October 9, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Adam Copeland debuts in AEW

Adam Copeland, the former Edge, showed up at the end of the AEW WrestleDream PPV on 10/1, just ten days after his WWE contract expired.

Copeland, who turns 50 in November, had been widely expected by those in WWE to be leaving. Those in WWE said that they were far apart on a new contract money-wise and figured Copeland was going. Two nights earlier, when Edge was removed from the opening montage on the show, it seemed to confirm that would likely happen. When Copeland was looking to come back to wrestling, he was very close to signing with AEW but WWE came back with a tremendous offer, a $3 million per year deal for limited dates each year.

Copeland said that he and WWE outgrew each other and said they didn’t have more for him to do. After Copeland did what was strongly teased as his retirement match with Sheamus in Toronto in August, he tried to shoot down the AEW rumors saying he had a WWE contract offer in his hands. We were told the expectation was that he would end up in AEW. There had been talk going back some time that he wanted to end his career working with childhood best friend Christian Cage, and with Cage having far longer on his deal, that could only happen in AEW.

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