Adam Cole

In the culmination of a two-year rivalry, Adam Cole beat former NFL punter and current sports media personality Pat McAfee at NXT TakeOver: XXX on Saturday in Winter Park, Florida.

Cole got the victory via the Panama Sunrise in a match that delivered beyond all expectations. 

The issues between Cole and McAfee date back to March 2018 at an NXT live event in Indianapolis. At that show, the former Indianapolis Colts All-Pro punter was a special guest, and he prevented Cole from cheating during a match against Aleister Black.

Cole has held a great deal of animosity toward McAfee since that moment, and for the next couple of years after it happened, they often traded barbs and took shots at each other.

Things finally boiled over last month when Cole appeared on McAfee's The Pat McAfee Show podcast. McAfee got under Cole's skin by making jokes about his height and suggesting his success was a product of Undisputed Era.

Cole eventually exploded by yelling expletives at McAfee and then pushing his producer before storming out of the studio.

In an effort to smooth things over, McAfee appeared on a recent episode of NXT as a guest commentator. McAfee was on commentary for the NXT Tag Team Championship match between Imperium and Undisputed Era's Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish.

Cole was outside the ring to support his stablemates, but he heard some of the snide comments McAfee was making, which resulted in his confronting McAfee and throwing water in his face.

NXT personnel, including Triple H and Shawn Michaels, had to get between them to prevent a brawl, but McAfee was able to get away and lay Cole out with a big punt to the head. A furious Triple H pushed McAfee and tossed him out of the building.

Triple H later appeared on ESPN and challenged McAfee to a match on Cole's behalf for NXT TakeOver: XXX, and despite his lack of professional wrestling experience, McAfee accepted.

McAfee likely would have been the underdog against any NXT opponent, but facing the longest-reigning NXT champion of all time and one of the greatest Superstars in NXT history in the form of Cole put McAfee in an even tougher spot.

Although McAfee fought valiantly, Cole came out on top, and he can potentially begin gearing himself up for another run at the NXT title.

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Wednesday night's episode of WWE NXT on USA Network saw its viewership rise compared to last week with no competition from All Elite Wrestling.

According to Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com, NXT averaged 853,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast, which was up from last week's 619,000 viewers.

This week's viewership marked NXT's highest single-week audience since Nov. 20, 2019's show, which drew 916,000. 

There was no episode of AEW Dynamite on Wednesday because of the NBA playoffs. Instead, Dynamite will air on Saturday this week. With Dynamite off, the focus was solely on NXT and the build toward NXT TakeOver: XXX on Saturday.

The key segment on Wednesday's show was a face-to-face confrontation between former NXT champion Adam Cole and former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee. In an effort to combat Cole and Undisputed Era, McAfee came out with some friends of his own, including former NFL defensive back Darius Butler and linebacker A.J. Hawk.

McAfee cut a scathing promo against Cole and proved he had the chops needed to be in the wrestling business in that regard. Security tried to step in at one point when it started to get heated, but Cole laid them all out.

Cole ended the segment by vowing to beat and embarrass McAfee at TakeOver: XXX in a match that should have no shortage of mainstream attention.

There were also two matches with major implications for TakeOver in the form of Johnny Gargano vs. Ridge Holland and the main event of Finn Balor vs. Velveteen Dream. The winners of those matches qualified for the North American Championship ladder match at TakeOver.

Gargano beat Holland in the first match despite getting dropped on his head as part of a scary spot, while Dream beat Balor in the main event after Timothy Thatcher showed up and took out Balor.

Dream and Gargano will join Bronson Reed, Damian Priest and Cameron Grimes in the ladder match, which is guaranteed to crown a new North American champion.

Also on the show, Dakota Kai beat Jessi Kamea and then beat down NXT women's champion Io Shirai with help from the returning Raquel Gonzalez. Legado del Fantasma beat Breezango and Isaiah "Swerve" Scott in a six-man tag team match, and the team of Rhea Ripley and Shotzi Blackheart beat Mercedes Martinez and Aliyah.

The main event of Saturday's NXT TakeOver: XXX features Keith Lee defending the NXT Championship against Karrion Kross.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Bischoff Talks Potential AEW Future

Eric Bischoff appeared on last week's episode of AEW Dynamite as the moderator for the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. It was a fun surprise and cameo, but it doesn't necessarily mean Bischoff and AEW will ever work together again.

During an appearance on his 83 Weeks podcast (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marco Rovere), Bischoff discussed the AEW Dynamite appearance and noted that he has no interest in a full-time backstage role with the company:

"I may never go back to AEW. It may be a one-and-done appearance. I have no interest. First of all, they don't need me. Why would anybody hire me for a position that they don't need? They're not gonna do that. They're on a roll, they don't need Eric Bischoff backstage or in creative. They don't need it, they're doing just fine.

"I have no interest in it if they did; I don't want to do that. I don't want to get involved in creative, I have no desire. But if you think for a second that if I did, in some twisted way wanted to weasel my way back to creative control in that environment, you think anybody in AEW would go, 'Hey, that's a good idea?' So, relax folks."

Bischoff didn't completely rule out working with AEW again in the future in some capacity, though, noting: "If you see me anywhere, whether it's WWE, AEW or anywhere, I'm showing up for the fun."

The former WCW president's comments suggest that he would be far more open to doing on-screen work as a character if the story interests him than working in a creative or administrative capacity.

Prior to his appearance on Dynamite, the 65-year-old Bischoff's most recent job in wrestling was with WWE. He was hired as the executive director of SmackDown in June 2019 and held that role until October 2019 when he was relieved of his duties and replaced by Bruce Prichard.

Bischoff is still a fairly significant name in wrestling due to his success in WCW, including leading the promotion to 83 consecutive ratings wins over WWE's Raw during the Monday Night War. Additionally, his podcast is among the most popular ones in wrestling currently.

He is capable of moving the needle when used correctly, and while Bischoff seems content to stay out of the spotlight, it also stands to reason that AEW could look to bring him back at some point if it comes up with an interesting way to use him.

McAfee Expects to Perform Well vs. Cole

Former Indianapolis Colts punter and popular sports personality Pat McAfee is set to face Adam Cole in a match at NXT TakeOver: XXX on Aug. 22.

McAfee is inexperienced when it comes to working pro wrestling matches, but he insisted Tuesday on his Pat McAfee Show podcast (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News) that he won't embarrass himself unlike some other crossover performers in recent years:

"Listen, I got in shape for my wedding. Best shape that I've been in in a long time. It is nothing just to continue that to go, and I will make sure that I won't look terrible in there like the Saturday Night Live guys did. And by the way, Tyson Fury, best boxer I've ever seen, he looked terrible in the [WWE] ring. There's been a lot of outsiders, even though I've worked for NXT for a few years, and I've had a match before. Shout out WARPIG, IWA East Coast. I also kicked his head off, pinned him. It's a common trend here. I am undefeated. I don't know if anybody in NXT is currently undefeated throughout their entire professional wrestling career like me."

Cole and McAfee have been at odds for the past two years dating back to an NXT live event in Indianapolis in 2018, which saw McAfee interfere and prevent Cole from cheating against Aleister Black.

Last month, Cole appeared on McAfee's podcast and blew up at the former NFL punter. Cole dropped several curse words and shoved a producer before storming off. It turned out that the incident was an angle meant to build a match between them.

McAfee was on commentary last week during an NXT Tag Team Championship match between Imperium and Undisputed Era. Cole heard McAfee taking shots at him, which led to Cole pouring water on McAfee.

They then had to be separated, but McAfee broke free and punted Cole in the head, leaving him laying on the floor as NXT went off the air.

NXT founder Triple H challenged McAfee on Cole's behalf and Cole accepted, which made Cole vs. McAfee official for NXT TakeOver: XXX.

It will be the first celebrity crossover match to ever take place at a TakeOver, but given McAfee's charisma and athletic background, he should have what it takes to acquit himself well and tell a good story with one of the best all-around wrestlers in the world in Cole.

Backstage Notes on Baszler's Raw Underground Appearance

Shayna Baszler made her Raw Underground debut on Monday's episode of Raw and didn't disappoint, as she beat down three women at the same time.

Baszler is a former UFC fighter and close friend of former UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, so it came as little surprise that she was booked to mow down whoever was put in front of her.

That was by design, as Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live (h/t Upton) said Tuesday that the three women Baszler decimated were told to hold back and act like they didn't know how to fight.

Alvarez noted that in actuality, Emily Andzulis, Marina Tucker and Sofia Castillo all have MMA training and likely could have held their own far better in a legitimate situation.

While all of them have trained, none have top-level fighting experience like Baszler, so it is fair to say that the result likely would have been the same regardless even if Andzulis, Tucker and Castillo were told to try.

Raw Underground is designed to look like a shoot fight, but it is still a worked situation that is booked out ahead of time, so the fighting experience of the women Baszler beat down was never going to play a role.

Thus far, Raw Underground has been used to introduce new talent and put over existing talent, and if WWE continues to put Baszler in a featured spot, it could work wonders for her career, as it is an environment in which she can thrive.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Pat McAfee might have been an All-Pro punter in the NFL, but he might have bitten off more than he can chew when he knocked out Adam Cole during WWE NXT on Wednesday.

Triple H appeared on ESPN's Get Up to say Cole was issuing a challenge for McAfee at NXT TakeOver XXX.

McAfee uploaded a video to Twitter saying he will meet Cole inside the ring on Aug. 22 (warning: video contains profanity).

McAfee, who was listed at 233 pounds in his last season in the NFL four years ago, was working at the broadcast booth on Wednesday night and calling a match between members of Imperium and The Undisputed Era. Cole confronted McAfee, continuing the beef that predated the most recent installment of NXT.

WWE officials attempted to escort McAfee out of the Full Sail University arena, only for him to give Cole an up-close and personal look at his punting technique.

This certainly represents a stark contrast for Cole when compared to the most recent major NXT event. He successfully defended the NXT Championship against Velveteen Dream at NXT TakeOver: In Your House in June.

He subsequently dropped the belt to Keith Lee on the second night of the two-week Great American Bash show.

NXT has generally eschewed this kind of angle, especially for a TakeOver show. As a result, some fans probably won't be happy to see a former football player who has never wrestled get such a prominent match.

The storyline is already achieving what WWE set out to do, though.

Charlotte Flair enjoyed a second run with the NXT Women's Championship, which seemed like a clear tactic to boost NXT's ratings on USA Network. The strategy ultimately didn't work. 

Now, WWE is adopting a more traditional approach to draw in casual viewings who otherwise might not watch NXT every week.

Former NFL punter and current ESPN analyst Pat McAfee still has a pretty good right leg. Just ask Adam Cole.   

McAfee appeared on WWE NXT Wednesday night and introduced Cole to his former moneymaker:

That couldn't have felt good. 

The bad blood is either real between McAfee and Cole or it's very carefully curated after Cole appeared on McAfee's show last week and things turned confrontational (things get testy and NSFW around the 12:45 mark):

So it wasn't terribly surprising to see McAfee and Cole go at it Wednesday night. Cole got the worse of the exchange. 

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW. 

Adam Cole Apologizes for Pat McAfee Outburst

Adam Cole issued an apology Monday for his expletive-ridden rant at Pat McAfee on his podcast last week:

Cole took exception to several McAfee comments, including saying he does not compare to Shawn Michaels and that he was somewhat "small." Most who watched the show thought it was a work. McAfee works for WWE in addition to his podcasting duties and is a former NFL player, so it wouldn't have been a surprise if this were part of a storyline.

However, Cole's apology seemingly puts that to bed.

Vince McMahon Wishes Triple H Happy Birthday

Monday is Triple H's 51st birthday. WWE chairman Vince McMahon took to Twitter with a nice message to honor his son-in-law:

Styles Wants McIntyre At WrestleMania 37

AJ Styles still isn't quite done with the Undertaker—even if The Deadman says he's retired. Styles told BT Sport he hopes Undertaker wants to continue their rivalry at SummerSlam in search of his first Intercontinental championship. 

When he's done with that, though, Styles says he's setting his sights on winning the Royal Rumble and challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE title.

"Drew McIntyre would definitely be fun. It would definitely be fun to get in the ring with someone like that, with someone who understands who they are and understands what AJ Styles has got to do to beat someone like Drew McIntyre," Styles said, per Wrestling Inc.

"It would definitely be different, and it would be fun too. It would be hard-hitting, there's no doubt about that. I guarantee you that it would be hard-hitting. So yeah, how about Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania?"

This, of course, assumes McIntyre holds onto the championship for a full year into WrestleMania 37 season. His reign has shown no signs of slowing down, and it's unlikely he'll end his current program with Dolph Ziggler by dropping the strap.

If we get to Rumble season and McIntyre is still champ, a Styles matchup could be a showstopper.