In an interview with CBS Sports, Adam Copeland talked about his signing with AEW, and his confidence in this run being his last as an in-ring performer.
“I think that’s a very safe thing to say because I know how much work it’s going to take to be able to pull it off. I know that. I’m not in any way trying to fool myself into thinking I’m just going to trot through this whole thing.
It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be a lot of hard work. I enjoy hard work. I always have. It’s how I’m wired. It’s what I was born with. It’s in my DNA. So that’s super fun. But I’m also a realist and I understand that I’m not going to be able to maintain it for a super long time.”
Copeland competed in his last match in WWE on 8/18 against Sheamus, a first-time encounter that helped celebrate the 25th anniversary of Copeland’s debut with the company, and the Rated R Superstar admitted that he considered retirement a ‘very, very real option’ as his contract with WWE was coming to a close:
“I really sat with the idea of retirement because I truly thought like, ‘Man, WWE gave me that night. I don’t know how that gets topped.’ And that’s still in my brain.
But I guess now it’s like, ‘OK, how can I try and top it in this new environment.’ Honestly, that Toronto show was a send-off of that character and it was the perfect way for that character to go out. Wrestling a guy that I’ve never wrestled that I always wanted to. It was just so much fun in there. That night, I’ll never forget it. I’ll always have that night with me. I told Sheamus that too. That will be one of the most special nights in my career, always.”
The full interview includes comments on the the chance for Copeland to work with new competitors in AEW, as well as his best friend and longtime tag team partner Christian Cage, ahead of Copeland’s appearances on Dynamite and Collision this week before making his in-ring debut on 10/10 against Luchasaurus.