WWE Hall of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland shocked the wrestling world last night by appearing at AEW’s Wrestle Dream pay-per-view, confronting longtime former tag team partner Christian Cage during his match with Darby Allin. After weeks of speculation, Copeland confirmed he had become “all-elite” and now going by his real name along with the moniker Rated R Superstar.
There have been a few switches between WWE and AEW in the past few weeks with Brian Pillman, Jr and Jade Cargill joining WWE–something that has been pretty commonplace going back to the foundation of WCW in the early ’90s. Copeland is AEW’s first big former WWE signing in over a year and didn’t mince words when it came to tribalism and brand loyalty when supporting wrestlers.
“As some of you may now know, I’m no longer with WWE. My new home is AEW,” Copeland said on his personal Twitter account. “I’m excited. Whole new roster. Some familiar faces that I wanted to work with again and a whole set of first-ever matches. New challenges, and if you’ve followed my career, you know that’s what I’ve always been driven by.”
He then went into thanking his former employer for his past career that defined him. Copeland also wanted to address that he felt he and WWE outgrew each other and it was a mutual thing saying he wanted to do more, but it didn’t really have much more for him. He added he will continue watching WWE and supporting his friends from afar.
“I don’t buy into this odd mentality of one company or the other. It’s weird. If you took offense to that, take a walk, get some fresh air, and soak up some sunshine. It’s wrestling. An amazing gig. But still, it’s wrestling. Relax. It’s supposed to be fun,” he said. “And it’s just a segment of the fans, not most fans, and definitely not the performers. Within the industry, we all know that more choices [are] better for everyone and pushes us all to be better. As a wrestling fan, which I still am, it’s exciting that there’s viable companies providing wrestling on national and worldwide platforms. If you’re actually a fan of wrestling, and not acronyms, that should make you happy too.”
He added that if anybody has ever appreciated his work, they still can, “no matter what the initials are.” During the media scrum both Copeland and AEW owner Tony Khan confirmed that Copeland will be appearing on this week’s episode of Dynamite to address the AEW audience for the first time. Copeland will also go up against Luchasaurus at Title Tuesday.
Copeland was originally offered a place in the AEW roster back in late 2019, but wanted to get cleared to wrestle and if he would, he would go to WWE if they would have him. He would ultimately return at the 2020 Royal Rumble event and had another three years in the company before having his last match in Toronto against Sheamus.
“Part of coming here is that I wanted to contribute, I wanted to help,” Copeland said during the scrum. “I just felt, like, here I’d be able really do that, have the opportunity to do that. I look at an entire fresh roster of faces, and so many talent I’ve never laid hands on before. As a person driven by challenges, that to me was the biggest thing.”
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
