WWE once confused Adam Cole with Xavier Woods and almost accidentally signed him
WWE is a huge wrestling promotion and is the biggest company in the world. That does not stop them from making the mistake, however. In an interview with The Wrap, Adam Cole talked about a story where he was almost accidentally signed by WWE because the company thought that they were negotiating with Xavier Woods and not Cole.
WWE confused Adam Cole with Xavier Woods
The world of wrestling can be a hilarious place and often there can be a lot of confusion in even the most prestigious institutions. At one point in time, WWE was trying to hire Austin Watson aka Xavier Woods and bring him into their company to give him a tryout for Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), which was the development brand at the time.
However, instead of contacting Xavier Woods, they had contacted Adam Cole, who was fresh out of high school and had just entered the world of wrestling. Cole's real name is Austin Jenkins.
Adam Cole talked about this entire story with The Wrap, where he talked about his situation, saying that he was insanely happy as he thought that WWE was approaching him so soon after him getting into the wrestling business, where he was a very fresh face and was still learning the ropes. Adam Cole could not believe his luck and had been telling everyone in his family that he was getting hired by WWE as well. However, it turned out to be Xavier Woods that the company was trying to hire.
“I had been wrestling for like six to nine months at this point. I mean, brand-spanking new on the independents. I had, like, three months before, graduated high school. Just brand new. And I know I’m not a big guy, but I was even smaller then. Even smaller, no facial hair, just looked like a high school kid. And I got an email saying, `Hey, we’ve seen some footage of you. We’re really, really impressed. We wanna bring you down to FCW for a week to try out.’ And I was like `Oh my God.’ I’m telling my brother, I’m telling my friends. And (the company) ended up calling me and talking to me on the phone for 30 minutes. 30 minutes, explaining, going, `This is who you’re going to be rooming with. This is when you’re gonna fly down. This is what you’re gonna do.’ And at the end of the conversation he goes, `And listen, I just want you to know, if you just show up, you work hard, it’s pretty much a done deal. Like, you just gotta not screw up. We’re that level of interested.’ I’m like, I’m getting hired, I can’t believe it.’"
However, then Adam Cole finally got the email with the flight itinerary and he found out that it was the wrong name. He looked up that name and found that Xavier Woods was the person that WWE actually wanted to bring in and not him. He then sent WWE a picture of himself, and that confirmed that this had been a huge mistake.
WWE apologized to Adam Cole and offered to bring him onto WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown as an extra to make up for the mess.
When Adam Cole would finally go to WWE, he would meet Xavier Woods and told him the story. Nowadays he said that he was really good friends with Xavier Woods and the two had laughed a lot because of the story.
"And I sent a picture of myself, I said, `Hey, this is me.’ And they went, `Oh my God, we’re so sorry. We’re gonna book you as an extra for Raw and SmackDown.’ How the hell did this happen? Apparently confusion is what’s in a name, or at least, in the name Austin. Okay, so we both share the name Austin. So my guess is they just screwed up the last names by mistake."
WWE likely made the mistake because both Adam Cole and Xavier Woods shared the same first name and there was some confusion which resulted in Adam Cole being contacted.
Currently, Adam Cole is the NXT Champion, while Xavier Woods is a huge success as part of the New Day. Although Xavier Woods is out of action for the moment due to an injury, he still remains a large part of the faction behind the scenes.