AEW shocked the wrestling world when Adam Copeland, formerly Edge in WWE, came out to close out WrestleDream.
Despite the various reports of him doing so, there were many that didn’t think he’d leave WWE and would just retire. Various sources within WWE were citied as saying they believed he was going to AEW, and he proved them right.
What was surprising in many ways about his debut was that he came out as the Rated R Superstar and to his WWE theme music.
This got a lot of people’s attention as the WWE is known for begin super stingy when it comes to any properties they own like his moniker.
While there’s been no reason given why the WWE didn’t renew their trademark for “Rated R Superstar”, it was most likely as a favor to Copeland who left on good terms with the WWE and they’ve reported said the door is always open if he decides to return.
Whatever the reason, it’s a cool moment as it allows him to be instantly recognized by fans everywhere.
New beginning, old style
There was an added twist to Copeland being able to use Alter Bridge’s “Metalingus” because he’s friends with the bank and they allowed it, and that’s having his wife, Beth Phoenix, do the opening audio for it.
It was reported by Chris Mueller of Bleacher Report on Twitter/X that the voice at the beginning of Copeland’s theme song was Pheonix’s and they recorded the soundbite themselves.
His appearance was met with a huge pop and he had the same energy and enthusiasm when he came out to thwart Christian Cage, Luchasaurus, and Nick Wayne by siding with Darby Allin and Sting.
Afterwards, Copeland explained that he signed a full time deal with AEW and will wrestle across all of their programming. His next stop is cutting a promo on this week’s AEW Dynamite and his first match will be on next Tuesday’s edition of Dynamite where he’ll wrestle Luchasaurus.
It’s just the first of so many new matches and opponents he’ll face as he’ll most likely work his way up to feud with Christian in what will be a fun rivalry before they ultimately rejoin as a tag team.
At least, that’s how we expect things to go as it makes sense that would be the ultimate result. Either way, it’ll be fun seeing Copeland in different matches than we’ve gotten used to seeing as he’ll help bring the younger talent along as well as the company over all.
Did you think Edge was going to leave WWE? Let us know in the comments below.
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