Why Adam Copeland Felt Like It Was Right Time To Pursue AEW World Title

Adam Copeland is going after the AEW World Title for the first time as he gets ready to challenge Jon Moxley at AEW Revolution.

A first-time-ever match will take place at AEW Revolution as Jon Moxley defends the AEW World Title against the legendary Adam Copeland, aka “The Rated R Superstar” Cope.

Cope is not a stranger to World Titles in pro wrestling since he’s an 11-time World Champion as WWE’s Edge and he held many other titles there as well. In AEW, Cope is a former two-time TNT Champion.

In an interview with The Takedown on Sports Illustrated, Adam Copeland spoke about going after Moxley’s AEW World Title, which is a story that has been going on for about three months. In Cope’s mind, Moxley’s Death Riders group needs a strong babyface like him as a foe.

“I think it felt like the right time to go, ‘Okay. If we’re going to, you know, do a title program, this is probably the time to do it. Moxley seems like the right guy.’ I also feel like, you know, they’re a group that need a strong babyface, especially to establish what they are.

You go back to 30 years on television and people just kind of recognizing your face or like, ‘Hey, I think I know that guy,’ like that kind of thing. It felt like I was the right babyface right now to try and really help establish what they’re trying to get across.”

Over the last month, Cope has taken out Moxley’s allies in the Death Riders group including Claudio Castagnoli, Pac and even Marina Shafir, who was taken out by Willow Nightingale. Adam Copeland also took out Wheeler Yuta on AEW Dynamite in Sacramento as well.

Adam Copeland Likes Adding Layers To Wrestling Storylines

As he continued talking about his mindset when it comes to pro wrestling, Cope spoke about wanting to be a part of stories that have layers.

“Anything I’m involved in, I try to at least add some layers to it. And when putting the things together, going, ‘Okay, here’s the package for the match.’ You got to build in beats for that package to sum everything up, so if you watch that two minutes right before the match, you’re caught up. You got it, and know, ‘Alright, and now I’m looking forward to this thing.’

I think more than anything, that’s my mentality, is just trying to craft something or be a part of helping craft something where you get those beats, those tentpoles throughout that you can just insert in a package and get everybody caught up, before, you know, they watch the actual match. But still, that to me is what hooks me.”

“Everybody can have a good match if you’re at this stage, you know? And people can do wrestling holds. It’s when to do them. Do you know the right place? The right time? All of those things. And that becomes easier when you have a storyline built into it.”

AEW Revolution takes place on Sunday, March 9th in Los Angeles with the following matches announced for the show.

• AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Adam Copeland aka Cope
• AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Mariah May
• Steel Cage Match: Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
• AEW Continental Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Brody King
• AEW International Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Kenny Omega
• Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. “Hangman” Adam Page
• AEW TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Momo Watanabe
• AEW World Title #1 Contender’s Match: Ricochet vs. Swerve Strickland
• The Hurt Syndicate – Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin (c) vs. The Outrunners Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum
• “Big Boom!” A.J. and The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy and Mark Briscoe) (with Big Justice) vs. Johnny TV and MxM Collection (Mansoor and Mason Madden) – PRE-SHOW

Fans can watch AEW Revolution on pay-per-view, which now includes Amazon Prime Video and several other options.