Adam Copeland Admits He Was Confused by Death Riders Storyline Before Finding His Role

Adam Copeland, known to fans as Cope, has always been about more than just wrestling moves—it’s the why behind them that makes his work stand out. After spending 25 years as Edge in WWE, he developed a deep understanding of storytelling in wrestling, and now he’s bringing that same mindset to AEW.

Ahead of his AEW World Title match against Jon Moxley at AEW Revolution, Copeland spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Jon Alba about his approach to storytelling and how he had to figure out where he fit into AEW’s Death Riders storyline.

“Well, for me, it was just, it was confusing at first. Like, I didn’t fully understand what was happening,” Copeland admitted. “So I wanted to try and figure that out along with the audience, I think, and then go ‘Alright, what can be the story here? The story can be you take them out, because it’s always the numbers that they have the advantage with. Okay, let’s do something about that. Let’s tell a story there.’”

For Copeland, every match needs layers, and that means making sure everything builds up to a moment where fans are fully invested.

“Anything I’m involved in, I try to at least add some layers to it. And when putting the things together, going, ‘Okay, here’s the package for the match.’ You got to build in beats for that package to sum everything up, so if you watch that two minutes right before the match, you’re caught up. You got it, and know, ‘Alright, and now I’m looking forward to this thing,’” he explained.

His approach focuses on giving fans a reason to care before they even see the match. “That to me is what hooks me,” Copeland added, emphasizing that wrestling is about more than just in-ring action—it’s about making every moment count.

With Copeland now fully locked into AEW’s world title picture, fans will see exactly how his storytelling approach plays out against Moxley.