AEW’s Adam Copeland recently announced that 2027 would be his final year as a professional wrestler. With a career stemming for over 30 years, ‘The Rated-R Superstar’ will finally have the opportunity to end his career on his own terms. His return to professional wrestling in 2020 was a major moment that brought tears to many fans, as the 11-time World Champion was able to come back and do what he loved even after being forced to retire due to a devastating injury a decade earlier. Now the rumors will circulate as to who will step up to Copeland and challenge him a final time before he sets off into the sunset. There are many superstars who will look to be ‘Cope’s’ final opponent, but which superstars should have the honor of standing across from him in his final match?
Nick Wayne
An encounter against Nick Wayne would be a full-circle moment for Copeland, as it was his tag team partner Christian Cage who pushed him into a larger spotlight after the young superstar turned heel. At just 21 years old, Wayne still has a long and promising future ahead of him, and a win against Copeland would cement his legacy early on. ‘The Prodigy’ hasn’t really been featured much on AEW, although his recent feud with Chris Jericho has allowed him to be used more; he is no stranger to the 11-time World Champion. At AEW Full Gear 2023, during a match between Copeland and Cage, ‘The Rated-R Superstar’ powerbombed Wayne through a flaming table. ‘The Prodigy’ could use that moment as fuel to get revenge against Copeland and challenge him in his final match to put an end to ‘Cope’s’ career.
Christian Cage
From teaming as brothers to going their separate ways, the long-lasting relationship between Copeland and Cage spans multiple generations. In WWE, they led the way in tag team wrestling, even going as far as making history by introducing the TLC concept to the WWE Universe, a match stipulation that both men will always be linked to. Both men would eventually split and become multiple-time World Champions. Copeland as Edge in WWE as a WWE and World Heavyweight Champion, while Cage won the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE and the Impact World Championship in TNA. Once both men came face-to-face in AEW, they were entangled in a feud, and after some time, they eventually reunited as a team and captured the AEW World Tag Team Championship. With the 11-time World Champion’s career coming to an end, a final encounter between both men would be the icing on the cake on a brotherhood that spanned more than two decades.
MJF
What better way to make the fans extremely angry than to book one of AEW’s biggest heels, MJF, and have him go over Copeland in a devious manner? MJF would love nothing more than to make fans miserable no matter how he does it, and entering a feud with a retiring 11-time World Champion is the perfect scenario for him. He could easily bring up ‘Cope’s’ past in WWE and how his career is dwindling away while also trying to look like the good guy in this situation, being the one who has to put the symbolic “Old Yeller” out of his misery. Not only would this continue to add value to MJF as a heel, but it would also make Copeland’s final match bittersweet, with fans not knowing if ‘Cope’ will win or bow out in defeat.
