The saddest moment of last July’s AEW All In pay-per-view is when Adam Cole vacated the TNT championship after talking about “health problems” that will keep him out of action for a very long time. It was evident from Cole’s words that this could be a career-ending injury.
The originally scheduled match at All In was supposed to be Cole defending the title against heel Kyle Fletcher, who was widely expected to become the new champ. After Cole vacated the belt, the match was instead changed to a 4-way
with a feel-good ending, as old man underdog babyface Dustin Rhodes won the title. Fletcher went on to win the title from Rhodes at the end of the month in a Chicago Street Fight.
In a new interview with Soundsphere Magazine, Fletcher explained why All In 2025 was one of the worst days of his life.
“It was one of the worst days of my whole life.
When you have so much built up anxiety and you’ve put that pressure on yourself…You know, I’d been dieting for two, three months leading up to that show. Every single day, I’d been thinking about this moment, this match, all of it. And then the rug gets pulled five hours before. You can’t really put into words what that kind of feels like.
…I was just in this weird limbo. I had no idea what was gonna happen, and I had flown my mum out for that show. It was obviously a huge day for me, and then it just all went to shit.”
Fletcher hopes things turn out much better this year at All In 2026:
“Obviously, this is my perspective. It’s very hard for me to complain about it, because I don’t feel like I have the right to complain about it. But yeah, it was very emotional in a lot of different ways, and not how you want a big day like that to go. So I think, especially this year, I just want to make sure it’s a day to remember and a much more positive one.”
While discussing Fletcher’s interview, Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez said he heard from lots of people who are “furious” over Kyle’s woe-is-me remarks, especially because he’s the guy who gave Cole the potentially career-ending concussion just days before All In.
“I was pretty much furious reading this, and trust me, I was not the only one. I heard from a lot of people today furious reading this.
So the reason that the ‘rug got pulled out’ from under Fletcher…is because he lariated Adam Cole’s head off, and concussed him, and that’s why Cole had to vacate the title. And I’m not sure if you guys remember or not, but that’s pretty much the end of Adam Cole’s career.
As far as I know, it is the end of his career. He is still not 100 percent. He probably, for all I know, may never be 100 percent. I don’t know if he’s ever wrestling again…he was so depressed that he was gonna go out and just announce his retirement, and people talked him out of it…
There’s a very good chance that Adam Cole is never wrestling again…the fact is, the thing that ended Adam Cole’s career is Kyle Fletcher lariated his head off. That’s what happened. And then I had to read this interview about how it was the worst day of Kyle’s life. He didn’t win the belt, because he lariated the guy’s head off and concussed him, and the guy had to vacate the title.”
I have to agree that Kyle’s words really do look bad when he’s making the awfulness of that day all about himself, given his reported role in Cole’s concussion, combined with the “rug gets pulled” comment. Yikes, that’s just a really dumb and self-centered thing to say, and I get why people are pissed off about it.
What’s your reaction to Kyle Fletcher’s thoughts about the worst day of his whole life? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
