Adam Cole

Austin Kirk Jenkins (born July 5, 1989) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Adam Cole and leads the Undisputed Kingdom stable.

He is also known for his tenures with WWE and Ring of Honor (ROH).

Austin Jenkins was born on July 5, 1989, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and raised in nearby Manheim.

He has a younger brother.

His parents separated when he was 10 years old.

Jenkins took karate lessons as a child.

Jenkins competed in wrestling at Manheim Central High School before quitting his senior year so he could get a job to pay for his professional wrestling training.

Jenkins was trained at the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) Wrestling Academy by D. J. Hyde and Jon Dahmer.

He became an official student at the Academy on November 14, 2007, while he was still a senior in high school.

He made his CZW debut at No Pun Intended as Adam Cole on June 21, 2008, when he teamed with The Reason in a loss to GNC (Joe Gacy and Alex Colon).

His next appearance was on September 13 at the Chri$ Ca$h Memorial Show, when he defeated Tyler Veritas in a CZW Wrestling Academy showcase match.

Cole then began to feud with GNC, facing them in several matches with different partners, which led to GNC and EMO defeating Cole, L.J. Cruz and HDTV in a six-man tag team match on October 11.

At the following show named Night of Infamy 7: Greed, GNC defeated Cole and HDTV in a regular tag team match.

Cole gained his first win over GNC at Cage of Death 10: Ultraviolent Anniversary on December 13, when he, Veritas, and Cruz defeated GNC and EMO in a six-man tag team match.

Cole began his eight-year tenure with ROH in 2009 and went on to become the first-ever three-time ROH World Champion.

In 2009, Cole teamed regularly with Tyler Veritas and they won a tag team gauntlet match, outlasting the teams of The S.A.T., L.J. Cruz and Izzy Kensington, 2.0, All Money Is Legal, and GNC at X: Decade of Destruction – 10th Anniversary in February.

At the following show in March, they won a four-way match against the team of Jagged and Cole Calloway, GNC, and Team AnDrew (Andy Sumner and Drew Gulak).

After Cole took a hiatus from CZW, he returned at A Tangled Web 2 on August 8, where he and Veritas won another four-way match against BLKOUT, Team Macktion (TJ Mack and Kirby Mack), and The Spanish Armada (Alex Colon and L.J. Cruz).

At Down With the Sickness Forever on September 13, Cole and Veritas challenged for The Best Around (Bruce Maxwell and TJ Cannon) for the CZW World Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful.

For the remainder of 2009, Cole and Veritas began focusing on singles competition, as they both entered the tournament to determine the inaugural CZW Wired TV Champion, with Cole defeating Alex Colon and Rich Swann en route to the final at Cage of Death 11, where he lost to Veritas.

At Walking on Pins and Needles in March 2010, Cole wrestled Sabian to a 15-minute time-limit draw.

Later in 2010, Cole began challenging for the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship and on April 10 at Swinging for the Fences, Cole faced defending champion Sabian in a match that ended in a 20-minute time-limit draw.

On May 8, 2010, Cole won the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating defending champion Sabian and Ruckus in a three-way match at Fist Fight.

Cole successfully defended the championship against Ryan Slater in both June and August and BLK Jeez in September.

At It's Always Bloody in Philadelphia on October 9, Cole turned into a heel (villainous character) by attacking long-time tag team partner Veritas and successfully defended the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship against A. R. Fox later that night.

In November, Cole toured Germany with CZW and he retained the championship against Zack Sabre Jr. at Live in Germany in Oberhausen.

In December, Cole gained Mia Yim as a manager and she helped him to retain the Junior Heavyweight Championship in two separate matches at Cage of Death XII.

At Twelve: Anniversary in February 2011, Cole qualified for the Best of the Best X tournament by defeating Pinkie Sanchez.

On April 9 at Best of the Best X, Cole qualified for the final of the tournament by defeating Johnny Gargano and Kyle O'Reilly in a three-way match in the first round and Sabre in the semi-final, then defeating Sami Callihan in the final, thus winning the Best of the Best X tournament.

Cole then developed an alliance with his trainer D. J. Hyde, with Hyde helping Cole to retain the championship against Fox in May.

Further title defenses against Jonatham Gresham, Chuck Taylor and AJ Curcio followed throughout the year.

On November 12, Cole lost the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Callihan despite both Hyde and Yim interfering on his behalf, ending his reign at 553 days, the longest reign in the championship's history.

At An Excellent Adventure in January 2012, Cole unsuccessfully challenged Devon Moore for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship.

Cole's alliance with Hyde ended at the Best of the Best 11 internet pay-per-view, when Hyde gained a new protégé in Tony Nese who Cole went on to defeat in a match.

In addition, he is a one-time ROH World Television Champion, and the winner of the 2014 ROH Survival of the Fittest tournament.

Cole has also wrestled for several independent promotions, including Chikara, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where he is a former CZW World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he is a former PWG World Champion; he holds the records for longest reigns for both titles.

He also worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was part of the Bullet Club stable.

From 2017 to 2021, Cole was signed to WWE and performed on their NXT brand.

During this time, Cole was the leader of The Undisputed Era, whose membership included Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly, and later Roderick Strong.

Cole was the second wrestler to become the NXT Triple Crown Champion, having been the inaugural NXT North American Champion, a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion, and is the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all-time.