When Adam Copeland made his surprise return to professional wrestling in 2020, fans salivated at the matches that 'The Rated-R Superstar' could have with his fellow WWE Superstars. Following his shock return at the 2020 Royal Rumble, Copeland's first major feud was with his former 'Rated RKO' brethren, Randy Orton.
The two faced off at WrestleMania 36 in a Last Man Standing Match, a match which Copeland won. The following month, Copeland and Orton faced off one more time, this time in a match dubbed 'The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever' by WWE. The match took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that there were no fans in the arena to actually take in the match. This fact, and the overall premise of the match itself, made it difficult for Copeland to agree with the 'Greatest Wrestling Match Ever' mentality.
Copeland recently spoke with Kenny McIntosh from Inside the Ropes and discussed the match, which he said was fun but a challenge.
“It felt like a no-win situation. I definitely wish that Backlash match could have been in front of more than just 20 students at the PC, because I’m still really proud of it, and the circumstances that Randy and I were put in to pull something off were pretty ridiculous. You tell me, ‘We’re going to build the greatest wrestling match ever, only there’s no audience.’ Well, what does that even mean? There’s no such thing as the greatest anything, unless you’re in an actual athletic contest.We know who the best hockey team is, they win the Stanley Cup. There’s no such thing as a greatest match, because it’s different for everybody. But okay, here we go, let’s give something a shot here. And it was super fun. It was a great challenge, but I wish that one had an audience, for sure," Copeland told Inside the Ropes.
When asked if he match would have been better with an audience, Copeland answered in the affirmative.
“With a crowd, they would have been all over that. It would have been so good,” he said.
Copeland's last match in the WWE was against Sheamus during the August 18, 2023 episode of WWE SmackDown. He debuted in AEW just two months later, at the October pay-per-view, WrestleDream. He currently competes as 'Cope' for AEW.
For Copeland's thoughts on the John Cena heel turn, click here. For more on Copeland's contract status and retirement plans, click here.
