Kyle O’Reilly Opens Up About Adam Cole Stepping Away From In-Ring Action, Proud Of Cole For Prioritizing His Health

O’Reilly speaks about his longtime friend.

At AEW All In 2025, Adam Cole appeared and announced that he would be relinquishing the TNT Championship and stepping away from in-ring competition.

Kyle O’Reilly delved into that during his appearance on AEW Unrestricted. O’Reilly was asked how close he was to retiring after neck fusion surgery in 2022. He then spoke about wanting to be involved in the wrestling business after his in-ring career concludes.

O’Reilly discussed being grateful for the small moments and then mentioned Adam Cole.

“I mean, the truth is we didn’t know how much of my arm would come back, if any of it. So it was a very real possibility (that I’d have to retire). Thankfully, it did come back. I mean, it’s not the same. There’s a noticeable difference in my arms but, that’s beyond the point. What we do is entertainment and who needs a pesky bicep anyway? It’s just getting in the way…” O’Reilly joked. “I had faith in the process and I love this business. No matter what would have happened, I feel like I could be involved in some degree, no matter what and when it is time to hang up the boots, hopefully I’ll still be involved in the wrestling business to some degree, and that’s the beauty of what we do and that’s the beauty of what AEW is. We create those opportunities for guys who aren’t in the ring anymore. So I think there’s definitely a career post-wrestling and you know, we never know when our last match is gonna be so I’m grateful for every match that I have at this point moving forward because that’s the thing, maybe the show before All In, me and Roddy (Strong) and Adam (Cole) were having a six-man tag and before we go out the curtain, we just have a little pow wow and a little hug and we’re just so grateful for these moments that we get to have behind the curtain right before our music is about to hit, when it’s just the three of us and we’re focused on the match and the love that we have for each other and the trust that we all have for each other and just we never know how many of those we’re gonna have again and then lo and behold, we don’t know where Adam Cole’s at right now but, for the foreseeable future, that was his last match for the time being. You can’t take any of this for granted and you gotta appreciate and love every minute you get in there, you know?”

He continued speaking about Cole and expressed that he’s glad he got to have their latest run along with Roderick Strong as The Paragon.

“We just have so much love for each other. It’s unfortunate that it had to sort of — not end the way it did, because nothing’s ever over… But it’s just such a sad and unfortunate circumstance that what happened at All In but… I’m really proud of Adam (Cole) for making that call and for being the stand-up guy that he is and for taking his health into account and for starting that process to getting well again, and it’s huge and just forever proud of him and grateful that we got to do that again together. Like I was saying earlier, you never know when (you’ll have to) hang it up in wrestling and so, it’s just really weird that we got to say that that last match. Appreciate these moments while we got ‘em.” 

O’Reilly and Strong are a part of the Conglomeration faction in AEW. O’Reilly was in action at the Fright Night edition of AEW Dynamite against Jon Moxley. The match resulted in a double countout.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit AEW Unrestricted with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.