AEW President Tony Khan has officially confirmed the real-world reason for Adam Copeland\'s current absence from AEW programming, verifying that the star is away for filming commitments. Copeland was written off television following the AEW All Out pay-per-view on September 20, 2025.
At that event, he and his long-time partner Christian Cage were victorious in a tag team match against FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler). The celebration was cut short by a post-match assault, where FTR attacked Copeland\'s wife, Beth Phoenix (Beth Copeland), leaving her laying in the ring with a spiked piledriver. In a backstage segment, an emotional Copeland stated that the rivalry had become too personal and had now affected his family, forcing him to \"step away\" from the company indefinitely, leaving his future in question.
While the storyline provided a dramatic reason for his exit, reports quickly surfaced from PWInsider that the write-off was planned to accommodate Copeland\'s acting career. In a new interview with Z100 New York, Tony Khan confirmed this. He praised \"The Rated-R Superstar\" as a big part of the AEW roster and confirmed that he is currently on a planned hiatus to film the new season of the Disney+ series, \"Percy Jackson & the Olympians.\"
Copeland has a recurring role in the series as Ares, the God of War. Khan made it clear that Copeland is still a valued member of the AEW roster and is expected to make his return once his Hollywood obligations are fulfilled.
“Adam Copeland’s a huge part of AEW. Adam’s out filming right now. He’s a huge star in AEW. We love having Adam Copeland, The Rated-R Superstar in AEW and I’m excited for him to be back in AEW, hopefully soon after this project is done, and he’s taking care of business and then Adam will come back and we’ll get Adam Copeland taking care of the business in the ring in AEW.”
