Adam Copeland: My Experience By The End Of WWE Was Overproduced And Overrehearsed. It Kept Handcuffs On

Adam Copeland spent over two decades in WWE, accomplishing everything there is to accomplish before leaving the company in August 2023.

Copeland retired in 2011 due to a neck injury, but returned to the ring in 2020.

After leaving WWE, he signed with AEW in October 2023.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the Ariel Helwani Show, Copeland was asked about the speech he gave on AEW Dynamite in April 2024 to rally the locker room, seemingly in response to comments CM Punk made during an interview with Helwani earlier that week.

“I knew, in being hired, that at some point one of my jobs would be to try and dial in a locker room. I’ve been put in a position to lead before and have success. I assumed that was one of the reasons to bring me over as well. Right now, this last year has turned the corner in terms of everybody pulling in the same direction. Once you can do that and get a few creative elements of the show that start to hit, everything gets dialed in. I feel that’s where we are right now, and that’s always fun. What’s amazing about AEW now is the freedom to explore and try things. It’s much more like the Attitude Era in that regard. A lot of times in the Attitude Era, there might be a plan, but there might not be. My experience by the end of WWE was over-produced, over-rehearsed, over-everything. It kept handcuffs on you to where you couldn’t really explore too much. That’s not the case with AEW. It’s fun,” he said.

Elsewhere during the interview, Copeland said that if it weren’t for AEW, he’d be retired by now. You can find his full comments here.

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