Adam Copeland’s sudden move into the AEW World Championship picture apparently wasn’t the original plan. His spot in the Clockwork Carnage match at WrestleDream opened up because AEW got hit with multiple injuries at All Out and had to start moving some pieces around.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the belief is that Jay White was originally scheduled to be in Copeland’s spot in the Clockwork Carnage match. That plan went out the window after White was injured during his match at AEW All Out.
But White wasn’t the only person whose All Out injury changed things. Christian Cage was also seriously injured at the show, putting the recently reunited Copeland and Christian tag team on hold for the time being.
That suddenly left Copeland available for something completely different. With White unable to take his planned spot and Christian unavailable for the tag team direction, putting Copeland into Clockwork Carnage apparently made plenty of sense.
AEW started setting that new direction in motion on the October 14 episode of Dynamite/Collision. Copeland defeated Josh Alexander in a Clockwork Carnage qualifying match, officially putting himself on the road toward another potential shot at the AEW World Championship.
Things got even more interesting after the match when Copeland dropped some huge news about his career. The Rated R Superstar announced that 2027 will be his final year as a professional wrestler, meaning there’s now a very real deadline on everything he still wants to accomplish in AEW.
Copeland also made it clear that the AEW World Championship is high on that list. With retirement getting closer, he’s looking to make one serious run at the biggest prize in the company before calling it a career.
Now Copeland is chasing the AEW World Championship with the clock officially ticking on his career. It may not have been the road AEW originally mapped out for him, but it could end up becoming one of the biggest stories of his final year.
What do you think about the real reason behind Adam Copeland being placed in the Clockwork Carnage match at AEW WrestleDream? Let us know in the comments below.
