Austin Kirk Jenkins (born July 5, 1989), known by the ring name Adam Cole, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Paragon. He is also known for his tenures with WWE and Ring of Honor (ROH).
Cole began his eight-year tenure with ROH in 2009 and went on to become the first-ever three-time ROH World Champion. In addition, he is a one-time ROH World Television Champion, and the winner of the 2014 ROH Survival of the Fittest tournament. Cole has also wrestled for several independent promotions, including Chikara, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where he is a former CZW World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he is a former PWG World Champion; he holds the records for longest reigns for both titles. He also worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was part of the Bullet Club stable.
From 2017 to 2021, Cole was signed to WWE and performed on their NXT brand. During this time, Cole was the leader of The Undisputed Era, whose membership included Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly, and later Roderick Strong. Cole was the second wrestler to become the NXT Triple Crown Champion, having been the inaugural NXT North American Champion, a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion, and is the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all-time. After Cole's WWE contract expired, he joined AEW in September 2021. During his tenure there, he has won the AEW TNT Championship once and was the inaugural winner of the Owen Hart Cup in 2022. Between WWE and AEW, he has headlined several pay-per-view events.
Austin Jenkins was born on July 5, 1989, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and raised in nearby Manheim. He has a younger brother. His parents separated when he was 10 years old. Jenkins took karate lessons as a child. Jenkins competed in wrestling at Manheim Central High School before quitting his senior year so he could get a job to pay for his professional wrestling training.
Jenkins wrestled his first amtch on April 26, 2008 losing to Tsunami at American Championship Pro Wrestling in Springfield, Pennsylvania. His first victory was defeatign Alex Colon on May 31, 2008 at Eastern Wrestling Alliance in Baltimore.
Combat Zone Wrestling (2008–2013)
Jenkins was trained at the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) Wrestling Academy by D. J. Hyde and Jon Dahmer. He became an official student at the Academy on November 14, 2007, while he was still a senior in high school. He made his CZW debut at No Pun Intended as Adam Cole on June 21, 2008, when he teamed with The Reason in a loss to GNC (Joe Gacy and Alex Colon).
In 2009, Cole teamed regularly with Tyler Veritas and they won a tag team gauntlet match, outlasting the teams of The S.A.T., L.J. Cruz and Izzy Kensington, 2.0, All Money Is Legal, and GNC at X: Decade of Destruction – 10th Anniversary in February. At the following show in March, they won a four-way match against the team of Jagged and Cole Calloway, GNC, and Team AnDrew (Andy Sumner and Drew Gulak). After Cole took a hiatus from CZW, he returned at A Tangled Web 2 on August 8, where he and Veritas won another four-way match against BLKOUT, Team Macktion (TJ Mack and Kirby Mack), and The Spanish Armada (Alex Colon and L.J. Cruz). At Down With the Sickness Forever on September 13, Cole and Veritas challenged for The Best Around (Bruce Maxwell and TJ Cannon) for the CZW World Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. For the remainder of 2009, Cole and Veritas began focusing on singles competition, as they both entered the tournament to determine the inaugural CZW Wired TV Champion, with Cole defeating Alex Colon and Rich Swann en route to the final at Cage of Death 11, where he lost to Veritas.
At Walking on Pins and Needles in March 2010, Cole wrestled Sabian to a 15-minute time-limit draw. Later in 2010, Cole began challenging for the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship and on April 10 at Swinging for the Fences, Cole faced defending champion Sabian in a match that ended in a 20-minute time-limit draw. On May 8, 2010, Cole won the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating defending champion Sabian and Ruckus in a three-way match at Fist Fight. Cole successfully defended the championship against Ryan Slater in both June and August and Blk Jeez in September. At It's Always Bloody in Philadelphia on October 9, Cole turned into a heel (villainous character) by attacking long-time tag team partner Veritas and successfully defended the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship against AR Fox later that night. In November, Cole toured Germany with CZW and he retained the championship against Zack Sabre Jr. at Live in Germany in Oberhausen. In December, Cole gained Mia Yim as a manager and she helped him to retain the Junior Heavyweight Championship in two separate matches at Cage of Death XII.
At Twelve: Anniversary in February 2011, Cole qualified for the Best of the Best X tournament by defeating Pinkie Sanchez. On April 9 at Best of the Best X, Cole qualified for the final of the tournament by defeating Johnny Gargano and Kyle O'Reilly in a three-way match in the first round and Sabre in the semi-final, then defeating Sami Callihan in the final, thus winning the Best of the Best X tournament. Cole then developed an alliance with his trainer D. J. Hyde, with Hyde helping Cole to retain the championship against Fox in May. Further title defenses against Jonatham Gresham, Chuck Taylor and AJ Curcio followed throughout the year. On November 12, Cole lost the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Callihan despite both Hyde and Yim interfering on his behalf, ending his reign at 553 days, the longest reign in the championship's history.
At An Excellent Adventure in January 2012, Cole unsuccessfully challenged Devon Moore for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship. Cole's alliance with Hyde ended at the Best of the Best 11 internet pay-per-view, when Hyde gained a new protégé in Tony Nese who Cole went on to defeat in a match. Cole and Hyde began feuding briefly, with Hyde attacking Cole in May and Cole attacking Hyde the following month. In November 2012, Cole went on to feud with Callihan, claiming that he would always be regarded as a better wrestler than Callihan. At Cage of Death 14: Shattered Dreams on December 8, Cole defeated Callihan in a No Hold Barred match. On April 13, 2013, Cole defeated Callihan in what billed as the "final encounter" between the longtime rivals.
Independent circuit (2010–2017)
Cole began competing for the Evolve promotion in 2010, making his debut match for the promotion on May 1 at Evolve 3: Rise Or Fall, he lost to Sami Callihan. At Evolve 4, Cole defeated Johnny Gargano to improve his record to one win and one loss. Following his victory he challenged Jimmy Jacobs to a match at the next show. At Evolve 5: Danielson vs. Sawa, Cole lost to Jacobs.
Cole appeared at Dragon Gate USA's (DGUSA) Open the Freedom Gate pay-per-view taping on November 28, 2009, on the pre-show, where he wrestled Kyle O'Reilly in a losing effort. On July 24, 2010, Cole appeared at DGUSA's Enter the Dragon 2010 pay-per-view taping in a four-way match against Chuck Taylor, Arik Cannon, and Ricochet, which was won by Taylor.
On August 28, 2010, Cole appeared at Chikara's Young Lions Cup tournament. He defeated Kyle O'Reilly in the quarter-finals, but was eliminated from the semi-final six-man elimination match by Obariyon.
Cole made his Ring of Honor (ROH) debut on February 28, 2009, when he lost to John Kerman in a dark match at the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings. At the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings the following night, Cole appeared in a dark match again, teaming with Ninja Brown against John Kerman and Corey Abbott. The match ended in a no contest when the Dark City Fight Club (Kory Chavis and Jon Davis) attacked the match participants. He appeared again on the July 26, 2010, episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, teaming with Nick Westgate in a loss to the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli).