i have several theories about this stuff.
For smoking/BBQ.
setting aside the meat stops absorbing smoke at 140 theory.... Cold meat still takes longer to cook and to get to whatever target temp, thus the colder the meat, the longer smoke time, more smoke, more smoky flavor etc.. Jut my theory... your milage may vary..
For grilling, a very cold steak over high heat, the outside will char and cook heavier and the inside will stay more rare. If my goal is charred outside, rare to med-rare inside. I put it on right out of the fridge, if i want an even cook throughout, i let it warm up, sometimes will even set it in a ziplock in warm water to bring the temp up a little before grilling.
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Sidebar:
KCquer had 2 cool tricks, 1 - he used to put frozen steaks in the smoker to defrost, then when they defrosted thru, put them on the grill.
or, while he was cooking other stuff, he would put steaks in the smoker for a little while, get them some smoke and then freeze them while still raw pretty. Take them out and grill them when needed and they had some smoke inside them.