That rumor about Adam Cole managing heel Keith Lee still has legs to it

Last week there was a story going around about WWE planning to turn Keith Lee heel and call Adam Cole up to the main roster to be his manager. On top of that, Adam Cole’s name would be changed because it clashed with Michael Cole. The idea sounded completely absurd, but it was being confirmed by multiple outlets. Then came today’s update that Adam Cole denied knowing anything about this plan.

You didn’t think the story would fade away that easily, did you?

On today’s Mat Men podcast, Andrew Zarian spoke more about the story and Cole’s denial, concluding he’s more convinced than before there’s a lot of truth behind it:

“I can tell you that I had heard there was a plan for [Keith Lee] to be heel with a manager...I suspect Adam Cole’s denial was that either he wasn’t in the know, fully, or it’s a blatant denial. I don’t know. I have not been told this. But, in seeing what I have seen and hearing what I have heard, I’m starting to believe that may have been the plan for him...I can tell you that he made the right choice by leaving [WWE].”

“I am under the impression that this would have been some sort of plan. I don’t know if they would have actually gone through with it, but I would believe that this was part of the idea.”

When the story first broke last week about Adam Cole managing Keith Lee, Zarian said he heard something similar to what was being reported. His response here makes it a little clearer that the similar thing he heard last week revolved around the planned heel turn for Keith Lee with a manager. It doesn’t sound like he heard a specific name for who that manager might be.

But even with Cole’s denial, Zarian has apparently seen and heard things that make him more convinced Cole was indeed the person planned to be Lee’s manager. It’s worth noting that Dave Meltzer’s original description of the story included the tidbit that Cole didn’t necessarily know about the plan.

You can decide for yourself what Zarian’s vagueness throughout his response is worth to you, if anything at all. But I can tell you from seeing the things I’ve seen and hearing the things I’ve heard, that I am under the impression we haven’t heard the last of this story.