH/NJPW Honor Rising: Japan 2017 at theKorakuen Hall in Tokyo, where he retained the ROH World Title. Cole has both challenged and defended theROH World Title on four other occasions in NJPW, against stars such as Jushin Thunder Liger, Kyle O'Reilly, Will Ospreay and Kevin Steen, now known as Kevin Owens in WWE.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Bleacher Report" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
