Adam Copeland Explains How His AEW Debut Was “Really Close” Prior To Shocking WWE Return

When Adam Copeland was forced to retire from professional wrestling in 2011, there was a high likelihood he’d never step foot inside a wrestling ring ever again. Nearly ten years later he made his triumphant return at the 2020 Royal Rumble and shocked the entire wrestling world when “Metalingus” blared through the arena. He spent the next three years with WWE but when his contract ran out last August, he opted not to re-sign. 

But that wouldn’t be the end of the “Rated R Superstar” in wrestling as he’d quickly pop up in AEW at last year’s WrestleDream pay-per-view. Over the years, Copeland has been candid about another wrestling company giving him an offer before his WWE return but he ultimately turned it down. Reports over the years have indicated that he was extremely close to signing a contract with them at the time, similar to CM Punk who had been in talks with them for quite some time.

Copeland has since revealed that there were talks as far back as 2019 before he had been cleared to return. Though he was negotiating with everyone at the time and was “really close” to signing with AEW, Vince McMahon sat him down and told him that his return had to happen in WWE. 

“Really close, we had great discussions. So when I first started talking to AEW, I wasn’t yet cleared,” Copeland revealed on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. “I had made it, we talked about it like the bosses of each video game level. But I still wasn’t cleared by company doctors, right? So once all of those clearances started to come, I was like, ‘oh, this is real now. Okay.’ So before I did anything, I had to go kind of get the final clearance needed for either company. But I had negotiated with everybody. I was like, ‘okay, here’s where I’m at, here’s what I’ve been told I can do’ and started the process. And then in going to WWE and sitting down with Vince, he goes, ‘well, it’s got to happen here.’ At that stage, I looked at the equity built and it felt like having to start over, especially having to start over after having been gone for nine years felt really daunting, if that makes sense. It felt like at least with WWE that’s one thing off the table that I don’t have to worry about. I can come back and walk into the history of this character. I do feel like it needed to have happened there initially. I really do, if only for that Royal Rumble moment right before the pandemic hit and just feeling and experiencing that I’m happy the way it turned out.”

Copeland further explained a potential contract extension with AEW as he’s made it clear it’s the place he will retire. Though he’s not opposed to it if he can still wrestle at the level that he wants to, he also wants to be present for his family. “I mean, if I can still keep performing at a level, but more importantly a level that I can feel proud of. I just don’t want to get to a point where I’m like really struggling and just it’s like pulling teeth to get it done. I don’t want to do that. And thankfully, because of my career, I’m at a point where I don’t have to do that. I’m doing this because I just love it.” Copeland won the TNT Championship from his long-time best friend Christian Cage at AEW Dynamite back in March. It’s his first title win in AEW.