Adam Copeland Says WWE Put Him In The “Toughest Position”
Adam Copeland has reflected on the infamous ‘greatest wrestling match ever’ with Randy Orton.
Backlash 2020 will not go down as one of WWE’s classic premium live events, chiefly due to the fact that it took place in June 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in front of no fans whatsoever.
The show was headlined by Randy Orton facing Edge in what was billed by WWE as the ‘greatest wrestling match ever’ – a tall order for both stars to live up to. The two men borrowed finishing moves from old partners and rivals as they sparred for well over 40 minutes with Orton coming out as the winner following a low blow and a punt to the head.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on his Talk Is Jericho podcast, the man now known as Adam Copeland in AEW recalled his reaction to the promotion for the match and how it put him and Randy Orton in the toughest position possible:
“It’s the toughest. I think I might be biased but that is the toughest position to be put in.
“There is also no such thing. There just isn’t, right? It’s totally subjective. You probably think of a match when you think of your favourite match. And I probably think and then that’s going to change. Because this month that might be Austin and Bret, the submission match, and then it might be Nick Bockwinkel and Terry Funk from All Japan and go okay, well, yeah, right now this one.”
Adam Copeland wanted to create a love letter to pro wrestling
Continuing, Copeland explained that the idea for the tagline to the bout came from Vince McMahon, and his interpretation of having the ‘greatest wrestling match ever’ was to make it a love letter to the business:
“It was pitched just like that. [Vince said] I got you two guys can have the greatest wrestling match ever? [I thought] Yeah. [Vince said] But that’s what we should call it. I’m like ‘Oh.’ But hey, he is a promoter and that is the way a promoter’s brain works.
“Me as the performer I’m going there’s no audience and there’s no such thing. Okay, so I really had to wrap my mind around it and go, Okay, what angle do I come at this from? Just make it a love letter to wrestling. That was the idea.
“I’m like, okay, Charles [Robinson, the referee] I need you in a long-sleeved button-up. I need you with a bow tie. I want to get Howard Finkel to announce us, the MSG thing to come down. And it’s Howard’s thing. And now, hopefully, people start to understand, okay, yeah, this is really just a tip of the hat to what we do, hence, using other people’s finishers in it. What else were we really gonna do, seriously?”
Adam Copeland had his first match in AEW on Dynamite Title Tuesday when he picked up a win over Christian Cage’s Right Hand of Destruction, Luchasaurus.
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