Adam Copeland, formerly known as Edge, made his promotional debut at Sunday’s AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view event after his WWE contract had expired in September.
There had been speculation that Copeland could stay with WWE by signing a new deal, go to AEW, or simply retire as an active in-ring performer.
While speaking with CBS Sports, Copeland opened up on his decision and noted that this will be his last run as a full-time performer. He noted that he knows going into that it’s going to be hard, but he enjoys it and that’s who he is.
“As I got closer to the end of the deal, retirement was a very, very real option. It was not off the table…” Copeland said. “I really sat with the idea of retirement because I truly thought like, ‘Man, WWE gave me that night. I don’t know how that gets topped.’ And that’s still in my brain. But I guess now it’s like, ‘OK, how can I try and top it in this new environment.’ Honestly, that Toronto show was a send-off of that character and it was the perfect way for that character to go out. Wrestling a guy that I’ve never wrestled that I always wanted to. It was just so much fun in there. That night, I’ll never forget it. I’ll always have that night with me. I told Sheamus that too. That will be one of the most special nights in my career, always.”
Copeland called ending his career with Christian Cage, his longtime friend and tag team partner, a dream scenario. His wife, Beth Phoenix, also played a major factor in his decision.
Copeland noted that the AEW deal came together quickly, two weeks before his debut.
“It wasn’t until my contract was up on [Sept. 21]. It wasn’t until then,” Copeland said. “So it was really, really quick to get everything done and get everything dialed in. Figuring out so many things like getting with Alter Bridge and getting the music and doing all of those things. There were nine or 10 days. I didn’t know immediately, but I thought that’s where I wanted to go. I really thought that working with Jay again was what I wanted to do and how I pictured it in a perfect world. Beth said, ‘What’s your perfect world? ‘I was like, ‘My perfect world is that I end my career with Jay.’ So suddenly that perfect world looked like it could be there. It’s tough to pass that up.”
Copeland noted that he got the sense of not having a plan in WWE for him because he’s done everything that there is to do. He also admitted to coming up against creative walls and having difficulty coming up with ideas.
Copeland wanted to wrestle more than 10 times a year, but WWE wanted to keep him feeling special when he did wrestle.
“There was also the conundrum that I was contracted for 10 matches a year. I offered to do more, but to their point, it wouldn’t feel quite as special, which I understood too… It just felt like neither one of us really had any ideas and that’s never been the case before. So when you look at that and then I look at my best friend over there having the time of his life, at a certain point, once I thought, ‘You know what, I still have a window here where I can do this and I don’t feel like I’m maximizing that.’ I think that was really what it boiled down to.
He’ll do a promo this week on Dynamite before working his first match under the AEW banner on next week’s Tuesday edition of Dynamite when he will face Luchasaurus.
