So much of this is not his fault. Injuries (to himself and others) affected a long-term storyline (that had issues already) which eventually paid off as well as a fart in church, and the residual creative has been wonky as well. But it still saddens me to see what’s become of Adam Cole in AEW at the moment. Now, still hobbled and often seated when we see him, including recently in a “Masterpiece Theater” setting of sorts, the leader of “The Undisputed Kingdom,” though he be (I guess) “The Devil” himself has become nothing more than a regular guy taking up air time.

For all the things he is, outstanding wrestler, inimitable worker, excellent on the microphone, Cole has never been intimidating. In this current role, had Murphy’s Law never even struck, his reveal as The Devil was always going to be a hard sell to me, as he doesn’t scream “Big Bad” in the traditional sense. That’s not to say he can’t be an effective heel — time and again, we’ve witnessed the contrary over the years — but Cole as the personification of evil was always a stretch. And now, there he sits, talking about being disappointed in Wardlow for not having beaten Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship last week on “Dynamite.”

Look, the gag here was always that Wardlow was supposed to win and hand over the title to Cole, injured or not, it appears, but let’s get serious; that was never going to happen. So now, on top of Cole coming across as a weenie — which, again, CAN be a viable heel approach but not when this guy’s supposed to be THE DEVIL — Wardlow is on the verge of being neutered for the umpteenth time in his AEW run, as his inability to fulfill a new task of making sure the rest of Cole’s cronies hold on to their existing gold will surely force his exile from the group.

But here’s the thing: Do we care? We’re talking about the ROH Tag Team Championships and a midcard belt here. Plus, is he supposed to protect them in perpetuity? None of this works, it looks bad on Wardlow, and it looks worst of all on Cole who undoubtedly deserves so much more.

Written by Jon Jordan