Current NXT Champion, Adam Cole, has opened up about the impact negative social media used to have on him as a performer.

Speaking with Lilian Garcia on her podcast, Chasing Glory, Cole described how he used to value what the internet thought about him and his matches, stating that “it really meant everything to me.” He explained that his mindset came from the fact that, at the time, the only buzz you could generate as an independent pro wrestler was online. Because of this, he allowed any sort of overt negativity to affect how he perceived himself and his work.

“At that point, wrestling on the Independents, your only real buzz was online,” Cole explained. “In the arena, you’d wrestle in front of 200 people tops, so it’s not like the world was talking about it. You would hope that word of mouth, people would speak highly of you.”

“It mattered to me so much that I would have a match that I loved, the guy I was working with loved, and the boys loved. But if two or three people said, ‘that sucked,’ then the match sucked to me. I was like, ‘I gotta stop doing that.’ It was ruining my perception on what is fun and what I know is good.”

He continued, explaining that he barely checks his Twitter account anymore. Instead, he stays away from social media in general.

“People are entitled to their opinion. But it’s when people take hard and crazy, ‘I wish this person wasn’t alive’ type of stuff. I can’t imagine watching a movie and then going online and being like, ‘This movie sucked! Leonardo DiCaprio! Shutter Island! TRASH!’”