Adam Copeland has set an end point for his career.
The AEW star announced on Wednesday’s Dynamite that 2027 will be his final year in professional wrestling. He made the announcement after beating Josh Alexander to qualify for the Clockwork Carnage match for the AEW World Championship at WrestleDream on Saturday.
Copeland began by revealing that his tag partner, Christian Cage, suffered broken ribs and a lung injury in their ladder match at All Out. He said the injuries led him to do some soul-searching.
“My face isn’t on the posters on teenagers’ walls anymore,” he said. “I’m aging out, and that’s okay. It happens to everybody.”
“But because of that, I just want to let y’all know that 2027 will be my last year in professional wrestling. All that being said, that is why I have to go for the AEW Championship.”
Copeland and Cage lost the AEW World Tag Team Championship to The Young Bucks in a three-way ladder match at All Out on Sept. 26 that also included FTR. The two had won the titles from FTR at Double or Nothing in May.
Copeland, who turns 53 later this month, debuted in 1992. As Edge in WWE, he won 11 world championships and had a record 12 reigns as World Tag Team Champion.
His first chance at a world title in his final stretch comes Saturday. WrestleDream will feature AEW’s first Clockwork Carnage match, with eight wrestlers, including champion Will Ospreay. Two wrestlers start, with a new entrant every three minutes. Anyone pinned or submitted before the final entrant arrives is eliminated. After that, the remaining wrestlers have 15 minutes to score falls, and whoever has the most wins the title.
