WWE legend Adam 'Edge' Copland debuts at AEW WrestleDream

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Edge is All Elite.

Edge, whose real name is Adam Copeland, made his debut during the AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday night.

After longtime former tag partner Christian Cage defeated Darby Allin to retain the TNT championship in the main event, Cage, Luchasaurus and newly turned heel Nick Wayne were attacking Allin and Sting.

The lights went out and a video package hit of a man entering a car.

The lights came back, and Copeland’s ‘Metalingus” theme song from WWE hit to a huge crowd pop.

When in the ring, Copeland looked for a second as if he might join Cage, but ended up hitting Wayne with a chair and eventually shaking hands with Sting and Allin.

Copeland, who will still go by the “Rated R Superstar” moniker, said after the show that he will be a “full-time” performer in AEW on a weekly basis.

“Part of coming here is I wanted to contribute,” Copeland said in the post-event press conference. “I wanted to help. I felt like here I’d really be able to do that and have the opportunity to do that.”

Copeland’s first match in AEW will be against Luchasaurus on Oct. 10 on Dynamite.

There had been rampant speculation Copeland, 49, would be joining AEW after he got an emotional send-off following a match with Sheamus on SmackDown in his hometown of Toronto on Aug. 18. 

His WWE contract ran out on Sept. 30.

After the show and days later on social media, Copeland said he was uncertain what the future held for him.

“I have a [WWE] contract extension sitting in my inbox,” Copeland said in a social media video on Sept. 24. “I just don’t know what to do. The first time I had to retire, it was forced. This time the choice is in my lap and it’s a lot harder.”

His decision ended up giving AEW one of the biggest signings in company history at a time when it could use some positive buzz after the drama surrounding CM Punk’s firing and the departure of Jade Cargill to WWE.

This marks the first time the WWE Hall of Famer will be working outside WWE since 1996, and it opens up a number of dream scenarios.

“There are just so many possibilities here, for me at this stage of my career that is so enticing, that is so exciting,” Copeland said. “I felt free [out there tonight]. I felt free and it felt fun.”

Copeland, an 11-time world champion in WWE, can now feud with and potentially reunite with Cage, his best friend and former tag-team partner who is on a tremendous heel run in AEW. 

Both men dealt with what were deemed at the time career-ending injuries, and were last in the ring together on TV at the 2021 Royal Rumble.

They last tagged together on “Monday Night Raw” against Brodus Clay and Alberto Del Rio in March of 2011.

There is the potential of renewing his historic rivalry with Matt and Jeff Hardy and the opportunity to wrestle some of AEW’s top young stars in MJF, Darby Allin and Hook. Or he could have a dream match with Kenny Omega or New Japan’s Will Ospreay. 

“I look at an entire fresh roster of face and so many talent that I’ve never laid hands on [in the ring],” Copeland said. “As a person who is driven by challenges, that for me was the biggest thing. I’ve never been in a ring with Samoa Joe. I never stood in a ring with Sting before tonight.”

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