Konnan says Adam Cole needs to change his body

Adam Cole missed roughly nine months of ring time after suffering multiple concussions last June. His return match in AEW took place at the end of March. Now that we’re over two months into his comeback, I guess it’s time for former wrestlers to criticize his body again.

On his Keepin’ It 100 podcast, Konnan outlined the changes that Adam needs to make to his body, while discussing if weight training should be mandatory in AEW:

“Maybe the new generation doesn’t give a fuck as far as the wrestlers, but I’ve always said it. If you have a tan and you look good, people see you in a different light. You don’t want to look like the fans, and that seems to be a problem nowadays with a lot of wrestlers where they don’t care how they dress or how they look. But you’re more marketable when you look in shape.

…I think that Adam Cole probably thinks…‘Hey this got me to the dance, why fix it if it ain’t broke?’ But…you’re in the major leagues now, and if The Rock dressed like that or looked like that, or Dave Batista, you know? Stone Cold was a whole different thing. He looked like he was in shape. He looked like he could beat your [ass]. But you’ve got to look the part.

Adam Cole, I like that guy as a person and as a performer, but he just needs a tan, and he needs a little bit more weight.

…I just think you’d be more marketable…’cause he’s got everything else, bro. The guy’s got the looks, the people are with him with the Boom and all that. He can wrestle. You know, he’s got a good a good look. Everything, bro….just those two little things.”

I never really understand it when people focus so much of their criticism on Cole’s smaller body size. Adam Cole is clearly over with the AEW audience, which indicates that the overall combination of strengths and weaknesses he brings to the table as a pro wrestler is working very well for him. That’s largely because he nails two of the most important aspects of being a pro wrestler, which are talking on the mic and getting fans invested in his matches with expert ring work.

Konnan’s comments were made prior to last night’s Dynamite, where Cole and MJF tore the house down for 30 minutes. I think that match serves as a pretty obvious counterpoint as to why Adam doesn’t need to change his body.

Would it help Adam in some way as a pro wrestler if he got a tan and put on some weight? I’m not convinced that’s true, but even if I go along with Konnan’s assumption, it doesn’t change the fact that Adam is over, making good money, and in an upper card spot in AEW. If he was competing for a top spot in WWE, then yes, Konnan’s criticisms would be more relevant, but the AEW booker is not named Vince McMahon.

Adam Cole is a great pro wrestler, but he’s not perfect. That’s a statement that can be said about most top stars in WWE and AEW. Konnan even admits that Cole has “everything” except for “two little things.”

But for some reason, Cole’s lack of size seems to upset some people more than another’s wrestler’s inferior mic skills or inferior ring work compared to him. The idea that his smaller body somehow is a bigger mark against him than the weaknesses of other wrestlers is a strange concept that makes no sense to me.

The bottom line is that most wrestlers today would love to be as over as Adam Cole is with fans, because that’s typically the key to making money and being successful in pro wrestling. He clearly didn’t need to make these changes to his body to get that over, and he won’t need to change his body in the future to maintain being over at this level. The evidence is staring wrestling fans in the face every week he appears on AEW television.