Adam Copeland made headlines on the October 14 edition of AEW Dynamite when he announced 2027 would be his final year in wrestling. He’s quite arguably one of the top ten biggest stars in the business from the last 25 years which, in and of itself, makes a retirement announcement a big deal.
On top of Copeland retiring, in and of itself, him announcing a final year in the ring carries echoes of how John Cena closed out his time as an in-ring performer in 2025, giving fans notice of a farewell tour and adding an opportunity at a kind of closure for every step of the way. It’s fitting that Cope, possibly Cena’s greatest rival, and certainly his greatest rival who didn’t have one last match with him in 2025, would travel a similar road.
Because of the temporal proximity and obvious parallels between these ventures, there are some lessons one might transfer from one to another. No, Copeland isn’t the same performer as Cena, and the differences between AEW and WWE will necessarily entail some real differences in how these retirement years play out. Still, there are some key takeaways to keep an eye on.
Radical Character Changes Are Not Necessary In Adam Copeland’s Last Year
One of the most memorable elements of John Cena’s retirement tour will always be his heel turn at Elimination Chamber, which entailed Cena spending five months of his final year as a heel.
The moment of the heel turn generated real buzz. It may well have been the most talked about WWE angle in well over a decade and there was novelty in seeing a heel Cena square off with celebrated rivals like Randy Orton, CM Punk, and R-Truth, now recast as faces.
However, as the heel run wore on and, particularly with hindsight, there are real questions about whether WWE squandered some opportunities for an outpouring of genuine fan support in service of an experiment that, outside an initial moment, never fully clicked. Moreover, Cena trying to work a distinctly heel style that was slower and less flashy, explicitly designed to “ruin wrestling,” led to some of his poorest matches, in particular in the main event of WrestleMania 41.
The big takeaway here seems to be not to shake things up. Yes, it can feel as though there’s a certain sameness and predictability to a legend’s babyface nostalgia run at the tail end of his career. Those aren’t necessarily bad things, though, when fans want to immerse themselves in the feel-good vibes of drinking in their last moments with a star who really meant something to them.
To be fair, Adam Copeland spent a lot of his career, and probably his very best years, as a heel, so him playing the villain wouldn’t be nearly the radical shift it was for Cena. Still, the example of Cena’s retirement tour establishes it’s probably best to let fans cheer their hero, without conflicted feelings, on his way out the door.
Revisiting Legendary Rivalries Should Be An Ingredient
While fans can debate the resulting quality of the matches, it was a draw to see John Cena versus Randy Orton, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, and AJ Styles, in each instance knowing that it would be the last time these iconic nemeses would lock horns.
Fresh matches and giving the rub to younger talents the way Cena did with Cody Rhodes, Dominik Mysterio, and Gunther absolutely have their place in a retirement tour. But there should be at least some spots held for fans to celebrate one look back at history.
For Adam Copeland this may alternately mean fighting or teaming with Christian Cage. It might mean a final encounter with Chris Jericho. It might also mean Tony Khan exercising the kind of discretion he did when he brought in Ric Flair for Sting’s send off in making some signings or at least inviting one-off guests whom he might not ordinarily. Think a final clash pitting Cope and Christian against The Hardys or Dudleys.
A lot of Cope’s most iconic rivals like John Cena, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, and everyone he spent much time with in his last WWE run are either firmly retired or thoroughly knotted up with WWE such that there’s no realistic angle for them to come work The Rated R Superstar in AEW. Nonetheless, AEW should look to produce at least a handful of special moments like this where they can.
The Retiring Legend Should Keep An Eye Toward The Future
John Cena’s final big matches followed a pattern. His last SummerSlam main event saw him put over Cody Rhodes in the kind of match The American Nightmare deserved to shore up his spot as a top guy. Cena’s last Survivor Series match saw him put over Dominik Mysterio and the women of Judgment Day. His last match ever saw an exceedingly rare tap out to Gunther.
Yes, Cena won a world title and spent nearly four months of his retirement run with the belt, besides also beating talents like Logan Paul and AJ Styles as he made his way out the door. But the final stretches, in particular, including asking that his last Saturday Night’s Main Event, the show with his last match, feature NXT talent demonstrated a clear focus on leaving the roster in a better spot than it had been when he started his farewell year.
Adam Copeland has already shown a willingness to work and put over younger talent. He’s willfully never won a world title since his return to the ring in 2020 and a lot of his tag work in AEW has focused on elevating younger teams. It will be very interesting to see what his 2027 looks like, though. Sure, there’s real potential in Cope putting over modern main eventers like Will Ospreay, MJF, Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, or Hangman Adam Page in fresh dream matches. The Rated R Superstar also might eye rising stars whom he might help level up in this final chapter of his career.
