Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Adam Cole is believed to have suffered a concussion during his trios match on AEW Collision last week, specifically during a lariat spot with Kyle Fletcher. As of last Friday, there was no confirmation of Cole’s concussion, as he was still prepared to compete at All In: Texas. Meltzer speculated that Cole had not yet received a formal diagnosis, emphasizing that it wasn’t a “touch-and-go” situation for him following Collision. The issue only arose on Saturday morning, the day of the show.
Meltzer further reported that on Saturday morning, Cole woke up feeling that something was wrong and felt he couldn’t compete in the match, realizing he needed to take time off. He added that there was no debate between Cole and AEW about pushing forward with the match; the decision was made by Cole himself. Meltzer mentioned that Tony Khan was very “shaken up” after hearing from Cole.
Cole was originally scheduled to defend the TNT Championship against Kyle Fletcher. However, during the Zero Hour pre-show, it was announced that Cole was not medically cleared to compete, leading to the title being vacated. Later that night, Cole announced that he would be stepping away temporarily for health reasons. A four-way match took place to crown a new TNT Champion, featuring Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara, Daniel Garcia, and Fletcher. Rhodes won the match, capturing his third title, as he also holds the ROH World Tag Team Titles with Guevara and the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles with The Von Erichs.
During the All In Texas post-show scrum, Khan stated that Cole began feeling unwell late Friday and early Saturday morning, and they both agreed that he should be kept off the show.
