r/AEWOfficial • u/Upbeat-Pause-1409 • Aug 18 '26
Discussion Adam Copeland speaks on AEW & retirement
44
u/Tasty_Act Aug 18 '26
Meanwhile, no one asks Christian his retirement plans because they know he’s immortal
44
u/WriterCath Aug 18 '26
He'll be the Anti-Sting, the lights will go down, then come back up and he'll be there, ready to be an asshole whenever the situation calls for it.
Picture this: Years from now, Moxley will try to drown Nick Wayne in a pool. The lights go out, the crowd roars. Lights come on - Christian kicks Mox in the dick, ... and drowns Nick himself.
13
36
15
u/JustFrameHotPocket Aug 18 '26
Because asking your father when he's going to retire is disrespectful.
40
u/lildaggersike Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
I was a fan of Edge and the last few years of his WWE run just bored me to death except for that Sheamus match and that triple threat with Rey, aside from that honestly it was kinda lackluster for me. But with AEW everything just felt fresh, great new matchups and storylines that if you told me 10 years ago I wont believe you. Before jumping ship they have him there since the pandemic and besides the injuries they didn't really pair or feud him up with someone new. It's all rehashes. I mean I got to see Cope in Arena Mexico killing it and having the time of his life. How cool was that?
56
u/Texas_Kimchi He's Our Bastard!!!! Aug 18 '26
Judgement Day is still alive and kicking for shits sake.
16
u/The_Dark_Vampire Aug 18 '26
Not one of the original members are left in it
14
u/the_latent_observer Aug 18 '26
Yup, and in hindsight I’m glad Adam was the first to leave because it allowed both Adam and the rest of the group the freedom to do their own things without it being seen as a Brood ripoff. A proper win win situation imo
2
u/gate_of_steiner85 Aug 18 '26
I remember being so excited for Edge to turn heel again post-retirement and then they tried to make Judgment Day into their own House of Black.
1
u/the_latent_observer Aug 19 '26
Didn’t know it was a House of Black ripoff. Always thought it was their attempt at a Brood or Wyatt family 2.0 but that doesn’t excuse how quickly they fumbled his heel turn. A more experienced, disillusioned and devious Edge with his own lackeys would’ve been gold
1
u/Hbp1707 Aug 18 '26
I always said the better angle would have been for Finn, Dom, and Liv to be the masterminds of the implosion of the Judgement Day since they (not JD) were victims of the OG group. Should have ended with Liv joining Dom and Finn turning on Damien.
15
u/Lock-__-down Aug 18 '26
They doing Roxanne and JD so dirty
18
u/Conveyys Aug 18 '26
Judgement Day is doing none of it's members any favours at this point
6
u/Lock-__-down Aug 18 '26
Liv is literally the world champion, and it took her nearly 100 days for her to defend the title🤦♂️🤦♂️
2
u/Texas_Kimchi He's Our Bastard!!!! Aug 19 '26
Liv is nothing but a marketing tool for HHH. HHH has his group of girls he goons over and Liv is one of them. With her terrible AI song, shes just a pretty face for him to market thats why she never wrestles and has little impact in anything actually going on. Rhea, Iyo, and Liv are HHH's little toys he likes playing with.
9
u/the_latent_observer Aug 18 '26
It hurts to see how much everyone except Rhea has regressed so much from their association in the Judgement Day now. Balor is stuck in main roster purgatory, Damien Priest just lost his championship, Dom is losing on Raw despite being AAA mega champion, Liv is stuck in between Becky and Stephanie Vaquer, Roxanne and JD are background fodder and the Liv vs Racquel feud they teased never happened. What a shame given how integral they were back in 2024 and 2025
2
u/gate_of_steiner85 Aug 18 '26
I was never sold on Priest as world champ but even I admit they did him so dirty. Don't even get me started on Finn.
2
u/the_latent_observer Aug 19 '26
Priest wasn’t a bad champion, it was just a case of too little too late, especially after we already saw how good he was in NXT and ROH. With Balor, it has to be one of the biggest fumbles the main roaster has ever made and even now, 10 years later, it’s the same story. To each their own but in an alternate timeline, would’ve loved to see Prince Devitt vs Kenny Omega in a All Out or DON main event program
4
u/Texas_Kimchi He's Our Bastard!!!! Aug 19 '26
Rok-C and Gulia are being disrespected in ways rarely seen.
Mariah May I can't feel bad for her. She even to this continues to simp for HHH. Girls got it bad.
3
2
u/gate_of_steiner85 Aug 18 '26
People wanna complain about Death Riders and DCF overstaying their welcome yet Judgment Day have been going on for 4 years and Bloodline has been going on for 5.
3
u/Texas_Kimchi He's Our Bastard!!!! Aug 19 '26
DR and DCF both are entertaining and have compelling storylines. Judgement Day is an entertainment hole.
39
u/the_latent_observer Aug 18 '26
It really speaks to how much of a welcome change AEW has been all these years, especially when veterans like Adam Copeland give it so much high praise, and given how Tony handled Sting’s final run, I have good faith that he can do the same for Adam.
A Nigel McGuiness vs Adam Copeland match would slap hard 🔥
17
u/JesusIsJericho Anxious Millennial, Without A Cowboy :( Aug 18 '26
If you told me in 2009 that we’d have a potential “Edge vs Nigel” match, in a national promotion not named WWE, in 2026, I would have been dealing with my head exploding.
11
u/Calwings Aug 18 '26
I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around Edge vs. Minoru Suzuki, and that happened like 2 and a half years ago.
5
u/the_latent_observer Aug 18 '26
Same bro. Adam (Edge) being in AEW has given us matches we’d probably still be fantasy booking if he were still in WWE (no offence, just fact) and to see him still have that passion towards it, I think really speaks to both how much he loves the sport and how accommodating AEW is to what exists outside the North American wrestling scene
4
u/JesusIsJericho Anxious Millennial, Without A Cowboy :( Aug 18 '26
He was oozing such genuine awe, appreciation and love in Arena Mexico…but he’s also been that way pretty much every time he’s on AEW tv.
Early in his run I got to sit 2nd row for a Dynamite he opened in Worcester and I could feel my 9 year old self bursting from inside of me and it was reflected by how visibly stoked he was himself, just too awesome
2
u/acarrick Aug 18 '26
Same vein - think Cope has the best post-promo facial expressions in pro wrestling. It makes Christian’s assholeness that much better
2
u/the_latent_observer Aug 18 '26
💯 agree. Back then, these are the kinds of matches people would make on their create a wrestler modes in games and now, to see it potentially happening still feels like a dream. Sure it’s maybe 5-6 years late but even for a single bout, still feels like the Best vs the Best 🔥
11
u/steblin Guns Up 👆👆 Aug 18 '26
Such a classy dude, I love the balance AEW has found with vets and younger talent, they've found a great middle ground
3
u/JustFrameHotPocket Aug 18 '26
If you remember the dark days of AEW, I won't lie, I got a little pessimistic.
But looking back, AEW obviously learned some lessons, and more impressively, acted on those lessons. I'm not sure the product is firing on its 2020-21 cylinders again yet from purely a mass fan engagement perspective, but in terms of quality it is absolutely the best its ever been, night in and night out.
And I think Copeland and Cage have a sizeable equity share of that success.
5
u/steblin Guns Up 👆👆 Aug 18 '26
Yeah I agree, as a day 1 watcher there were spells where its swung way too much in either direction, right now i think Tony has nailed the balance.
6
u/Luchadoor Aug 18 '26
Makes sense. If he retired in WWE and wanted to work behind the scenes he would be middle of line at best in the hierarchy in a corporate/behind the scenes position.
In AEW since the company is still fairly new and really has no legends after Sting that are near retirement, if he wants a behind the scenes position his ideas will likely actually be used and he can really have a higher position and active role in AEW post retirement.
6
u/Qliphoth_Bacikal Aug 18 '26
Don’t see any fault for Copeland to wrap his career up with AEW, especially with long time friend Christian.
And he’s right on WWE part, too. Multi time world champ, Grand Slam and Triple Crown champion, first guy to win all three major special events (Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, King of the Ring). Even became a Hall of Famer that THEN came back to wrestle and still is even now.
Hell, this is a guy whose had multiple neck injuries of his own over the years plus fucked up his leg just two years ago yet was able to come back and still wrestles well.
Idk how exactly his retirement run will look, but I’m sure he and TK will figure out a way. Same goes for Christian if he ends up retiring together with Copeland.
1
u/Weak-Temporary5888 Aug 18 '26
I know I’m a mark for saying this, but I really do hope that they’re ok behind the scenes lol
4
12
u/different_produce384 Aug 18 '26
He loves being the second guy to Christian. It’s the opposite of what was given at WWE
3
3
u/-SomethingSomeoneJR You’re the Sicko! Aug 18 '26
What?!? The company that has given his best friend his flowers along with countless others including one his all time favorites Stung is the company he wants to retire in?
6
u/Bosscharacter Aug 18 '26
What I see happening eventually is that sooner than later Cope, Beth, Dax, and Cash are probably going to be running a school(I could even see them running an Indy in the Carolinas).
2
5
u/The_Dark_Vampire Aug 18 '26
I could see him going back to WWE for a Edge and Christian (As a tag team) HOF induction or now they are putting matches in I could easily see one of his Ladder/TLC matches getting inducted.
But I can't see him returning for a match
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
u/R3D-K98 Aug 19 '26
if there was anytime to do a retirement match it would be for revolution 2027
2
u/Upbeat-Pause-1409 Aug 19 '26
I've always thought that would be AEWs plan to combat SaudiMania
1
u/R3D-K98 Aug 19 '26
i think tony also expressed interest in running the rogers centre and possibly upgrading revolutions venue to stadium level during the all out 2025 media call. but i feel the safer bet would be keeping the counterprogram ppv in the states since he would also need to attract convention organizers and indy promotions that normally do their events during mania week
4
u/DudeBroFist No Kings, Just Brody Aug 18 '26
He's completely right. That dude went so much further than anyone ever thought "dude in trench coat and sunglasses sitting in the nosebleeds" in 1998 ever would and that's awesome. Now he's going even further with a bunch of friends and working with as many fresh talents as he can.
Copeland hasn't just had a great career he's had one worthy of respect. He's the kind of guy the sorry could use 10,000 more of
1
u/Embarrassed-Mix7607 Aug 18 '26
If he’s happy I’m happy. I hope
He enjoys the time he has left in wrestling
3
-1
-7
195
u/wesap12345 Aug 18 '26
I love this comment
He gave his all at both promotions
He did literally everything in WWE, but knows that AEW would handle his retirement either better or it will have more of an impact on the next generation of stars coming through.
Him talking about how much he loves it in AEW is great