Tony Khan Confirms WWE Never Reached Out About Adam Copeland for John Cena’s Retirement Tour

With John Cena’s retirement tour looming over WWE’s biggest storylines heading into 2026, fans have been throwing out dream matchups—and one name that keeps coming up is Adam Copeland. The idea of rekindling Cena’s most brutal rivalry from the mid-2000s has picked up steam, especially after Copeland’s iconic Money in the Bank cash-in back in 2006 that started it all. But Tony Khan just crushed those hopes with one sentence.

During an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, AEW President Tony Khan was asked directly if WWE had contacted AEW to potentially involve Copeland in Cena’s final chapter. Khan didn’t dance around it.

“No. Adam is going to be with us through the end of the year. He is a huge part of AEW and I have so much respect for him and I really like Adam a lot. I’m glad to have him here. He’s away filming, but he’s with us and he’s going to stay with us.”

Despite the timing being perfect for one last run-in between the Rated-R Superstar and The Champ, WWE never made a move. Copeland, who jumped to AEW in late 2023 after his WWE contract expired, has remained with the company ever since—even as he’s taken a temporary break to focus on family and outside projects.

This isn’t just another “what if” scenario—it’s confirmation from the top. WWE had every opportunity to reach across the aisle, and they didn’t.

That rivalry between Cena and Copeland helped define an entire generation of WWE, and the fact that there was no outreach at all will leave a lot of fans wondering what could have been.

Should WWE have reached out to AEW about Copeland for one last run with Cena? Would you have liked to see their story come full circle in 2026? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.