Adam Copeland talks to Sam Roberts about his career as Edge in the WWE, ladder and TLC matches, money in the bank, being the rated r superstar, coming to AEW, working with Christian, and more.
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Legend is the only word adequate to describe Adam Copeland and the contributions that he has made to the professional wrestling industry alongside his partner Christian in the Attitude Era they revolutionized tag team wrestling mainstreaming the tag team ladder match post Attitude Era Edge was able to win the King of the Ring
Tornament the Intercontinental Championship the WWE World Championship all the while telling stories with icons like the Undertaker Mick Foley John Cena Randy Orton having classic confrontations with people like Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero defining Concepts that we now take for granted like the Money in the Bank briefcase and
Becoming the ultimate opportunist it’s so good and it holds out and then I started trying to find the book can’t find it it’s like $1,000 really yes there’s a real Studio here I I just try to trick you into coming over to my house just to hang out in the basement
Oh buo Beth would love that yeah I’m a bigo she loves B Adam was able to do the impossible coming back from what should have been a career ending injury to tell new stories with people like Roman Reigns Seth Rollins and AJ Styles in 2023 he left the WWE to tell new stories
In AE W and on the eve of his World’s End street fight with former partner Christian he’s here to talk about all of it with me so it’s a very special day in the not Sam Studio because ladies and gentlemen the rated R superstar Adam coveland is here bam how are you man
Very good very good I’m glad we finally uh got together to make this happen you were threatening to fly to Asheville yeah I but I felt bad it’s like I mean Ash is a beautiful place but days off you don’t necessarily want to fly to the
Mountains of North Carolina I may or may not have lied to you about your wife having plans for your birthday oh yeah yeah yeah yeah she got me she totally got me um so because I didn’t know anything was going on I just I was like yeah it’s my
50th birthday that’s kind of a big one so right I’m going to be sticking around here right yeah we were trying to make plans for that weekend and then and then she was like no yeah just tell him I’m not doing anything and that you could do
It the day of his birthday cuz I’m doing then but then I was like and then I was like perfect and then I was like wait am I really going to go hey good news on your birthday I’ll fly to your house and do a podcast like that’s this isn’t
Going to work you got an idea on your birthday well let’s talk about wrestling yeah I mean you like wrestling I mean I Do I Do Well no I think now is probably a far more appropriate time this worked out well uh to talk about uh everything
That’s been happening and I’m glad too because I’ve actually we spoke like very briefly in I want to say like 2011 or something it was when WWE put the DVD out and it was like pretty quick after you had retired yeah and I remember you saying that you felt like it was a
Relief at the time yeah and I had such trouble still to this day wrapping my head around it because you’re also the guy who’s like a lot of us that are watching this interview right now that grew up watching this stuff and this is your dream was that one of those things where
You were like look reality is reality and I have to figure out how to make this okay or was it really okay that fast um I had to figure out how to make it okay yeah because if I don’t then what right you then then that road that
Wormhole could be a very very uh unhappy place to be uh so I had to wrap my mind around it and I was forced to do it fast and and luckily within like a week two weeks I was out filming Haven so that fell in my lap accidentally because they
Saw my retirement speech the executive producers of that show so that helped the transition and it made me realize that there were still creative outlets and there were still ways to tap that creative vein that wasn’t professional wrestling now it didn’t offer the same thing it wasn’t my lifelong love it
Wasn’t that first thing that I decided to do that I wanted to be since I was a little kid that was not acting um now part of wrestling is acting uh and and the more I I started to realize that and what it had taught me to to move into
This new profession um I realized everything’s just same tree just different branches and uh but so that definitely helped with the transition but I had to I I had to you know quickly come to the realization because I was told I could never do this again so when
You’re told that a it kind of makes retirement easier because there’s no no fence to straddle but there are guys that fight that absolutely and I’m probably going to fight it now right which is which is the kicker right you know I’m I’m getting it’s like okay do I
Have you know I didn’t have to worry about that then so that part of it was easy yeah and and made it much easier than this retirement will be uh because you know knock on wood this one is going to be my choice but you’ve been saying
That too like I heard you say that when you first came back and you’re like yep I’m just going to put a couple years and it’s going to be my choice and then I watch when you get to aw and you’re like
No I want to do it more I want to do it more and more and more and I’m like okay it’s a tough thing to choose well well it is it is and it it is addictive there’s no way around it you can’t like I try to explain to people okay let’s
Say you got theme music mhm and as soon as a note hits a crowd erupts and you get pyup and like you you are a a puppet master in a way because you’re telling a story live and you’re getting instant gratification to know whether that story
Is is hitting in all cylinders if it’s falling flat whatever it is that’s super fun and there there’s a lot of stuff in there in that bottle yeah and um that that’s that’s tough to walk away from when I was forced to okay all right this time’s going to more difficult and and
With a you know I looked at the roster and I went okay hold on I think I I got a couple more I got a couple more yeah but I don’t also want to be that guy who’s 60 and going I got one more and I’m bouncing on
The trampoline with the weight like I don’t want to be that guy right no off dentist stamp the calls or they they take a little more time in between but always got to stay ready you know I I don’t want to be um you know I don’t mean that in a
Disrespectful way at all but I just don’t want to be that guy right I wantan to I want to be able to get out when let’s say a Kyle Fletcher looks at the runch and goes oh cool yeah I want to stay there yes yes I mean who knows
Maybe I’m just a dumbass and it’s already on the other side I don’t know but I’m having fun and there is also I don’t know man and maybe this is how I know I’m getting older I’m at the point now where when I saw dentist stamping be
On the man I’m like oh that’s the guy you don’t want to be but now I’m like like there is a Certain Romance to being that guy who’s just like nope this is my life and this is what I’m doing and I’m I’m fully just I’m accepting it this is
It this is what I do yes yes you know um you were out you were out and they I got out they pulled me back in damn it I think also people don’t uh realize like how much you’ve done right because you started so young yeah and were forced
Into what you thought you were was retirement so young the people don’t know like I was listening to you talk about your first WWE tryy out match being in 1996 yeah and like the idea that that’s like that’s pre attitude that’s Ultimate Warrior that’s like as a
Matter of fact the main event that night was Warrior Vader Warrior Vader yes and they popped a good house sure because that was the Warrior return tour and it’s against Vader so you’re oh man and this is still Vader right of course um so it was cops Coliseum I think there’s
About 10,000 which at that stage good that was good yeah um and uh I I just remember not really being able to grasp that I was like three and a half four years into my career and I’m already getting this shot yeah um and you know
And to get there and then that that that whole days of the podcast in itself because I’m I’m working Bob Holly who’s who’s still spark plug at this point uhhuh right and it still got racing stripes and that’s how far back this is that’s wild yeah that’s wild especially
Because like people don’t have a problem uh thinking that Bob Holly is a badass when he’s Hardcore Holly but Thurman Sparky plug people never associate that is the same badass like guy didn’t they didn’t equate those two together and uh but he still worked that way yeah I can
Attest but yeah then so you know and I think that’s the other thing there’s not that many guys that people that number one you dipped your toe in before the Attitude Era even started but you’ve got Attitude Era you’ve got ruthless aggression you’ve got post ruthless you’ve got current day you’ve got
Everything I mean so when you came in right when you came in as Edge yeah was the plan always because this was also this wasn’t even pre NXT this was pre ovw this was pre there nothing right there was nothing there was Memphis kind
Of kind of maybe kind of but I signed a developmental deal and and everybody probably knows the story was for $210 a week and they said just go keep getting experience so I just go get myself booked still just like just the Indie guy getting himself booked but now I
Could say sign to WWF right you know at that stage right so that meant a I could get booked easier and and B for more money yeah so it it it helped plus you got the yeah and I got the 210 for groceries at least but that’s what that became it’s
Like okay there’s my groceries taken care of cool right now I can I can use some of this to to make some of that gear that I designed and you know because from day one I always want to look like a pro right um I didn’t want
To look like a weekend warrior because I I never considered myself one even if I was just wrestling on the weekends um so yeah it just it so I went to Japan I made you know ended up being friends with bad news Allen and and ad Brown and
And Jerry Morrow and they took Jay and I to Japan and then we’d go out to the maritimes and i’ get booked out there and now I’m wrestling Rick Martell seven nights a week you know and and just gaining as much experience as I could and I’d always pick those guys’ brains
And and for whatever reason maybe because they just saw that I wanted it and and and um uh they they just they just let their knowledge yeah go and uh I always always just sat there and and tried to take everything that I could in you know but I think back man
It’s like I’ve wrestled Jimmy Boogie WGY man Valiant I’ve wrestled Terry Funk I’ve wrestled Jerry Lawler and Rick Flair and and and Rick Martell and bad news Allen and and Owen Hart and like Mr Perfect wild what has happened like you know and then I get with the undertakers
And the Shawn Michaels and and and then from there it’s the Orton and the Cenas and the Batista then there’s the Gap but then I’m able to get back and get in with Rollins and Reigns and AJ and like all of those guys um and and this feels like a completely
New chapter on top of that so when you are like in a ring now after all that and like you’re staring across the ring and you see a 19-year-old Nick Wayne are you like this this is there’s been three lifetimes yeah I like I remember getting
With Jimmy Uso yeah who was a kid when KES would bring him and wrestling around with him in the ring wow and they’re kids yeah of course you know and now I’m wrestling him and I like oh he’s got a little white in his beard okay what’s that mean about me like um
But I or Dom you know Dom had his first match with me as a heel in Portland Main Event of raw and if you would told me 20 years earlier when him and I are doing spitballs at people through a little like empty depen in catering that that
We’d be main Eventing raw I i’ I’d say I won’t still be doing that then right I won’t be able to how’s that even possible right um but here we are yeah do you feel like a different person since then or do you feel like well I’m
The same dude it’s amazing that you’re a full-fledged human being now you know I still feel like a like a like a like a goof I still feel like like you know I don’t feel totally grown up yeah you know I I I I feel like wrestling keeps
You suspended in this this pocket at least while you’re doing that because you’re jumping around in spandex right right you’re half naked right there there’s an element of immaturity to that it’s it’s but I love it right right and I and I Revel in it yeah um but I
Definitely feel like a different person in terms of what uh what life is now and and where I’m at in terms of that and the knowledge that I’ve accured throughout life I do feel like I bring that to my character now um as opposed to like gosh if if you showed me like
Edge and Christian stuff I’d be like man oh those guys knew nothing just and listen listen to their little voices a bless your little hearts you know that kind of thing right yeah totally um or when I talk to new Talent now and I’m like hey if if you didn’t do this as
Often to get a bigger reaction and then if I’m ever shown an edine Christie match I’m like right I’m a hypocrite yeah but all of those guys at the top of the card were telling me that then I’m now relaying it’s what you’re supposed to do
You’re supposed to have the top guys are supposed to tell you what to do you’re supposed to not listen to them and do what you want to do anyway and then you get to be a top guy so you could tell the young guys not to do it and they’re
Going to do it anyway and they’ll but when you become one of those top guys you go oh they were right interesting son of a [ __ ] yeah but you can’t there’s no way you can figure that out until you got that experience and you’re trying to get noticed you’re trying it’s
Like okay so just let us in the hardies and give us ladders right and just give us that right and we’ll be off over here and we we’ll do our thing which will get noticed because how we going to get noticed with Steve Austin in full yeah
Full 36 mode and The Rock ascending and Undertaker Mick Foley and it’s like and you’re trying to figure out who Edge is you’re like I got a coat I don’t know what Edge is I got a coat I guess I hang out on the Subways a lot just randomly
Attack people yeah yeah that’s my character development right there okay uh so I would wrestle especially like my first match knock my opponent out right and it’s like oh my God what is happening like i’ never heard an opponent before that night oh yeah yeah
It was it was a it was aough night and was that did you get like in trouble for that was he mad at you was or was everyone understood I felt horrible like you don’t that’s not the intention it’s like I didn’t go wait I’m gonna try and
Knock out my opponent on my first on TV that’s what I’m gonna that locker room is going to respect me no no so um it was a rough night it really was but you know while all of that’s happening I’m trying to decipher what exactly Edge is
You know I was given no direction at all at all wow so you just see the vignettes air and you’re like okay you know I knew they were going to be stylized like a crow type Vibe um but beyond that no one knew what it was like truly
No one had any ideas so when I couldn’t think of anything to do I ah I don’t know what to do with my hands I’m Ricky Bobby right like that’s what that scream was like I have no idea what I’m doing yeah I know how to wrestle I
Don’t know how to develop a character I don’t know I’m I’m 23 right as well so like I don’t know what I’m doing you know I know how to do hammer locks and and I can do some moves but I I don’t I don’t know what what an edge is right besides
The guy in you too and yeah he there is an edge and he doesn’t look like me at all no so yeah it was it was a lot of uh stumbling around in the dark was there always like was the understanding we’re going to bring Christian in after we
Bring you in and you’re going to do or is it just um because initially uh I I was signed then I did the funk and Dojo right um with Dory Funk with Pat Patterson Tom Pritchard and uh that was people that they had signed or people
That were on TV that they thought needed more work uh it could be a language barrier because Taco was in there you know and then Taco was amazing but it was just a language barrier um and uh guys that they thought they might want to sign so that’s what the first one was
They realized at least from the wrestling perspective I was ready to go and uh and I got going um in the meantime I kept saying hey I got this partner he’s really good not even thinking like nobody does that right especially at that stage I’m I’m just
Starting on TV and I’m telling them about my partner like what was I thinking right right right but I knew how how good he was and is uh So eventually Jim cornette um saw him and went okay we’ll get him in the next camp now I’ve I’m already on TV I’m already
Starting to to go and uh then and and this is it’s funny to the difference in how you get told creative uh I was just told like two days before hey we’re bringing them in as your brother awesome okay all right and I’m wrest on my own heart in Hamilton and
Then Jay’s going to come in like yeah sign me up right right um so and and that started it and then from there our kind of natural chemistry just in terms of teaming and and and this is what we dreamed of you know since were’re kids were you ever worried that they were
Going to put you in a poofy shirt when you joined the brood because it was like they put him in a poofy shirt to match gang gr’s poofy shirt so but then you join The Brood no poofy shirt well and this is kind of where like I I’ve um
I’ve never been afraid to go say no even then yeah wow and that was one of those instances they tried to no I’m going to do my thing still because my thing has already been on the show before either of these two characters right to me that’s important to me that’s because I
I predate gangra yeah I predate Christian yeah so this thing is already an established something if I just go to that now I lose all that identity and I don’t want to do that yes and I mean and honestly when you think about it it’s like it was a big
Deal that The Brood brings in Edge if Edge now becomes just another like somebody that looks exactly like Christian or gang it’s like you got three guys who are very similar all blonde yeah all you know and so what what makes it different what sets you apart and you
Have to have that mindset even if you’re in a group you know uh you you have to commit to the team you have to commit to the group but you still have to think in terms of this is going to end one day and when it does I don’t want to be
Disposable puffy shirt guy number three right you know right and the puffy shirt would look terrible with a trench coat it would like to wear the would I I I’d start looking like a Dandy from England or something you know now we really don’t know who Ed
Is become Todd R from t t for uh you know I think think the what’s interesting about the TLC matches right is everybody always brings them up but to me there’s a couple of wrestling matches that I can pinpoint as a fan shifted how I kind of looked at
Wrestling right like the Brett Shawn Iron Man match at WrestleMania 12 yeah that I remember as a kid going like there’s no way I want to watch an hour of just two guys wrestling I like sports entertainment I like the show biz and it was the first time I was like oh this
Rules like oh I like this kind of wrestling right so like it opens up the World of Wrestling and to me my experience way more than the TLC matches was the No Mercy Ladder Match you and Christian and The Hardy Boys in that no mercy I mean I
Remember that first tag Ladder Match going like oh my god I’ve never seen anything like this and it completely shifted how I appreciated wrestling uh yeah you know it we knew we had the possibility to catch lightning in a bottle with it because we were all of
Similar mindset we were all willing to try and and push the boundaries uh and and we knew there’d never been a tag team ladder match right so you got a blank canvas and you get a blank canvas and you can just start trying to Splash paint over here or
There and just see what sticks that’s a really fun place to be working from you know when when you’re doing the first of something um I mean my God it’s like how exciting is is that uh and I like equate it to like the First Time The Beatles
Hit feedback while recording and they kept it that’s kind of what it felt like like we have this thing we have four nuts let’s go just create Anarchy out there and um it was really the moment for for me when I realized uhoh okay we’re on to something here was uh Jay’s
Running drop kick yeah up the ladder Jeff trapped in the corner and I heard that reaction I was like we’ve never gotten that before okay mhm this is by the end of this thing these people are not going to know what they what hit them because that’s just kind of the tip
Of the iceberg of what we got coming um oh that’s that that’s the fun you were talking about that’s so fun when you know I know what this story is and you you think that’s something oh my God yeah you know um that’s super fun and and that’s something that acting doesn’t
Bring because acting like I I we filmed Percy Jackson a year and a half ago and it’s just daring now right and and you don’t know if the take that you necessarily liked is going to be the one that’s used because it might not work for the totality of the scene sure so
But with wrestling and I I think probably the closest thing I can think of is is stand up yeah sure and somebody who said is killing right or it’s not and you realize oh okay gota gota switch paths here um or maybe a band with a set list
Or you get a really good band you get like a Pearl Jam who can call their set list on the fly right kind of thing White Stripes yeah yeah yeah where it’s like they’re feeling the room they’re feeling the audience it’s interesting with comedy though because comedians can
Go man that didn’t land at all did like they can address when a joke doesn’t work and the audience likes that and then the audience can go that ride with them we can’t stop mid-match and go well I really messed that one up sorry there’s no no there’s no doing it and
Also if you mess up yeah you break your neck that’s right so there’s forgot about that forgot about that especially if it’s the first tag team ladder match and we’re just throwing everything we possibly have at the wall what was the reaction to that like like when you get
Back because you hadn’t really had anything like that in WWE before is is Vince going like what was that is it what he expected is is I didn’t see Vince wow honestly I I came back and I saw Mick Foley who was just like effusive with his praise uh he he just
Said you you just solidified yourselves guys like you just did something no one’s done before yeah uh Jericho um uh the the guys who were not afraid to admit that we just did something um so that that was really nice and it was really it was such a crazy day because I
Was living in the Bahamas at that point I flew in there was a hurricane coming to Florida so I flew into Miami the night before the hurricane hit so I rented a car drove through the hurricane up to Tampa caught the last flight to Cleveland I landed in Cleveland at 400
P.m. 4:30 p.m. for a 700 p.m. show yeah it was it was that but I’m I’m driving through this thing white knuckled I can’t see anything I’m like I have to get there because this is the match yeah this is the match if I don’t get there what’s going to happen yeah
Yeah do they put somebody else in that spot do they just not do the match and now I’ve hosted those three guys got to get through and you weren’t wrong right I mean it’s the blueprint of what becomes the triple threat match it’s the of what becomes the two TLC matches and
What becomes the foundation for it becomes Money in the Bank ladder matches it becomes multi-man matches it be it it’s the it’s a really important it’s the starting point for that which is interesting which and and and like Shawn Ray or you know uh Brett B news like
Those are all the precursors to to us right so it’s that’s the evolution but this is the only one where it’s like you kind of say yeah was the finals of the ti tournament yeah that’s Jesus that’s what the attitude eror was in a nutshell right it was like all this like amazing
Stuff but also very embarrassing like sub text you know and and there’s a lot of people that really Pine for those Attitude Era days and I’m like okay it was fun yeah and it was on fire so you can’t dispute that it was like threein matches right like they were high C you
Couldn’t tell a story right it’s it’s we’re talking like a three- line poem here and and that’s it I wrestled Lance Storm for 1 minute and 8 seconds in Madison Square Garden and we had to get a run in and I had to get I think laid
Up by Christian at the end of it like a minute and 8 seconds what we even doing what like yeah do we even lock up like I don’t even what do we do with that we made it work yeah but if you’re looking you know for quality over necessarily
Maybe just quantity and and uh you know the wrestling is by far better now you oh yeah but the characters were I think what the great part about the Attitude Era was and I’ve said this you could have Crash Holly come out first massive reaction yeah and from top to bottom on that
Lineup everyone had an established character even if you’re just trying to figure it out yeah even if you’re stumbling through you’re still something um and uh I feel like somewhere along the way because the onus got put so much on the wrestling the character side of
Things got a little bit lost MH so now you can get Al those they’re all great matches everybody’s trying to have match of the year but do I care about them as much right cuz I’m not invested in the person who’s doing the moves yeah and
That to me was one of the the biggest learning curves I had to understand it’s like okay when they care about the character they’ll care even more about what moves you do and you don’t have to do a spear off a top of a ladder and if
You do you can save it for Main Event in Toronto against John Cena and a TLC match for the heavyweight championship yep that that means a double you know you through two tables right right if I’m going to spear Mick Fully through a flaming table with thumbtacks in my back
It’s going to be WrestleMania that is is it was along that time when I realized okay if I’m going to do it I’m going to make it mean something I’m going to make sure it’s something that’s replayed forever yeah I mean I think yeah that’s that’s a pretty
Good philosophy if it’s something that’s going to affect me potentially forever the moment needs to last equally as long the pain has to equal moment yeah Roi return on investment yes that’s it right it just makes sense now did you did you have that moment where after like after
No mercy and then the three uh Triple Threat ladder matches one of them involving you spearing Jeff Hardy in midair in the most like insane thing ever did you have that moment where you were like okay I need to shift and and start really thinking about what this
Character is cuz I can can’t do this two three times a year every year like I’m I’m going to it was it was really it was that second TLC in Houston where I I had the realization we can’t continue to try and Top This there it it a they’re
They’re going to get desensitized they being the audience and it won’t feel as special anymore and in trying to top it one of us is going to get really really injured yeah and were going to keep trying so I I wouldn’t say it was necessarily there where I was like okay
This is what I need to do now that that didn’t come until later and it didn’t come until like I really started understanding you know what this Rated R Superstar thing was and and it was actually it was strangely it was a promo in Pittsburgh uh
And uh it was it was right after Matt came back and he had cut a promo on Raw the week before and I cut one backstage in Pittsburgh and that was the instant where I was like oh that’s where I need to navigate from where I was for that promo is what
I need to carry out with me to the ring is what I need to carry with me into every promo that was the shifting Point really where I went okay hold on a second there and it was that promo like an Essence hits you as you’re doing the
Promo or you’re like I can’t lose that it it hit me the intensity the just all of it yeah uh I realized that’s that’s where I had to get to and and had to be able to call it and and tap into it yeah and not just have certain moments or certain
Scenarios cause it I needed to be the one causing it right and that was a big big switch for me I was like okay right I I need to understand how I felt while I was doing that and be able to get there at a moment’s notice right yeah
Right and that’s really interesting too because it goes back to what you said a minute ago where like you did go on this run where you were a good guy and you were having great matches it’s kind of what you did like when Smackdown first started to take shape and it’s like I’m
A guy who has awesome matches and and and you were working with great people and like you you you were working with Kurt Angle and and do the the hair match which was you know phenomenal and and and and teaming with Hogan and winning the tag titles and everything but there
Is this thing where it’s like what’s the meat yeah like aside from Edge is a great wrestler and he seems like a likable dude what’s the meat on this bone yeah is there any meat on the bone and that was truly again you can do moves all day
Long and you’ll get to a certain level you will you know I got to the level where I was wrestling Kurt Angle and and wrestling Eddie you were the King of the Ring and King of the Ring and teaming with Hogan and it’s a great place to be
Uh but to get further than that there needed to be more there needed to be more layers there needed to be uh a reason you know what’s the reason okay this guy loved wrestling well if you’re in it chances are chances are not everybody but about
98% of us loved it that’s why we got into it and that can’t just be your character MH so it it it really uh that and and working in Toronto SummerSlam against Batista and Jericho in a triple threat IC title I hadn’t back to Toronto
For like a year and a half cuz I’ve been out with my neck fusion come back as IC champ I’m like right you’re going to blow the roof off this bad boy came out and they booed that to me was was I took it I filed it because I like I’m going
To use that because I was mad out there I was like you sons of [ __ ] okay all right okay yeah okay Hometown right I’m I’m gonna file this one away I’m going to use it I walked into the back I went right up to Vince said got to turn heel
Now we got to give them reason reasons mhm cuz I didn’t give a reason except that I didn’t change anything right okay let’s change some stuff when you went I mean you know the full rated R run like I feel like you made a conscious choice
To be like there are people who think that I might be a jerk yep I need to give them no doubt y like I need to live that yep and it just has to be okay like my 10 friends over here can know no Adam’s a good guy but the rest of the
World has to see this absolute gum bag y every single week yeah yeah because I you know I I put myself in a situation and I realized okay I’ve put myself in this situation so now what do I do I could fold and just kind of you
Know tuck my tail and and go kind of be there on the show or I can lean into this and have this audience believing that I have no redeeming qualities whatsoever MH and fully lean into it and just just make some money out of it yeah you know because we’re here all right
We’re here what do we do that to me was the only positive that could come out of it is hopefully we can all move up the card and um that that was my goal truly my goal and that’s something and I feel like it’s it’s as relevant now as it
Ever has been that like personal issues happen and the internet is the internet and people talk and like one side of a story comes out this side of the story comes out and everybody establishes opinions on it and whether you want it to affect the onscreen product or not
Like you found out it’s going to affect the onscreen product how do you and maybe it’s situation dependent get to a place where you’re like look I know there’s real stuff going on here but the only choice we have is to tell a story it it was it was pretty quickly you you
Know um I I wanted to kind of get into it sooner than we did you know and just face it head on and let’s go yeah and we eventually got there when they brought Matt back yeah and then I was like okay here we go now at least all under the
Same roof now we can get to work on trying to make something from this because it’s already out in the in The Ether anyway so let’s use it and in a perfect world then we get it put behind us and and in a perf World we’re all in
A better place at least professionally yes uh after the fact yes because that at that point that’s the only positive I could think to pull out of it um you know and and and basically just okay I I [ __ ] up now what do I do and and that
Was really the the first instance where I I lousy way to get there but I feel like that’s almost when I stepped into manhood when I fully went okay right I have to to be I’m not a kid anymore I’m just on the road having fun now there’s
There’s bigger things and I need to uh to face him and in an ass backwards way there is something about that that’s taking responsibility where it’s like I’m going to let everybody hate me real ass backwards and I got to say it cuz otherwise you’d be patting yourself in
The back very ass backwards way it’s very ass you can’t even take that no I get it um I also found it interesting right that like you come up in the Attitude Era and and you’re making your bones you’re and you’re finally getting to that top spot and just as you’re
Getting to the top spot is when that new generation of guys come in and when the Cenas and Batista and the Orton come in y was there any part of you that as that was happening and you saw those guys starting to ascend that you went whoa like I’ve been here like killing
Myself for years and how did you guys already get here well so it also coincided with my first neck injury right so I felt confident I’m like right I’m I’m ahead of these guys right they can’t work like I can right you know and and to be fair at that
Stage they couldn’t so I felt confident I was like if anything I’ll be leading this pack because I’ve been working longer I’ve been here longer I have more experience I’ve cut more promos I’ve been in there with Eddie Guero and hung I’ve been you know I’ve done the TLC
Matches then the neck happened and in that year year year and change off that’s when those guys all exploded MH and so when I came back it was it was an entirely new you know scenario in front of me and I was like oh man now I’m playing catchup yeah because in that
Time those guys have made those leaps Randy Dave and John and I’m like Brock man okay and also it’s like unfortunately for you four of the most naturally gifted and talented people that have ever in put on a pair of insane crop right yeah so then it became
All right now I I’ve been off that time and now and I’m coming back from a double Fusion neck surgery so is my work going to be the same I going to be to do this and that and and I still don’t know what the character necessarily
Is okay I got some I got to get that get down to work and then I realized okay well the baby face realm is clearly filled now the Crowds Are booing me because I didn’t change anything huh I got a path here then real life adds to that and I
Went right I I want to be the Rody Piper of my generation MH I want to be the Macho Man of my generation and luckily you had a Hogan when Cena showed up right exactly and then that I was like oh okay got it and then the first time
We touched you I was like okay we click you knew right not only do we click from uh like you know and John trusted me that was big because he knew I truly I didn’t want to try and out wrestle him I didn’t want to try and make him look
Stupid I didn’t want the crowd to cheer me I wanted him to be Hulk Hogan and I wanted to be Rody Piper because you can’t be Rody Piper if you don’t have a Hulk Hogan exactly right and and there there can’t be a Hogan without a piper
Right and I know that so this ain’t a bad place to be and at some point then I’m gonna have to be that for Batista and for Undertaker and for Rey Mysterio and there’s there’s there’s a job security in that yeah you know um what
It also did though is now I was doing it with a double Fusion so now I’m wrestling Kane Undertaker Batista Big Show Cena who’s taking the bumps the heel champ of course so that’s the job right right but it it that that started to slowly but surely take its toll how
Did the how did the initial I mean maybe it was an amalgamation of things but what required the initial surgery it was an amalgamation you know um it was a lot of the stupid bumps I took in the Indies where I was landing on my head or I
Wasing in a 10×10 ring there’s no way not to land on your head yeah because I’m 6’4 do the math like I’d have to get suplex Corner to Corner in some of these rings and so you got dropped on your head a lot and so I think that um I you
Know I’d messed up my neck a couple times as a kid too you know BMX head first into a tree sprained my neck you know track meat running down the hill Full Tilt about to break the the county record cut a flip land on a rockhead first knock myself out sprain my neck
Jeez did a back flip off the coffee table when I was four years old land on my head sprained my neck so I sprained my neck three times before I ever started wrestling yeah uh so I have a history and then we went ahead and did all these
TLC matches and everything else kind but it’s it’s not out of the norm I guess is is is really what it boils down to um and that’s part of also probably being in your 20s like everything counts you just haven’t figured it out yet yeah I I
Didn’t know there was a toll yet right on I just get off special and I go okay right and I keep moving right um but it it was an amalgamation it was it was the ladder matches it was the TLC match is it was really what I can point to was like
At one point I was taking like 15 Germans a night mhm because if I’m teaming up against Chris and Kurt I’m I’m literally taking like 10 to 15 Germans yes and I prided myself on how I took them I got up there right and uh eventually that takes toll it really
There’s no good way to take a German suplex that’s why when I see guys like come up and do the fighting Spirit after them like why would you do that don’t do it they suck don’t do it so just sell it yeah cuz they do hurt you know and I
Think too that like and you tell me cuz you’ve done it all you’ve wrestled quote unquote Deathmatch style you just did it on the grandest stage of the mall at WrestleMania right if I was going to it was going to be there it’s going to count right
But look barb wire and fire and tables and all that stuff that you guys did I love I mean I’m a deathmatch fan I love that stuff but also part of me as I watch and as I listen to guys tell stories of their injuries and what puts
Them on the Shelf I go like it seems like a lot of that stuff is harder to watch and will leave scars but the stories that you always hear of people actually getting injured and the stuff that actually takes a toll on a career is that is that kind of more
Strong style like work rate stuff yeah is that right you’re taking more bumps yeah and and bumps are what get you yeah um you know I I’m a fan of of uh like hardcore Deathmatch if it has a story yes you absolutely that’s where I felt
Like Mick and I had a story so that’s why I really enjoyed that um the ladders you can’t bump off a ladder and not expect to pay a price you know and it just so happens that I bumped off a lot of ladders yeah um but more more than
Anything it was really just uh taking the a lot of Germans and a lot of big bumps and a lot of choke slams and a lot of like there just really big bumps from really strong individuals you know and no matter how you land Batista’s hitting you with a Batista Bomb there’s some
Torque on that bad boy yeah you know because he’s the Incredible Hulk right he’s Drax but like but you know what I mean physically is that of course and and by and and it’s not like if it’s softened and the it looks soften to the audience it’s like what are we watching
Now and you also know what it is you know what you’re get into you know that that’s what this is Ron Simmons spine Buster is going to make you feel like you got to crap your pants just is and sometimes you might I never did congrats never did congrats never did never never
Dropped one in the ring congrats on that yeah um is there any how nerve-wracking is it to know this table has to be lit on fire we’re at WrestleMania I really hope that this table ends up on fire and I mean just the the physics of it that like
Sometimes a lighter doesn’t work sometimes the lighter fluid doesn’t catch sometimes like that seems to me extremely stressful and then also I have to think about the fact that I have to now fall into that that was at a stage where I truly didn’t think at I just
Went no it’s going to happen that was my mindset the power of positive thinking that end first degree burns yeah I’m manifesting getting burned like I don’t know but I truly at that stage I uh and even still to this day like when I go to
The ring I’m not nervous and I’ve heard people say that means you don’t care or if you stop getting nervous you don’t care I never did I don’t know why except the only thing I can think is that felt like one place where I I felt
Confident M I know this thing I’ve been watching this since I can remember I’ve studied this I’ve I’ve studied tapes I still do you know I’m still watching bowinkle in a hening AWA I’m still watching Terry Funk All Japan like finding new things yes yes every time
That’s awesome and I continue to do that so when I’m in there I’m like all right this is where I was supposed to be yeah so I’ve never been nervous I’ve always been excited yeah and I and I think that that’s also you know I mean it’s a great
Way to be especially when you’ve done like we’ve said as much as you’ve done you should at this point feel fairly confident in what you’re doing I mean my favorite match of yours and maybe it was because I was in attendance so you know you have that connection with it is the
Undertaker Match is the Wrestlemania match and I had never I I hadn’t thought about it until I was thinking about this conversation that that’s not just you headlining WrestleMania as Champion which by the way the whole story of the Mick Foley match was that he didn’t let you headline WrestleMania as Champion
That was your dream we’d established that two years AG years ago whatever it was so now you know we’re going full circle if you want to go that deep but it was not just that you were headlining against the Undertaker and that you were getting introduced second but you guys
Had to follow Shawn and yeah Rick yeah that’s crazy and I didn’t watch the rest of the show the stuff that came on before you didn’t I was like nope I’m gonna stay right here where I need to be in my world in my world and do my thing
Because I can’t let that flavor or color what I’m going to do or try and live up to something live up to what what we thought was Ric Flair’s last match because that’s going to be its own thing ours is not going to be that so what’s
Our story going to be okay well it’s our first televised singles match ever only our second singles match ever we’d wrestled in in Chile for like 45 minutes just to see how we felt MH and that was about a month before WrestleMania so the the story I wanted to try and tell is
That this guy who is still undefeated at this point because I got stretchered out of the ladder match that was the only way I was trying to conser trying to save an undefeated streak against an undefeated streak sure because they already said we’re going to un taker
Next year I was like then I should probably win this match if we’re gonna do okay cool right we’re going this direction cool all right um so my whole way of thinking going into that is this is the guy who has the counter for the counter for the counter m mhm and he’ll
Counter the last ride and he’ll counter this and he’ll counter that then if taker tries it again he can recounter it again that was always my mindset when working a guy like taker because can’t get in and Slug It Out right so what is the story okay I have to
Be a bit of a technician and a and a chess player and what would the ultimate opportunist do the ultimate opportunist wouldn’t try to do something that he was going to be bested at no he just do the thing that he could do better which is watch tape yeah of the Undertaker and
Try and be smarter yes that was you know the the the thing I always said that that iteration of the character is like you can be strer bigger stronger you faster you’re not going to be smarter right that was always the mentality I triy to take with that character is I
Can always come up with something which is interesting because when you describe the ultimate opportunist that way you see a little uh uh ultimate opportunist in mjf yeah with his whole psychology of of especially when he was a villain does any part of you bear a certain responsibility for having Zack Ryder in
A WrestleMania Main Event yeah but Hawkins got one too that’s true no but you know what I I love anytime that uh if my character is a reason for other characters to to get involved I love that you I mean um La Familia had a had a a great little run
There like holding Smackdown down and and the fact that those guys and and uh Chavo I got to work with Chavo and then Here Comes Vicki out of this whole thing that to me is that’s a blast yes I love seeing new characters get get a chance
Get a shot um and if I can help be a catalyst for that that that’s amazing because I think back to bad news Brown I think back to those guys and Bret Hart and Michael Hayes and all of these guys who really nurtured me along the way um
But I never really had anybody kind of take me under the wing on TV character-wise so to be able to to do that is I always I really really enjoy that so yeah when I look across the ring and see a Nick Wayne I’m like hell yeah
Yeah absolutely was it was the edge heads a difficult thing to make happen or or is that something that you pitched and were able to no those guys came to me yeah Hawkins came to me and he goes I have this idea what’s your email I was
Like here it is so he shot it to me I was like damn this is a hell of an idea mhm all right let me run a flag pole and see see what we get and everybody else thought it was a good idea too and boom
And there we were there you are and then that day uh Pittsburgh I believe it was Armageddon they’re getting my tattoos painted on and I was like what is Happ okay we’re doing this they got the same tights everything dud no it’s so great because as somebody that like dink at
WrestleMania 9 is still to me one of the greatest wrestling angles of all time I will never forget sitting there and my dad is like my dad doesn’t even like wrestling he thinks it’s dumb but he was losing his mind and how funny the whole thing was another dink comes out so
Getting to see that again except with you who’s like the last person like there’s not you’re you’re a human being like how could you have an identical it’s not like I I’m wearing a green AF like yeah how do you do that well you get two guys who look similar enough
Right paint the tattoos on paint the tattoos on get in the same and they look enough alike right that we can at least hear get by with it yeah um and then it kind of became like uh we were doing the the Twin Magic before the Bellas yeah
That’s right and you weren’t even twins that’s yeah not even triplet no it’s phenomenal when did you uh develop a connection with Vince because obviously at some point you had to right and you became one of the top tier people but at what point in your career was it one of
Those things where you guys had a connection you know we were always civil and and um so we we always we but not a not a connection per se you know I I think what he thought is that I was a nice guy and maybe to nice a guy and it wasn’t
Really until that whole you know real life thing kind of blew up in my face that he went oh maybe he’s a bit of an [ __ ] too and I I truly think that was was kind of the the TP point for him to see more than just the smiling guy who’s
Happy to be here um and it was again that that promo in Pittsburgh I think is really what kind of built our connection because he watched it and I didn’t know he was watching it and he came up to me after and uh that’s I think for him when
He saw right I got something here more than than just that’s I mean that guy that I can put in matches and and have good wrestling matches but what else can he can he be that that guy who will get under someone’s skin will be able to get
Under that audience’s skin and and elicit that kind of reaction I think that honestly that promo again I think that was the moment where there’s more here and then we started to develop a friendship from there that’s great that like the moment that it clicked in for
You was also the moment that it clicked in for him because what you don’t want is for it to click in for you and he’s like nah or for something that you don’t like and he to click in for him that has been the before uh since you know um after that
But but again okay let’s sit down and find the happy medium here what was something that you did that you were like oh no what do you mean he liked it well you know the with the initial Inception of the Judgment Day you know oh I really I wanted it to be these
Underutilized talents that I thought could be far more than what they were being utilized for MH R Ripley is a star and Damen priest is a star and Finn balor’s AAR star and uh so initially it was brought to me like hey we want to kind of start a new brood or something
That feels somewhat like that I’m like who would it be I was like H Ripley and priest who wanted to be for I was like Balor okay well um then it was like we want somebody really huge I was like okay all right and then I get a text two
Weeks later how about Balor I’m like yep amazing idea let’s go well that’s great and everything but we’re swimming Upstream with you and uh we’re going to have to turn you back baby face cuz Cody’s hurt and ry’s hurt and now we need a baby face like right okay yeah
I’m DH got it um but it was I wanted to change everything about my character because I was like okay here’s this guy who’s come back they know the story all these things I can’t have any similarities to what I’ve been doing to anything that they’ve liked right so I’m
Going to chop the hair I’m going to start wearing suits I’m going to change the music I’m going to take away all the elements that they love and try and and flip it on its head I thought it might work and maybe with more time you know because it was I think it
Was Hell in a Cell we had uh six person tag and that was the first night where was like oh okay oh there’re starting to get with this now they’re starting to understand what their job is in this is to hate this thing and to hate this guy
Um but it was going to be some work I it was really going to be some work and they’re far better off after that but but that all got sped up again because of the injuries so Cody’s down torn peek ry’s down back right okay
We were going to have Balor cause the uh the Mutiny a year later M that got sped up to tomorrow like right okay I get it I get it yeah yeah I I think I remember that because I think I might have talked to you about it when it was like that was
That moment where like at the end of the match Balor was like beaten we beat Balor but you stood over him almost like a line protecting and then the next night yes and then the turn but there was elements of it that I like at one
Point it was talked about you know a cauldron with bubbling black fluid and I’m holding a pitchfork and I was like whoa I don’t want to do that yeah cuz that’s not going to work right um and then there was one week they they wanted us to float to the
Ring I was like what and they said well no we’ll put it on like a dolly and then we shoot I was worried we would actually have to float oh okay I don’t have to pull that off but then I’m sitting on a throne and priest is like full cores
Engaged cuz he’s basically surfing holding on to this thing and we’re going down and all I felt as we’re going down I was like this is spinal tap This Is Spinal Tap okay and I got to back I was like yeah I don’t think that entrance Works
Guys but it’s it’s that okay I’ll give it a shot sure give it a because hey it ain’t my sandbox right and I don’t cut the checks right this is what you want I’ll try and make it work but I’ll also be the first one to tell you that didn’t
Work MH so we probably shouldn’t do that anymore right right okay good right you know it’s one of those yeah yeah I mean so your Rumble return I mean the rumble return 2010 is great and obviously so much better I would imagine than the uh return from neck fusion in the sense
That everybody reacts great and it’s awesome right but the 2020 yeah Rumble return is I mean yeah it’s up there with the greatest returns of all time you talk about at the beginning of this conversation you talked about the first notes and people reacting to it yeah that’s one of those
Like I was talking to somebody who’s like a newer wrestling fan and that’s one of the fun things right now about being a wrestling fan I think is that I feel like I interact with more new wrestling fans than maybe my entire life sure like there’s just more new people
People watching wrestling now than ever and they were like you know that was the first time I understood like when people talk about pops or or reactions or what when Edge returned I was like oh oh that’s the sound oh that’s the feeling that’s the like yeah I
Mean that has to be is that the the the best single moment um I I I think so yeah I mean I don’t I don’t know how I top that honestly uh just because of the all of the dominoes yeah that fell to get to that
That moment and and and people only know the tip of the iceberg you know everything that went into to making that a reality um and it was just it was all very like a dream sequence in my mind you know I still kind of picture it like
That uh it was it was really overwhelming um really satisfying too though you know because you you I visualize right and I visualize everything you know so if I have an idea I’ll I’ll I’ll see it in my brain I’ll see it happening I’ll see it playing out
And that was one of those I saw it playing out and it had been nine years and that was the first instance where I was like man I hope they react I don’t know CU it’s been nine years this isn’t like nine months right this isn’t nine weeks this is nine years
Like the the ship I’ve said it was it wasn’t on the horizon it was like on the other side of the world it was gone MH so it was it was overwhelming um and it was it was truly one of those that’s one of those if you could bottle it and hand
It out to everyone in the world the world would be a way better place yeah because the euphoria that I felt every emotion that I felt was just so overwhelming you see in my eyes like I’m just overwhelmed yeah I don’t know how
To put it um and it it was you know uh as much as main Eventing WrestleMania um all of those things that that night I I don’t think can be topped because it also wasn’t supposed to happen none of this was supposed to happen so I say like even if this
Comeback ended that night success because that wasn’t supposed to happen yeah I got that I I was told like if I fall I could die MH if I get hit from behind you know like that’s how susceptible it was at a certain point so anything I do from that point forward
You know I I could be you know an enhancement talent for WCW and it would still be a victory yeah because I’m not supposed to be doing this did you as some as you you said that you had to condition yourself to being okay with the fact that you will never never
Wrestle again did you have to be careful mentally in allowing yourself to believe that it was a possibility yeah does that make sense Yeah Yeah from from the emotional standpoint for sure that’s I mean absolutely and then there’s yeah you know so there there was Beth always
Said it was like I’d hit the next boss and and it would be each doctor and I’d make that clearance and then I’d make that clearance and the big boss was Dr maroon who medically disqualified me we both figured okay that’s probably where we hit the wall in
This whole thing hey it was worth a shot right right you don’t know unless you try uh and I’m not one of those people that is going to be okay with not trying I I have to I have to give it a shot if
You tell me no if you tell me it’s not going to work okay but I tried uh so I I truly believe flying up to Pittsburgh like okay I’m probably getting the kibos here here and when I didn’t and and Beth was taking off for a
Flight down to NXT and I went I am cleared and she just now she’s in the air yeah and she didn’t have Wi-Fi so she couldn’t respond until she landed in Orlando um but it was all just a lot of moments like that where where it was
Becoming more and more reality and I I I understood like oh this is actually gonna happen now okay now I got to wrap my mind around how’s it going to feel taking mov now I got to get in the ring right and start figuring this out right and see what I’m
Capable of and see what the the limitations are and and all of those uh you know variables that I hadn’t had to think about yet it was just getting cleared okay now I got cleared now I got can I still do this let’s find out yeah yeah let’s
Let’s find out and you know and they did that great documentary uh about it on that they put on PE and everything I probably shouldn’t ask you because you probably don’t want anybody asking questions did you get to keep the ring no ah no they took the ring back they took
The ring they but I you know I expected it I was like H how much time you figure until until they they snag this back um I almost didn’t want to ask you because I didn’t want to you know but I I got an aw1 on order because you yeah I I want
To be able to to to work and stay uh keep the rust out in a in the dimensions I’m actually using so it’s a wi that makes a lot of sense it’s a wider apron y the the ropes are closer together the ropes I think are a little bit lower you
Know so those are all things I didn’t realize until I was at wrestle dream hitting the ropes and going oh these are different these are cables these are this is a different thing that’s right cuz you couldn’t exactly get in there the day before and or or the morning of
And because nobody would can see you what you saw at wrestle dream was happening real time wow me hitting the ropes for the first time real okay oh and there’s all everything’s torn up right this spear is going to suck you know all of those things are running
Through my mind as I’m about to do them and and it really wasn’t even until I was working uh luchasaurus my first match and he was shooting me to the corner I was like oh that’s that is different I I got to lean down a little bit to take this Buckle otherwise I’m
Going to you know and but I’m having to do that within a nanc wow so I’m getting one of those rings that way I know exactly what I’m playing with that’s probably the way to do it yeah that’s probably the best way to do it because
Well it’s like if you’re race car driver and you’re racing Porsches and it’s like I’m GNA hop in a Ferrari and just see it’s gonna be different of course it’s going to be different yeah so speaking of different right when you get back to WWE yeah about five weeks
In I know it’s like hey I’m gonna get the best reaction I’ve ever had in my career and you better figure out how to bottle that up cuz you ain’t getting no more of those for a while you find I mean that that’s the craziest of all the good fortune that brought you
There to then go okay and by the way we’re going to have to figure out how to do this beginning of this run with no audience with no people no people are going to be here so I know you’re just trying to knock off the The Ring rust
But also how do you do it with no adrenaline no response no anything and oh yeah your first match is a giant blood Feud yeah it was uh obviously there’s bigger things right of course goes with that saying 100% And and so I i’ I’d hang my hat on that and
Go really at the end of the day does it matter that this guy is able to jump around in Tights again and do I feel sorry for myself because I don’t get to do it in front of audiences well big picture let’s face it let’s worry about
How is everyone right but then you you get to working and you start going man what a time to to come back you know huh interesting okay I gotta wrap my mind around this but hey I’m doing it again right get to do that’s what I hung my
Hat on I’m doing this yeah I’m doing it in front of TV screens okay I’m doing it in front of 50 NXT students okay but I’m doing it I mean you you were one of the the ones who got to do it in front of literally no one that first
WrestleMania you did it in front of Michael Cole and Cory Gren that’s it camera rewind back I had the first segment of the pandemic a promo in the ring oh wow so I’m standing in an empty warehouse and they’re playing a package and and Scotty sweaty is is my camera
Guy is like sweaty I’m coming down the barrel he was like what because you don’t do that right yeah but I I had the realization as the show was counted down I was like I have to who am I talking to who am I talking to yeah I got to talk
To Randy yeah and and hopefully the the people feel that because I’m essentially talking to them too yeah but this is going to be different and as I was doing I started treating it like a monologue or like an audition sure and and trying to come at
It from that that direction so every promo I did from that point forward I tried to come at it from the what I learned in acting and what I learned from auditioning and and tried to bring that into the promos and that was really fun yeah that was really really fun
Because there was no audience to try and hijack it there was no audience you know to so so that became a new challenge to me and then I okay right this could be awesome actually I I can I can get different layers of character and I can do different things I can different
Ticks different different tells different like all on purpose but now I can place them in there and maybe now they’ll get noticed because there’s nothing to detract from that attention and we’re just watching on TV yeah yeah and you’re watching now what this guy is doing with
His face with his his inflections with his his delivery that to me then became the really fun aspect of it now I also remember hearing one of the crew guys fart while I was taking a move that happened that’s not just like a that happened okay that happened that’s one
Of those things that you could say like imagine no it happened and I heard the laughs after it happened and I’m I’m you know we’re taping a match yeah and and I’m like right that’s that just happened I heard that that’s where we’re at and and that
Bump really hurt yeah you it really really hurt you know because fart Church yes yeah except it was the Tropic Tropicana Field man like you think back now and just but but kudos to the wrestling industry unbelievable because it never stopped yes it never stopped not for one
Week not for one show it kept going and both companies and multiple companies and just trucked along because what do you need when there’s a worldwide pandemic entertainment when you’re sitting in your house bored to death beard to your belly button you by the way paranoid about going outside
Everybody’s angry at everyone yeah I need an escape if you sniff you know and and you’re you got The Scarlet Letter and just all of those things but hey I can sit down and I can still watch wrestling yes cool we all continued to make a living
Yes and never stopped making a living I didn’t stop I didn’t there wasn’t one week I didn’t get a paycheck during a worldwide pandemic so for me I look at it and go man that’s a testament not only to the people who who really run this industry and they’re they’re I mean
Bull bullheaded right and and thank God for it MH because they kept this thing going and in a time when I I truly feel like people needed something I I remember watching like some show some I forget what it maybe it was like NYPD Blue or something I don’t know and the
Actors were zooming from their living rooms reading the scripts right yeah oh I mean I guess it’s something but it’s something still like but we get these guys in the ring there’s no people but okay maybe oh now there’s TV screens and now okay all right I I can’t say enough about the
Entire wrestling industry for what we were all able to pull off yeah and keep doing uh in a time where I feel like the world really really needed it yeah I also I mean there’s a lot of experimenting going on with how stories can be told and everything and listen
Yeah I know where you’re going I’m a fan okay I wasn’t in the buildup I’ll never forget watching Monday Night Raw and you and Randy are in the ring yeah and Charlie’s in between you she looks straight ahead and goes this may very well be the greatest wrestling
Match ever and I go what did she just say oh yeah because you also know as some like I know when I hear that F you know that one was fat that’s not going anywhere like that’s I go I go the what and then and then the the graphic comes and
The Banners are getting made it’s the greatest I go what so I’ll never forget I had just walked my dog mhm I got a call from hymon MH he’s like so we got this idea I like yeah that’s never a good sign you and Randy it’ll be the greatest
Wrestling match ever and I’m like I mean it’ll be be good we’ll have a great great match no Vince wants it to be the greatest wrestling match ever and that’s when it started to Dawn I like oh well that’s not possible because it’s subjective and what might be my favorite
Now you can say my most favorite wrestling match you can’t say the the greatest thing right there’s no it’s not the greatest band there’s not the greatest song There’s not the greatest movie because for you raging ball might be your greatest movie hey it might be Point Break for me right whatever like
There’s no such thing so I was like what what are you doing to us here right like now at this point this is technically it’s my third match back by the way too right and this is a company that’s never used the word wrestling ones and now all of a sudden
We’re putting on the greatest and we’re having the greatest one the greatest one so if we’re going to do it it’s going to be the greatest and it I just remember thinking my God oh my God but at the same time okay it’s a challenge yes so how do I
Come at this because Randy’s just like I don’t know dude and I know you will so whatever you know like he’s just washing his hands of it already so I’m like right okay what can we do what can we do okay let’s make it a love letter wrestling and you were
One of the very very few people that got that yeah I mean I right from jump you got that I I I remember watching it and like the spark hitting like halfway in it was like when the familiar spots started sh like when the mic came down I
Was like oh that’s interesting like oh I guess it’s going to be like an old school wrestling match you know and the think’s voice was on I was like oh okay it was when the familiar spot started coming from both of you that I was like
Oh they’re not saying this this is the greatest wrestling match that’s ever happened the greatest wrestling match is almost a stipulation it’s almost like a it’s a it’s a thing in and of itself what I tried to think of is what are the elements of some of the greatest matches
I’ve seen right let’s pull those in right so I was like Hey Charles long sleeve shirt bow tie cool yeah all right can we get Fink’s MSG thing to come down can we get his voice yeah we can okay amazing um and then it’s just like well
We just got to go out and work and if we hit some different finishers from over the years yes then maybe people will start to understand that it’s it’s a love letter to wrestling is really what it’s supposed to be because it’s not possible a it’s not possible because there’s no
Audience well we could do it better without you H how are we gonna do that there’s no audience um but I’m actually I’m I’m really proud of that night and and I’m proud of it because we got thrown into the worst or or the most difficult scenario I can think of I
Can’t think of too too many others that are more difficult than that in terms of living up to some sort of expectation that has been placed on this thing that has nothing to do with you and and going okay the promoter is trying to promote I
Get it but damn talk about like we are are pushing this boulder up this mountain and and it’s how do you get it there you know so it was really just trying to wrap my mind around a different way to come at it and then as I’m driving down from
Asheville to Orlando uh you know for all of those tapings no cars on the road it’s The Walking Dead like I’m on 75 and I didn’t pass a car it’s wild right and I’m driving I’m going okay what do I do what do I do oh what if we treated this
Like you know a a gaming you know in first person and like what would an audience member feel like if they were actually taking an RKO so what if I were we GoPro M and what if I get RKO and we use that in a replay I’m thinking just for replays
Right right so that’s my mindset it’s like okay maybe for replays we can get this that’d be a cool little element right right because if you do it in a replay you can still kind of maintain that suspension of disbelief enough enough right so we go out there we go 48
Minutes come to the back they’re like you guys went 48 minutes I was like really man it felt like 15 that was fun you know we had way a blast and then it was like you still want to do those pickup shots I was like
Well we’re here we might as well see if they work if they don’t hey no biggie right so we do the pickups we get cold in between and as we’re doing the pickups I take the RKO blow my tricep in the pickups oh and so I get
Home I have surgery they send me the match with well I wanted to take an RKO with a GoPro on and uh it’s my own fault it’s my own stupid but I also forgot in the time that I was retired I had my wrist fused so my wrist
Doesn’t Bend you forgot your wrist was fused no I just didn’t consider factor in taking moves certain moves are going to be different with a fused wrist sure so like I can go here but I can’t just won’t go wow so you take an RKO for the
First time oh yeah oh wait a second pop right so I get home surgery they send me the match our 48 through and I loved it I was like all right no such thing as great greatest ring match ever but I love that and they were like we want to
Add sound we want to add an audience I was like okay all right okay we’re we’re trying new stuff cool we got [ __ ] on for it then everybody else started doing it okay fine but then Vince wanted the the the different camera sh and I hated them I hated them cuz when I
Saw it in it took me out of the match I like it totally takes me out of the match let’s just keep the straight match yeah but he really loves him it’s like right so then it became wow they cut and they stopped and this and that and that
Pissed me off so much you did 48 yeah straight through and then they added in those three shots right and but but what I will say and my only if I I try not to live with regrets but if there’s one thing I wish could have happened is to
Have that match in front of an audience sure if we had just do what we do 48 minutes in front of an audience man would have been awesome it would have been so much fun and it was still fun yeah but um but that that was that might
Be the biggest challenge I feel like I’ve ever faced and that was one where emotionally going into it I was like all right but that has to feel very like a big accomplishment that you’re like okay you know what say what you want I figured it out tried it right you know
I’d like to see it give it a shot yeah go for it and I’ll watch yeah and I’ll applaud you after but it’s a thing yeah and um and if nothing else I felt like okay they put us in this position because they feel like in some respect
We can pull something out of it and and that’s a testament to Randy and I yeah and and the confidence that they had in us but uh man yeah one of the uh it was funny what we were describing before about storytelling uh in the pandemic I think greatly benefited Roman and the
Beginning of that bloodline story because there was so much nuance and everything right and I think when you talk about your WrestleMania moments right it’s TLC it’s Undertaker it’s Foley you know there’s a bunch of them but also based on what this run has become the fact that you
Were in the first bloodline era Roman Reigns WrestleMania main event is pretty massive to me just being in the first WrestleMania main event with people back yeah that that to me is is the uh is pretty cool to look back on now because it feels it feels like
Decades ago yeah it really really does it’s crazy how long ago that feels yeah um but to be a part of that and just to feel an audience again and and be reminded ah okay right this is when I first came back and that Rumble this was the feeling
That that was that was really uh that felt rewarding yeah just just from an emotional standpoint sure yeah your main event in WrestleMania that’s amazing um but just to get people back we made it we made it through and we’re still stumbling but but we got through the
Worst of it yeah uh easy for me to say but um I’m sure there’s people that don’t feel that way at least at that stage it felt like okay we’re coming through because now at least we have 25,000 back that’s a win let’s take it and and
And build um and then I think Roman and I uh we were the first couple of shows back because we did the first Smackdown in front of a full audience in Houston and then we worked Dallas money in the bank yes and that was a full audience
Yeah so those first ones were were huge just in terms of like feeling that and hearing that again yeah yeah um after uh after Roman after the people are back and everything uh you brought back brood Edge which I Loved You Know the music coming back and everything uh and it’s
Funny because again it’s going back to the details and I’ve privileged information because one of your loved ones told me um one I don’t think it was lric Ruby but I don’t know if people realize the level of detail that you’re operating on true or false you’re coming out as as
For True okay couple of things true or false you save uh everything mhm and it was time to bring back brood Edge and it was so important to you that brood Edge looked like brood Edge and and and wore what brood Edge would wear that you found original brood Edge sunglasses from
1998 brought them to wear them but key took out a paint pen and painted them to match your gear true or false true true and so I had I had one pair left one pair the rest had cracked either the people taking back gear stole them whatever right because that
Happened a lot over the years so I had one pair left right and they’re brown like [ __ ] brown right and I’m like well I can’t wear yeah so I I I’m I uh I like to be crafty so consider myself a bit of an artist just crafty we’ll go with crafty
Uh and I I got a paint marker and a flat matte black uh very very hard to chip MH and I painted them and I because I needed them to look the way they did back then right so so I like I I mean I
Love ring warn stuff but I’m at first I go like you can’t ruin something that was Ring warn but it’s like well technically now it’s double ring warn yeah right yeah and I have a so I have a lot of stuff like that yeah uh when is
This going to to drop uh a few days from now so next week or yeah so here’s a little tidbit okay I decided for this match with Jay tomorrow yeah to wear my WrestleMania 22 attire awesome cuz I still fit in it yeah I still got it yeah
Except and here was the caveat is I had the pants but again back to people stealing stuff somebody stole the dicky work shirt really that I wore at WrestleMania cuz I started wearing it on House shows rather than wear the trench coat like I’ll wear this it’s a lot
Easier to pack so uh and they’re it’s not 45 lbs so that’s nice yeah so but one time it was uh it was Lake Charles uh Louisiana somebody stole it ah yeah so I got to work this week and the hardest part was finding a Dicky shirt
Believe it or not so finally Walmart Super Center North Carolina had one and I dragged the girls with me everywhere to find this thing and then I taught myself how to hammer rivets in two shirts and it threw leather and all of these things CU you’re crafty cuz I’m
Crafty yeah I’m crafty little crafty so I uh basically topped myself as I went I bought three shirts so that I could screw up and uh smart and I pulled up a picture I was like right okay how do I so I learned how to use double-sided
Rivets as opposed to single-sided and I went through and I punched all of the holes for the star got the leather cut it worked it in and then put the and the r with all these little just hammering it and I was it was a process but so when people see it
I wanted it to look like oh he’s coming out WrestleMania 22 gear we know what happens then okay of course so that that was the mindset honestly with that but then it became a challenge to I don’t have the shirt damn it I forgot somebody stole it
I got to recreate it I just got to make it myself right so I mean it goes back to it might not happen but the reason it doesn’t happen is not going to be because my lack of because I didn’t try yeah so right I’m going to try and
Figure out how you Hammer with a mallet these things and there’s a whole section of Michaels so I just went and I just took stuff I didn’t even know if it was going to work or if I needed it but I just started pulling stuff off the shelf
I walked up there and I was like and then I got home and and started figuring it out this is the level of geek I am I just realized that now Mattel did an action figure of you from that match yeah and that means that aw is going to
Be able to do an action that’s so fun yes that’s so f everything I do like I haven’t worn the same gear twice since I’ve come back that’s wild not once and I always think of it from the okay action figures yeah of course because I
Loved my ljan right and my Hasbro and I loved when a guy would come out in different colors and a different you know even if the design is the same but it’s a different color and maybe that color means something and and maybe the
The color is a tip of the hat to this or it’s to that or but it’s still distinctly Adam Copeland or Edge but okay he’s wrestling MSG maybe that’s tip of the hat to Brett when he wears the pink and black oh yeah right okay um you
Know having the Hitmen logo but with long blonde hair and but it’s also a tip of the cap to Canada yeah uh and always have my girls in there and my mom’s initials in there and they’ll be in the Maple Leafs or the Stars like I put a
Lot of thought into that stuff awesome and it’s purely just I guess for me yeah but I’m hoping that there’s enough nerds like me out there that go okay yeah he put some thought into this this isn’t just willy-nilly thrown together he he he’s thinking about these things because I do yeah
When did you know like you have your last match with Sheamus in WWE yeah did you truly not know what was next or did you have a pretty good idea there’s a good chance that I’m going to head over because like I’m also thinking right not only do you have all these
Guys but Christian Jay is and I’ve said this in my opinion doing some of if not the best work in his career now yeah did you go okay that’s I’m not supposed to be able to climb any of these mountains right now I just climbed all these and
When I say mountains I mean Rollins and Balor and styles and Roman and all these things that you got to do do you know there’s a whole bunch of mountains over there I’m probably going to go climb those or did you truly go I
Have no idea what’s next I had no idea I had three choices I thought yeah I can retire which was a very very as the match was happening with Sho I was like man I am loving this I am loving every bit of this we’re beating the crap out
Of each other but we’re and the crowd and I’m home and and and just all of the things right and and the leaves collaborated with me and we got a shirt and my gear just all of it I I truly as we’re doing the match and it’s living up
To everything that I hoped it would be when him and I finally got in there with each other I’m like this might be it there’s a very good that this is it and and I gotta go home and think about it because the other two scenarios the other two mountains were the mountain
I’m already on and the mountain that I feel like already climbed uh which is WWE MH I had the offer and it was a good place to be but I also felt like I was only going to be allowed to do so much mhm you know that could get boring honestly if
If I’m being truly forthright it’s like okay come in every 3 months or two months or whatever it is and and do a match with a Grayson Waller and MSG cuz you know they need a match for it how great that’s again that’s a great place to be yeah but from a creatively
Stimulating standpoint it’s kind of not you know I I was able to sink my teeth into the Judgment Day story um because it was a story and we were able to play it out over a year but even then there was still the back and force and the
Back and force nobody fault because it was limited dates mhm I was willing to do more um but I just felt felt like the place that I was going to get to do it more and be able to tell those stories was going to be with aw because I’d be
Allowed to that was really exciting but that all didn’t come and and and really sink into my brain until I got the match done I got home I got removed from it and started to think about okay truly what is next and and everything I said
In that first promo I did I said I downam with my family I went so what do I do what do you think you know I can retire and you’ll all be SI of me cuz you remember those nine years you remember how bad it was and I’m already
Involved enough in the girl school like Beth and I run the drama club and like we’re we’re like we paint the school we do all like we’re there we’re those people right so I’m sure the girls are already mortified except the boys think I’m cool because now I’m Aries on top of
Being a wrestler so but uh or do I keep working with WWE and it’ll be the same or do I go work with Uncle Jay and I’m sure too that like you have a different perception of time than anybody else because it’s all borrowed it’s all borrowed like you
Weren you know you weren’t supposed to get any of it yeah right and if I can do this for a limited time because it is all limited even though it’s been four or five years back now it’s not like I got another four or five in front of me
I know I don’t we’re looking at like a two-year window here to be able to get as much done as I can get done tell as many stories as I can try and help Talon along the way with that and I I I need to be there more to do
That MH and I want to be there more to do that because even still it’s not like the schedule was back when I was riding 220 250 days a year right you know it at most it’s two times a week right you know and that’s very doable to still be
The dad I need to be to to be the partner I need to be I still have the the time and the energy to do that because it’s not as allc consuming as it was I don’t let it be as allc consuming as it used to be either um but by the
Schedule it just becomes less allc consuming um and I I just I wanted to be able to do as much as I could while I could and that felt like the place I was going to be able going to be allowed to do that um
And that’s when it it really I was like that’s where I got to go and and and lyric should said you’re going to have more fun with him mhm like you’re absolutely right your best friend I am what is by the way when you look at like
The dream because you got to do all of them tag team teaming with your best friend yeah teaming with your wife or teaming with your hero cuz you dude you son of a [ __ ] somehow you pulled it off you politicked your way into teaming with your childhood best friend teaming with
Your wife and winning the tag titles with Hulk Hogan so I mean and and here’s what’s crazy about that is the Hogan thing was brought to me wild Heyman called me goes what do you think about teaming with Hulk Hogan I was like that sounds amazing yeah and you’ll win the tag team
T okay yeah let’s do it and it’ll air on the fourth of July and Hogan will come out to real American you’ll be in Boston like if there’s a city yeah you know what I mean and and but isn’t he can no no no no American I’ll hold the American
Flag tonight it’s okay um and then it was actually Vince said what do you think about teaming with Beth I was like oh that’s awesome yeah I never thought that would be a thing you know we both never thought that would be a thing you know but then she comes back in the
Rumble and gets her head gashed open and stays in there for 30 minutes looking like Flare from like 1984 uh against you know uh take a pick you got color with everybody every night him and Dusty um you know so she comes back and does stuff like that and
They’re like oh she’s still an animal right okay uh and my whole brain starts going U because it was initially pitched you know in Miz and mauce I was like ah that’ll be fun Miz is the most one of the most giving performers in the history of this industry Maurice gets it
They know what their role is right cool but I always thought if we could yet Beth and Ria mhm face to face across from each other that can be a thing and I felt like that could be a moment that Beth never fully got because the climate was different
And there was nobody really to match up like that but now there was Ria now there was Bianca now there was there was enough girls but I always just thought her and Ria would be Godzilla and King Kong right and and so to see that happen
And to see the the story that we told in that I Quit match and where it built to from that I was picturing okay let’s let’s make this final 10 minutes of movie MH all right let’s work backwards if I were heel Edge what would I
Do oh I would get her down and still do the coner toe right well okay let’s start there and then work backwards um and that that was that was a blast just to to be a part of all of that and and even that match in particular like I had
Wrapped Percy Jackson the night before at 1: in the morning in Vancouver so now 4 in the morning Philly time so I hop on the jet fly to Philly land at 10:45 get Beth at the hotel go straight to the building I haven’t slept for day and a
Half at this point I get to the to the building we do the match I’m wired just fried but also wired couldn’t sleep that night mhm fly home I finally crashed what was it I guess Sunday night and I’d been up since Friday morning and I I kind of don’t remember
It like I was just that what am I doing but then I I I think back to it and go man but pulled that off yeah it’s pretty damn cool um and also doesn’t help that you’re working a fin Balor you I me yeah absolutely you’re one of uh
I want to say only three guys as I think about it now I think it’s just you Cody and punk that have worked under Vince Hunter and Tony Khan yeah I want to say that those are the three I mean and I know you know you
Were you were there for kind of a brief is period when with Hunter and you’ve only been in aw for you know well a couple months now couple months what what to you are the are the things that make those three guys good at what they do I think or
Uniquely good at what they do with Paul and Tony they’re fans and I think Vince is to a degree but I I think he looks at it from more of the business and more of the global thing but at the heart of this thing uh
You know Hunter was a fan right and Tony was a fan right so I think they come at it from that mindset I think that might be the difference maybe sure um wouldn’t it be cool if applies to them because they’re fans yeah yeah yeah yeah and and
And that’s that’s fun yeah right and uh so I I think that’s probably the differences um I think the the biggest difference I’d have to say I noticed between the two companies is that with WWE now it’s a publicly traded company there’s the sponsors there’s there there’s a lot of different things to
Answer to and with a uh there’s just a lot of freedom yeah you can’t be running around saying go [ __ ] yourself on WWE TV not gonna happen right no not gonna happen no especially not the follow-up payoff either none of that happening none of that happening um so so in that regard
Especially in in this Final Act of my career yeah that’s a super fun place to navigate from that’s a great place to create from because oh right let’s just throw it at the wall see if it sticks if it doesn’t Okay well it didn’t mhm and then let’s
Try this and let’s try that and then to like I said have a complete roster of people that I’ve never touched like I’ve never wrestled Samoa Joe that’s nuts and my god did you just make me want to see Adam celan Samoa Joe match me too so
There’s one uh really the only time Brian and I have been in there uh is is WrestleMania right we had a 4-minute match on Raw once which is like a throwaway one and then the first time we really worked was the main event of WrestleMania that’s Triple Threat Triple
Threat let’s get us one-on-one yeah let’s see what happens yeah you know Meo never touched him yeah Moxley never touched him claudo never touched him I almost Worf never touched them Hobbs never touched them Kyle Fletcher never touched him Kenny Omega never touched them hangman Adam pagee never touched
Them like yeah there’s a lot of fun to be had there’s a lot of fun there you know and that’s really like you know I I get people are like you know the tribalism that’s the new word right right uh uh which I do think look I do
Think tribalism has been around forever it’s just now there’s the outlet that’s it right that’s it but you know because I remember NWA or WWF and you’re one of the other I loved it all cuz I just liked wrestling wrestling fans yeah I don’t I don’t I don’t love initials
Right I just love a good wrestling match I love characters that I can relate to and and get invested in and uh so to me that that I I’m still I’m still the fan that just wants to check as many boxes as I can while I’m doing this thing and
I’m I’m loving what I’m doing and I’m not supposed to be doing it so that’s why for me it’s just it’s all a bunch of whipped cream on top of a really great Sunday yeah that was the first you know 25 years uhhuh this is all just extra
Extra yeah you so so don’t worry about pulling it apart or you’re splitting hairs and this and that like just enjoy it cuz I am yeah you know and that that goes for all of it like they didn’t do this in the main event this year was it
Good yeah yeah you reacted right you had funh there there’s your there’s your barometer and also like let’s look at the body of work like life is long career like look at the whole I I’ve used the analogy it’s like would you get mad at Paul Newman mhm because he made a
Movie for MGM after he made one for Paramount oh but I I love Paramount I love Paramount how dare you go to MGM right you traitor right traitor was the word I saw the word traitor betrayal being flown around what what come on right it’s just trying to
Do fun stuff yeah we’re just having fun man right that’s it right we just got our tights on just jumping around in Tights yeah that’s all come on take my shirt off for a while it’s theater of the Absurd that we all enjoy so try going back to that person that enjoyed
It right you know has there been anything uh specific about aw that’s either surprised you or that you’ve been fond of beyond the sort of general you know freedom to do what it is that you do I I think it um there’s nothing really surprised me I mean at the end of
The day it’s all wrestling right you know um I I think there’s a lot of young Talent there that are getting the Reps not on House shows anymore they’re having to do it on live TV and that is a different Beast entirely that is that is
A far harder position to be put in so I I think I have more um more time I guess or or more sympathy is not the right word you know because we’re all living our Dream but it’s a it’s a harder understanding yes yeah yeah and and I think for me
It’s like every generation goes well it was harder on my generation yeah it probably was but guess what that’s why we work so hard is to make it easier for the Next Generation to do this job is so that you’re you’re not you know left out
In the cold and you can make enough to save for that rainy day and all of those things every generation and any occupation works that hard to try and make it better maybe not easier but better for the next Generation but with that next generation is going to come a
Whole set of problems that we didn’t have I didn’t have to deal with social media I don’t have to deal with some dude in in you know uh Tucky yuck tuck who’s never taking a bump in a ring telling me that I’m lousy mhm what that didn’t happen right they
Might be thinking it in their basement and Tuck yuck tuck eating the craft dinner but I didn’t hear it right now this generation has to deal with these these different things that come at them and not only just attacking what they do in the ring but attacking them
Personally by doing that it’s a different Beast Man and it’s everything right it’s not just wrestling it’s like you have to think about that with your kids like absolutely if they get bullied in school they’re getting bullied at home too because it’s you know it’s on
Their pH can’t get away from right and you know I’m a Leafs fan right I love my Toronto Ms but I read some of the things people post I’m like oh my God right what are you like go do it dude you go play D I want to see how that goes right
And we’ll pay you the same yeah because that’s always thing well they get paid for it right because they’re awesome and that’s why they’re there and why you’re not I don’t know I just it so that’s a challenge that I feel like this generation has and also the challenge of
Where do you get experience and how do you get experience from someone who’s more experienced mhm because generally speaking you know if it’s the Indies well those guys have worked on the Indies but you don’t you rarely get okay I can work Greg Valentine who was in an iy title program
That made some serious money with Tito Santana and he worked Rody Piper in this dog collar match and I can work him on this little show in Cleveland in front of 50 people but I’m going to learn right I can work Jimmy Valiant well you
Know what you got to do you got to go back on the Indies well maybe not that you got you you got I mean you got to be the new Rick Martel but what I can do is be a sounding board yes and and go okay
Right I’m not going to have every answer and and and every Talent has to find their people uh that they they trust getting answers from or ideas from but I love being a viable option you know uh you know I talk to swerf and have for years
CU I really like his thing I always have I talk to Kyle Fletcher I talk to like a lot of these young guys just like I did in WWE um because I I I I really love seeing light bulbs come on that’s really really fun you know because I remember
When they came on for me and how exciting that was yeah yeah yeah well uh look I don’t want to keep you here uh uh all night long you got a big match to prepare for tomorrow at theth we are avoiding traffic back to Long Island at this
Stage you know that’s a good call so there’s that that’s a good call I I do I forgot to mention two things number one the promo that you cut for the world heavyweight championship tournament was awesome that’s the one where you said I’m G I got one more in me I’m gonna and
I was like oh they should give it to him and he’ll retire if he loses it okay well whatever it was a good promo though and by the way I was also in like watching all my my YouTube algorithm is all screwed up cuz I’ve been watching so
Much Edge footage before you got here I’m sorry you’re going to be a bunch of dudes in guyliner but the Money in the Bank briefcase really hadn’t been defined yeah before you had it and that’s one of those things that now we all take for granted that like oh yeah it’s just one
Of those things that a guy comes out randomly and does the thing and but but like when you watch that First Cash in and Vince McMahon comes out there was this assumption that the money in the the bank just meant like oh he’ll announce a week in advance or before the
Pay-per-view you’ll have a match it was never presumed to be oh yeah just a random Point as long as that dude’s in the ring I’m cashing in yeah and it kind of changed uh history yeah it was uh again when when the concept was first brought to me I was like another Ladder
Match man guys I’m I’m trying to to shake that you know I I don’t want to be the guy that okay we’ll get you on Mania but it’s got to be in a multi-person ladder match so at first I said I I don’t need to be in it
Yeah what a dumb ass thank you what a dumb ass and they talked me into being it I your G like you should really be in it really really be in it all right sure and WS what do you know yeah like and and then they said
Then you’re going over I was like oh but yeah but still what it’s like briefcase with a c like what is that and then uh then I started to to sink my teeth into what it could be and uh I I one of the first times that I
Really went to Vince with something I said as this vile character if I just say I’m gonna do it and then just do a match well that’s not there’s there’s no there’s nothing bad about that there’s nothing you know uh vile about that but if I cash it an after somebody’s already beat
The [ __ ] in an elimination chamber still fully expecting that I’m going to just put Cena overh you know and add another layer to the you know the the S on the chest kind of thing right um but that that me mentioning that sparked an idea and I I truly just
Think it was right well just we got to kind of get rid of this thing right and and because after a year it’s no good we’re nine months in okay let’s just do it here we’ll do a quick flip we’ll flip it back and I truly think that’s all it was
And then I just made sure that in that three weeks I’m going to do whatever I possibly can so that it will come back right that was the goal because they said yeah we’re going to drop back at Rumble and I was like well all right got
Three weeks all right three weeks here here we go wow wow that’s a well you know I mean and thank God for Mick Foley you know I I I I never give Mick enough credit for what he did for me and and for what he
Uh just what he did at that stage of his career yeah you know and and what limitations he was already working with but you wouldn’t have known it yeah and I didn’t know it and he wanted me to get to where I wanted to get to and I truly wanted to
Give him the thing he felt like he thought he was missing so you got two Maniacs now that are working for each other to give each other these missing things yeah and and that’s a really really satisfying thing because as we landed I see my my arm smoking but I’m
Just like I think Mick just got his moment okay all right now I’m crawling over you know and covering love you Mick love you too Eder Eder what are we doing in that moment I me and I also loved it I’m and I’m so glad that they just film
Everything cuz who knows yeah that in that one of the docs about that they have footage of you after the match kind of getting checked out by the doctor and everything and you’re just totally drained yeah like everything has just is just gone I I I also think I might have
Been in a little bit of shock interesting because of everything you just put your body through yeah you know because I I like my arm was bubbling and turning gray yeah and I’m still getting thumbtacks pulled out on my back I’m just like there’s a weird Fallout there there’s like a dump of
Everything like everything yeah endorphins dopamine all of it right is just now so you feel like this weird blob after something like that it’s odd there’s an incredible shot in that match where it’s with the barbwire bat on your face and you see the blood starts running down and it’s almost Christlike
In the sense that like it looks like they’re just Tears of Blood this thorn of you know this Crown of Thorns is draped across your head well and what I didn’t realize cuz I hadn’t worked with those tools before well it’s got to be barbed wire I was like it’s
What oh but how do we do it you just do it yeah right okay okay like what we doing what are we doing what are we doing well look man I mean I think uh I think that that is aw is this the last run do you think or are you no longer
Quantifying it’s hard to quantify honestly but but really I truly I I I walked into this thinking this is where I’m ending my career and I’m ending it with some of my best friends in the industry you know I I’m my very best friend in life uh you know Daniel and
David FTR guys you know I I look around and I see FR Jericho and and it’s like it it’s really nice and and again really exciting so you know in my mind I already have ideas for the end um and and and I I feel feel good but I also know
There’s there’s limitations you know and the work that I have to put in now just to feel good enough to do it that’s going to get harder and harder you know it’s things I didn’t do before so now there’s a regimen there’s a routine
There’s a like I my you saw me I came in with my meals I you know I do my cold plunge I do like all of I stretch for an hour a day like those are all things I didn’t I didn’t do before and I have to
Do those things just to be able to to look okay a pair of tights let alone then do the stuff sure um and and I know I can’t get in and do some of the things will osprey’s going to do but I can figure out ways
For him to do those things and then counter it with my thing yes that’s what the ultimate opportunist does yes that’s what you do so be smarter another guy I’ve never touched by the way will Osprey yeah yeah so many I 11 one of the things I really like about the
Short interview did 11 years ago I asked you who did you want your last match to actually be with you said Christian and one of my people that goes through my video and stuff found the clip we were able to post it again when you came back
To aw I was like this is amazing like fun full circle so in the spirit of that as we sit here today in your head when you think about what the end could look like in terms of the performance of it do you want the end to be triumphant or
Do you want the end to be heartbreaking I I don’t think it needs to be triumphant yeah you know I already had that yeah you know um and I don’t know if it’s if it’s Christian anymore right no no no and I I brought up Christian more to contextualize what
You’re doing now then that to be the last match you know it it’d be nice to to to give that final shot in the arm to that person or or even the person who’s already there but it ain’t G to hurt you know uh in a perfect world again to me
The place is really important and I would love to do it m Leaf Gardens that that I would love to do even if it means I gotta start an indie for a day and I got to book Maple Leaf Gardens and I got to film it and I got
To get the production team and I got to get the talent to be able to do it in the place that I first saw wrestling live yeah to be back in that place we got to do it I mean this is literally going back to Dennis stamp because what
Was the show got to make my own show Terry funks Wrestle Fest in Amarillo Texas it was his own retirement show and everybody came in and he got to work Bret Hart in his one of his retirement matches you know y I truly feel like
This is this is the way we we do the aw run yep and then I start my own promotion and then you for one night go blend championship in the Maple Leaf Gardens you bring somebody in and and then and then you have your moment and then three
Years later you come back as Chainsaw Charlie ah no all right all right it was worth bitching it was worth it was worth trying uh Hey Honestly though if I could do it mayleaf Gardens man yeah there there’s no other place and there’s no other there’s no other ending after that
It’s just that that’s it you know to to Macho Man Randy Savage Jesse body ventur Junkyard Dog Tito Santana my first main event that I watch live Tony Canal P against Renee gay first match to go back and be able to do it in that place that’d be special amazing yeah what’s
Also special that you watch one pay-per-view and the Judgment Day are headlining and you watch the other company’s pay-per-view and Adam Copeland is one of the headline matches it’s pretty I mean you’ve done a pretty good job of uh of putting some some gasoline in the industry um I I mean hope
Contributing in whatever way you can hopefully I I’m proud of those guys really really proud of those guys because they they took it and and made it so much better and ran with it how about you know and this is just ironic Punk’s out of aw yeah you’re into
Aw you’re out of WWE punks into WWE who’s his first match back with domio that was not happening three years ago that again goes back to the point that I think the way wrestling is right now it’s fun just watch fun watch and see where it goes cuz none of us know
Where any of this is going and it’s good and it’s so much better for everyone in the industry too yes like that that’s the the part that to me is so amazing yeah you know Tony KH started a wrestling company cuz he’s a wrestling fan God bless him for it mhm because now
You have a bunch of talent that might not be doing anything they’re able to do something mhm and and people that might go okay well the window’s closed over here but there’s a wide open window over there right that’s amazing you know and WWE is still going to be this monolithic
Beast it just it just is and that’s great and what’s really great is to me is like what we’re seeing is performers that are like in we’ve now seen it on both sides I don’t know if I can tell the story that I want to tell over here
I better go over here sure and they tell the story and it’s a great story and then over here I don’t know if I can tell that story I’m going to go over here and tell a story we get all the stories yeah we get to see them yeah
There’s a place to do the story right there’s a place that go okay we’ll try that story right okay you know um that’s that’s that’s fun it’s fun that’s fun it’s fun yeah that’s the theme of this man I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being so generous with
Your time and uh coming through uh and doing this this is this is great this was fun yeah again fun fun look at us it’s fun look at us look at us Paul red on hot ones thank you very much man I appreciate it thanks buddy appreciate it
49 Comments
Lol, it was hardy boys did all the hard work..
All he is famous for cheating with friends wife and cheating..
A sob…
Wow, this was a great interview.
I'v never seen a intro like this. I loved it.
Interview ideas 💡
Sharkboy, Renee Dupree, Rvd, ICP, Monty brown, pacman jones.
Interview Christian Cage.
From a Kid from the 90’s watching you make you Debut to the First Retirement Speech crying like a Bitch! To 2020 Not only jumping outta my seat but once again Crying like a Bitch that not only he returned, but he returned to wrestle once again. My Favorite Pillars of WWE. Glad to see him not only happy to keep doing this but eventually watching him Retire again. This time I’ll be ok knowing he’s going out on his own terms. Excellent interview! Could have easily been 5 Hours.
Does Sam ask edge about his thoughts on the major bros and there success on the indies/aew/gcw cause I’d be interested to hear if he’s seen that and how those guys are changing wrestling his former edge heads?
It's ONLY Adam Copeland now!
Egde is wearing a mr bungle t shirt hell ya good taste n music sir
It's so weird to see how you're the most well adjusted guy from the o&a alumni
Edge vs Randy: This is not the best match in the world. This is just a tribute.
Very enjoyable. Adam is good people
He has to finish as Edge, not Adam imo
ADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
As a kid (10 years of age) I hated him so much, now an adult (28) I have so much respect for him
we need more of Heyman pestering Sam about being "closeted Kosher" and calling him Shmuley
Edge is such a glass half full and positive guy. Very good interview!!!
I thought this was scorch
We Want CM Punk💥
Would love to have him and Christian v. LOS forajidos to close out their run.
AeW rated R? I'm sure rated R was made in wwe
Aew always needs to mention wwe …wwe dont need to mention them to survive
When moments like Adam's 2020 Rumble Return happens, I love when the commentators do their job at creating a bigger moment from it for the fans… Michael Cole: "It's been 9 long years!!!"… That'll forever be etched in my memory… Really feel good moment.
Amazing amazing interview
I love Adam. Thank you for all you have done for wrestling fans and continue to do. Hope to see you at a live event some time in Houston
To be honest, Jeff Hardy revolutionized TLC matches, anybody could've speared him mid air, minus Bubba, Edge is more known for fucking Lita, and Matt, over anwyays.
Yea doing whatever you want on aew is working out so well lol. Awful so far tbh.
So much love and knowledge from edge
Wow this was amazing video. If I have any criticism it is I wish there was time stamps. Even though this was just like a conversation for 2 hours.
Gosh I can listen to Adam (Edge) all day
I noticed edge wm 22 gear as soon as he came out, and I noticed the dickies coat liked different
Edge has had a better run in Judgement day than AEW.
The rated R superstar!
Interview icp
Good job Sam.
2:50 happy birthday Adam.
Interview Rene Dupree.
Plandemic 1:10:19
Use to have a edge and Christian 📂 folder
Interview Jelly roll.
The part around half an hour in where he talks about being a good wrestler and a likeable guy but needing MORE to get to the next level… I think that pretty much sums up my problems with the current Roster of WWE. There's a lot of GREAT wrestlers and likeable guys, but the meat, the next level, just doesn't seem to be there (at least for me).
I want more CHARACTER.
In fact, after listening to the whole thing, I think I'm going to check out AEW finally!
This was 2 hours long? Didn't even seem like that at all.
Adam's in NC? Lets grab a beer and knock the EDGE off 😅😂 🌽e
Loved this from the beginning to the end! Thank you so much for this Sam. Even the questions were very thoughtful and thorough. I can listen to Edge/Adam all day long! My favourite wrestler of all time and a role model as a person! Edgehead / Copehead forever!
Ben Shapiro is that you?
How is there an edge interview and it just pops up on my feed. My feed is all wrestling almost
Is it just me but if you put a brown wig and a flannel shirt on Sam you have a mini Mick Foley.
Mr. Bungle shirt spotted! That is a man of true taste right there.
I never thought about it but edge really was the roddy piper of my generation
I fell asleep listening to Maven woke up to Edge we live in a good time