AEW President Tony Khan appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show this week, where he addressed speculation surrounding Adam Copeland (Edge) and whether WWE attempted to involve him in John Cena’s retirement tour.
Khan made it clear that no such request was ever made.
Helwani asked Khan directly if WWE contacted AEW regarding Copeland’s availability. He said, “Did WWE ask to use Adam Copeland [Edge] as part of the John Cena retirement tour?”
Khan responded, “No.”
Helwani then pressed further about Copeland’s contract timeline and whether a potential appearance would even be possible. Helwani said, “Is his deal up at any point to where he could be used?”
Khan: “I mean, you never say never in wrestling because I would imagine they could always extend that date past the end of the year. But no, Adam is going to be here with us through the year.”
Helwani also referenced WWE recently bringing back names like Dolph Ziggler and Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder), which fueled online speculation about Copeland potentially appearing as a surprise opponent.
Helwani: “Yesterday, they brought back Dolph Ziggler and some other… Matt Cardona came back last week, and so there was this big push for him to be the last one, but obviously, he’s under contract with you. I was wondering if there was ever a conversation about that.”
Khan quickly shut down any notion of Copeland being involved:
Khan: “Adam Copeland is a huge part of AEW, and I have so much respect for him, and I really, really like Adam a lot, and I’m glad to have him here. He’s away filming, but he’s with us, and he’s going to stay with us.”
Copeland signed with AEW in October 2023 and has been one of the company’s top signings, though he has been away from TV while working on outside projects.
Khan’s comments firmly reaffirm that Copeland remains an AEW talent — and will not be part of Cena’s farewell storyline on WWE programming.
