Photo: Gaye Gerard
Wrestling legend Adam Copeland revealed his apparent plans to finish his full-time in-ring career with All Elite Wrestling, as well as his biggest reason for signing with the company, during an exclusive interview with CBS Sports published on Tuesday (October 3).
Copeland, 49, a WWE Hall of Famer who spent his entire 25-year run with the company under the moniker of 'Edge,' said his goal is to end his wrestling career working alongside his best friend and longtime former tag-team partner, TNT Champion Christian Cage, whose real name is Jay Reso, a feeling he said was solidified after speaking with his two daughters.
"If we could end this together, that's the dream," Copeland said. "I sat down with my girls and I'm like, 'OK, so what does dad do, girls?' What do I do? And I laid out the scenarios for them. Lyric said it and then Ruby agreed, 'Go be with Uncle Jay and have fun.' And that doesn't mean that I'm not having fun in other places, but they know the most fun I'm going to have is with my best friend of the last 40 years."
Copeland said his wife, fellow WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, also played a major role in his decision to sign with AEW following the completion of his WWE contract last month.
"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 made his debut after the main event of the 'WrestleDream' pay-per-view in Seattle Sunday (October 1) night, confronting Cage and attacking his allies Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne -- the latter of whom turned on Cage's opponent Darby Allin minutes prior -- after Cage retained his TNT Championship and attacked Allin and fellow wrestling legend Sting after the match. The Toronto native's debut remained the No. 1 trending video on YouTube on Monday (October 2) and Tuesday with more than 3.4 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Copeland had won 31 total championships, the most of any wrestler in WWE history, during his tenure with the company, which includes a record seven World Heavyweight Championship reigns, as well as four WWE Championship reigns. The 49-year-old made his final WWE appearance on the August 18 episode of SmackDown in his hometown of Toronto, having announced that his contract would be expiring in September one day prior.
Copeland was signed exclusively to WWE since 1996, which included his early retirement due to a neck injury in 2011 and return to the ring in 2020. All Elite Wrestling has emerged as the biggest competition to WWE since its launch in 2019.
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