Could Edge Wind Up in AEW After His WWE Contract Expires?

WWE's Edge (Adam Copeland) brought up the subject of retirement in a number of interviews leading up to his WrestleMania 39 match against Finn Balor inside of Hell in a Cell. The 11-time former world champion has expressed his desire to retire from in-ring competition once his current WWE contract expires (reportedly later this year) and that he'd like his final match to be in his home city of Toronto. Dave Meltzer then noted in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there were "behind-the-scenes" discussions about Edge and Christian Cage having one last run as a tag team, but Cage is currently working in AEW.

"Edge signed a three-year deal for $3 million per year in early 2020 and likely the time was extended due to injuries but would be up later this year. Tony Khan had approached him while he was retired to come to AEW, but WWE made the bigger offer and he went back to WWE at the time," Meltzer wrote. 

Meanwhile, FTR's Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler are good friends to both Edge and Beth Phoenix. Harwood, who just announced he and Wheeler have signed new four-year deals with AEW, has openly talked on his FTR podcast about a dream match between FTR and E&C.

"They won't mind me saying this but this is more possible than a lot of people might think. Me and Cash, FTR against Edge and Christian. That's a tag team match I would absolutely love to have. Those two guys are two of the best storytellers in the ring. I don't think that's an overstatement or over-rating them, I think a lot of people see that as well. They're incredible storytellers," Harwood said back in February (h/t TJRWrestling). 

But insider WrestleVotes seemed to throw cold water on the idea in his latest update with GiveMeSport. According to them, people within WWE aren't expecting Edge to make the jump to Tony Khan's company even after his current deal expires. 

"If he retires the summer in Toronto, I wouldn't be surprised. I would be surprised if he finishes his current deal and then goes to AEW, WWE would be surprised too. Even though you've got Christian factor, you know, they could team one more time and wrestle each other one more time, I'd be surprised if he wrestles past WWE. WWE would be very surprised as well," the insider reported.