Current WWE Champion Shocked Adam Copeland Joined AEW: “He Was A Home Guy”
Adam Copeland is All Elite and one of his best friends from his WWE days admits he was shocked when he found out.
When Adam Copeland showed up at AEW WrestleDream earlier this month, it surprised a lot of people while others may not have been shocked. Some people expected it to due to some of the people under contract to AEW and Copeland’s interest in working with them. Others probably felt like Copeland was a loyal WWE guy after 25 years as Edge, the 2012 WWE Hall of Famer.
A 2023 WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio was one of Adam Copeland’s best friends in WWE due to spending a lot of time together on the road. Both guys were on both Raw & Smackdown during their careers, but they are also two of the wrestlers most known for being Smackdown guys for a lot of their main event careers. Rey is the current US Champion on the Smackdown brand as well.
While speaking to Ariel Helwani of the MMA Hour, Rey Mysterio admits he was shocked when he learned about Copeland going to AEW.
“I was shocked. We had just spoken a week before that. Not that I expected him to tell me anything. We never had the time to even talk about what was next. I saw him in his last match, ‘we’ll be in touch.’ We call each other every now and then.”
“Next thing you know, I didn’t even see, it was on social media the following day. ‘Did you see?’ ‘No, what happened.’ They showed me (his debut). ‘Wow, I didn’t see that coming.’ I imagine he has his reasons on why and I can’t wait to sit down and chop it up with him.”
“It’s always good to have an option. At the end of the day, that was his decision. That’s what made him feel good, take it. I would say that about anyone who would have done it.”
“The fact that we have a great connection doesn’t mean we can dictate what he should want or doesn’t want. Overall, it was shocking because I thought he was going to re-sign with the company or figure out what he wanted to do, whether movies, or stick around for some more time.”
When Helwani mentioned he thought Adam Copeland would be a WWE lifer, Rey agreed.
“Yes, I think that’s why it shocked so much. He was a home guy.”
Rey Mysterio and Adam Copeland were former partners as well as opponents in WWE
During their WWE days together, Rey Mysterio & Adam Copeland (as Edge) were WWE Tag Team Champions. That was way back in November 2002 in Rey’s first year in WWE. They won the Tag Team Titles from Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit at a time when the Smackdown brand had those four guys plus Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) known as the Smackdown Six due to their amazing matches in singles and as tag teams.
Later in their careers when Adam Copeland was a top heel World Champion as Edge and Rey was a title contender, they had many more matches together including at Royal Rumble 2008.
In 2022, they teamed up again a few times. The most memorable tag team match may have been at Clash at the Castle 2022 when Edge & Rey beat The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor & Damian Priest. After the match, a jealous Dominik turned on his father Rey and “uncle” Edge and joined The Judgment Day soon after.
The last time Rey and Adam Copeland wrestled eachother was May 12th on Smackdown when AJ Styles won a triple threat match with both of them. Considering Rey Mysterio plans to retire within the next two years and Copeland could do the same, that was likely their last match together.