Adam Copeland: ‘WWE and I have just outgrown each other’

“WWE and I have just outgrown each other,” said Adam Copeland in a social media post in addressing leaving WWE and joining AEW. 

Copeland, whose WWE contract reportedly expired sometime last month, made a surprise debut for AEW at WrestleDream on Sunday. After the show, Copeland issued a statement on social media where he attempted to diffuse tribalism between WWE & AEW fans in addressing his move. 

Copeland wrote on X: 

From The Desk of… As some of you may now know, I’m no longer with WWE. My new home is AEW. I’m excited. Whole new roster. Some familiar faces that I wanted to work with again and a whole set of first ever matches. New challenges, and if you’ve followed my career, you know that’s what I’ve always been driven by. 1/4

But first and foremost I want to address my 25 years with WWE. I love WWE and appreciate everything the company did for me. Always have, always will. They put me on the map, gave me amazing opportunities and through hard work on both ends, I’ve been supplied with a wonderful life. Hell, WWE helped me meet the woman I’d start my family with. Sometimes relationships just grow apart and I feel the WWE and I have just outgrown each other. I wanted to do more. They didn’t have much more for me to do. Simple as that. And that’s ok. I’ll still be watching and still be supporting all of my friends there. 2/4

I don’t buy into this odd mentality of one company or the other. It’s weird. If you took offense to that, take a walk, get some fresh air and soak up some sunshine. It’s wrestling. An amazing gig. But still, it’s wrestling. Relax. It’s supposed to be fun. And it’s just a segment of the fans, not most fans, and definitely not the performers. Within the industry we all know that more choices is better for everyone and pushes us all to be better. As a wrestling fan, which I still am, it’s exciting that there’s viable companies providing wrestling on national and worldwide platforms. If you’re actually a fan of wrestling, and not acronyms, that should make you happy too. 3/4

I guess what I’m trying to say is this, if you’ve appreciated my work, you still can, no matter what the initials are. Because I’ll still be bustin my ass everytime I’m out there. This ride isn’t over just yet. Just try to have fun, like it should be. Because trust me I’ll be having fun everytime I’m out there in an AEW ring. Let’s go! 4/4

Copeland’s final WWE match aired on the Friday, August 18 edition of SmackDown where he defeated Sheamus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the main event of the show.

Much more on Copeland’s debut and his future with AEW can be found here in notes from his appearance at the WrestleDream media scrum.