Former WWE Star Adam Copeland Says He'd Be Retired Today If Not For AEW

Adam Copeland, the former Edge in WWE, left the company many fans assumed he'd spend the rest of his career in and made the jump to AEW in October 2023, days after his WWE contract officially expired. Since then, he's found success, from winning the TNT Championship twice, to now, holding the AEW World Tag Team Championships alongside real-life best friend Christian Cage.

Copeland recently appeared on "The Ariel Helwani Show" and spoke about making the jump to Tony Khan's company. He said the goal this entire time wasn't to chase titles, but just to have fun.

"I just wanted to come and have fun and create with some performers that I'd never had the chance to touch," he said. "That, and the fact that I knew I'd get the chance to team with [Cage] again and go against teams like FTR and the Bucks ... I'd kind of run the gamut with WWE. There wasn't much left to do for either, for the company or for me. To me, that writing was pretty clearly on the wall. It was more along the lines of, 'Am I going to go to AEW or am I going to retire?"

He said that during his final match in WWE with Sheamus, he still wasn't sure what he was going to do. He said things became more clear after looking at AEW's roster, and the wrestling landscape overall, and speaking with not just Khan, but his own daughters.

"Once I sat down and talked with my girls and threw it their way, because we do that," Copeland said. "We'll sit down and talk to them and get their take on things and they said, 'Well you've gotta go there.' I was already leaning there, but that really sealed it."

When Helwani asked him if he believes he'd be fully retired if AEW wasn't an option, Copeland said he thinks he would be. He said he would have done a year in WWE, then retired how everyone would have wanted it to happen.

"Man, this has kind of breathed new life into me in terms of the creative avenues that we can take, because, again, I feel like we've kind of driven down most of those avenues with WWE," Copeland said.

He put over AEW's roster once again, and specifically singled out Samoa Joe, saying it was "odd" that they had never been in the ring together, with all of the experience between them. Copeland said he looks at all the young guys in AEW and realizes how stacked the roster really is. He said he's still enjoying his time between the ropes, which is the most important thing to him.

"That to me is honestly the biggest checkmark to me, is it's still fun," he said. "When it doesn't become fun, then why do it? Because the reason I wanted to do this is because you don't have to grow up. You just get to jump around in spandex and be a big kid, right? So, while it still feels like that, I'm going to keep doing it and AEW has helped in that regard, because it's giving me all of these new, fresh things to look at and try and conquer."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.