WWE Once Offered Adam Cole A Tryout Thinking He Was Xavier Woods

People make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of life. It just so happens that some mistakes are funny. One of these mistakes involved WWE offering Adam Cole a tryout thinking he was Xavier Woods.

How does this happen? Well, Cole explained the story to The Wrap. Largely it comes down to getting his name wrong as Cole’s real name is Austin Jenkins and Woods’ real name is Austin Watson. Regardless, it made for a hell of a story. Here is the quote:

“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.’ Then I get the email with the flight itinerary. Long story short, it’s the wrong name and I’m very confused and like, wait, what? I Google the name and up pops Xavier Woods. 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. Funny enough though, the best part is myself and Xavier Woods became buddies at that point because a few years later, I actually did go down to FCW for a week to try out and he was there and he had known the story and I told him the story, and we laughed and kind of became buddies because of it. And now he’s one of my very good friends.

This was back when Xavier Woods was known as Consequences Creed or Austin Creed during his time before WWE.

Adam Cole, meanwhile, got an appearance on SmackDown out of this snafu. In 2010, Cole was shown drinking in a bar with Serena Deeb before being confronted by the Straightedge Society. Not a bad consolation prize.

What do you think about Adam Cole and his story? Let us know on Twitter!

• tryout
• adam cole
• Xavier Woods
• wwe

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