Why Kyle O'Reilly Calls Upcoming AEW Collision Match A 'Full-Circle Moment

The May 11 edition of "AEW Collision" will be a special night for Kyle O'Reilly as he will challenge Adam Copeland for the AEW TNT Championship in his hometown of Vancouver, Canada. During an appearance on "The Wrestling Classic," O'Reilly explained that his first live experience of wrestling was in the very same building that "AEW Collision" will take place in, so the match will be a special one. 

"It's really a full circle moment for me," O'Reilly said. "It's really cool and really special because I went to my very first live wrestling show at GM Place, which is now Rogers Arena in 1998. My dad took me and my friend and it was a really transcending experience; I remember so many details about it." The show O'Reilly attended was the WWE Rock Bottom pay-per-view, which was headlined by a Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. 

While there was no Vancouver representation on the card, two current AEW stars were a part of that show. "The only guys that were on that card that are actually in AEW were Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. They wrestled on that show, that's really cool. I've shared that with them as well, and here I am 25 years later coming to that building and yeah, it's going to be neat man." 

O'Reilly got his shot at Copeland's title by having his back during the TNT Champion's feud with the House of Black. Now, O'Reilly will look to take full advantage of Copeland's good nature by leaving his hometown as AEW TNT Champion.

Please credit "The Wrestling Classic" when using quotes from this article, and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.