Exclusive: Adam Copeland on Using Real Name, AEW Debut, Entrance Music Remix, More

In 1997, a 24-year-old Adam Copeland signed a contract with WWE and became a household name in the wrestling business under the name Edge.

For over 25 years, the Rated-R Superstar has been entertaining fans around the world and winning dozens of titles along the way, but now, the former world champion is embarking on a new journey.

For the first time since 1997, Copeland finds himself working for a new boss in a new promotion, and that has created a whole slew of possible dream match scenarios that are now closer to becoming a reality.

On October 1 in Seattle, Copeland made his AEW debut at the WrestleDream pay-per-view in a segment that included Sting, Nick Wayne, Luchasaurs, and Copeland's longtime best friend, Christian Cage. He followed that up with a Dynamite appearance on Wednesday.

We had a chance to speak with the living legend following his debut at WrestleDream to discuss working for AEW, getting to use the same Alter Bridge entrance music, how Beth Phoenix helps him brainstorm ideas, acting, potential dream matches and more.

Using His Real Name

When it comes to pro wrestlers, a lot of people will opt to use a stage name. It might be because they think their own name doesn't sound cool, or it might be because the promoter wants the change.

For most of his career, Copeland has been known to wrestling fans as Edge. The Rated-R Superstar reflected on using the name Edge, wanting to use a stage name early in his career, and why he's excited about using his real name in AEW.

"It's so strange because my first trainer, Ron Hutchison, when we would run shows in and around the Toronto area, he always wanted to bill me as Adam Copeland," he said. "And I was always kind of fighting it kicking and screaming, I was like, 'No, I want to be Adam Impact, or I want to be Sexton Hardcastle' because you need to have, you know, a cool name.

"And then I came to realize that I actually kind of enjoyed wrestling as Adam Copeland. When I started doing dark matches with WWF, at the time that I was coming in, it was all character names. And kind of like the one-word character name, right? So it's fun actually to wrestle as Adam Copeland.

"For the last few years, essentially, you're just getting a ramped-up version of Adam out there anyway. I've been pretty transparent with a lot of what the character has become, which is just a guy who loves what he's doing, essentially. And then obviously, you have to ramp it up with some pro wrestling elements and theatrical elements and turn the knob up.

"But yeah, it's cool. It's still kind of strange. But I've also always just introduced myself as Adam, I've never gone up or if I've met someone say 'Hi, I'm Edge.' That just never happened. So it's not really that different. But it's strange to see it as a banner. That's still a little surreal."

Using "Metalingus" in AEW

In professional wrestling, entrance music can be an important part of character presentation. Some people will pick a new song every few years, but many legends have used the same song for decades because it became so synonymous with their character.

For roughly two decades, the song "Metalingus" by Alter Bridge is what fans have heard as Copeland made his way to the ring. Not only was it important to him to keep the same song in AEW for familiarity, but he also kept it due to the meaning the song has taken on.

"It was so important [to use Metalingus]," Copeland said. "I've really kind of based my wrestling personas, or what I do off of the music, honestly. For me as a fan, it always set the tone. And it always put me in that mood right away. And I love that aspect of it. So for me, it was always very, very important to be so hands-on with the music.

"When we introduced Metalingus, I became a friend of the band Alter Bridge and started using it. When I heard it, I loved it because it was heavy and it was high-paced. And it was in your face, and it was it was energy, but also the lyrics I really felt fit because I was coming back from neck surgery.

"I was getting this thing back. I know that would actually gain more weight and more meaning to the story of my career as I went along. And that's kind of the beautiful thing. The song has matured with me as a character, which is just a happy accident that you don't know is going to be the case.

"So it almost felt like anything else just wouldn't have felt right. I've been using Metalingus for 20 years now. And I love those guys. I just think they're super talented and almost underrated in terms of just how talented they are.

"The lyrics are generally really positive. Or they talk about going through a hard time and coming out the other side. And I think I also like it because it strikes a chord. There's a reason people sing along with it, right? It's because I think a lot of people can relate to those lyrics."

One notable change in Copeland's music is the line at the beginning. Fans may have noticed the voice sounds different and the wording of "You think you know me" became "You think you know him." We asked Edge if the new voice was Beth Phoenix and how that came about.

"It is, yes," he said. "And to me, an important thing about that is I always loved that. It was a female voicing that. I always thought that was just a different element that my character had that in wrestling a lot of characters maybe wouldn't go that route. They'd have an angry guy singing or something, and I always loved that it was like this kind of sensual, sexy voice. And so I said 'I want you to do it because it would mean even more.' So it just felt like a no-brainer."

The Debut at WrestleDream

Many years ago, wrestlers changing promotions was not uncommon. In fact, it was more common than someone staying in one place for their entire career, especially during the territory days.

Copeland spent nearly three decades working for WWE, so moving to a new company is uncharted territory for him. While he may have wondered how the crowd would react to his AEW debut at WrestleDream, he never doubted that his energy would be returned back to him by the fans.

"We're all wrestling fans, right?" Copeland said. "So we all share that, but there's still that element of 'Okay. Well, this is a slightly different wrestling audience. So how's this gonna go?' Will they look at me as an outsider, or will they understand, 'Oh, this guy that just loves his job,'

"I didn't have any second doubts, I didn't have anything like that. I just go out with the mentality and the confidence that if I throw all of my energy at you, chances are you're gonna throw it back at me.

"I've gone by that mentality since Michael Hayes gave me some advice years ago. He gave me the advice, 'The more energy you throw at them, the more they'll give it back.' And that was a giant bell going off in my head when I heard him say that. Or maybe a whiskey bottle opening because it's Michael Hayes [laughs]. But to me, it was a game-changer."

"And so [Sunday] night, that was the plan. But there are certain nights where I don't even hear the fans because I'm so amped up, because there's so many emotions, there's so many endorphins and dopamine, and all the good stuff.

"And it was the same at the Royal Rumble in 2020. I didn't hear anything. I didn't know if the crowd was good. It was the same at WrestleMania 17 in the TLC match, couldn't hear them didn't know if the crowd like if they were reacting anything. And there's just those nights where it's almost like, there's so much coming at you that your mind can't process it. It just sounds like a weird buzz."

Being Married to Beth Phoenix

Copeland and Phoenix have each built their own legacy in pro wrestling, so to a lot of fans, they are the ultimate power couple in this business. They rarely interacted on screen, so their individual successes helped them each create lasting impressions.

For Copeland, being married to someone who has been through all of the same trials and tribulations is infinitely valuable because she has been able to offer insight and ideas that other people may not have.

"What we'll do more than anything is have kind of spitball sessions," Copeland said. "I'll have an idea. And I'll say, 'Hey, what do you think about this?' And it'll usually be over coffee in the morning once we've taken the girls to school and I'll cook something up. She's my sounding board. And then we'll kind of just start going, 'Ooh, what if we did that? And then wait, what if you did this.'

"It's been so amazing because she's really helped me come up with some stuff that I wouldn't have thought of and I can't think of off the top of my head. And that's just really fun to sit over morning coffee in our rocking chairs on our deck and come up with cool ideas that inevitably see the light of day.

"We were big fans of each other before we were together. Like, from day one, the first time I saw her, I went, 'Wow, man, she's a real wrestler.' So there was always just a deep-rooted respect for her as a performer."

Finding New Goals and Helping Young Talent

Copeland has already had a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He is one of the most decorated champions in WWE history and has gained just about every accolade one could imagine, so the challenge at this stage in his career is finding new goals to work toward.

"I've got to tell you, the idea of wrestling at WrestleKingdom was one of the things I thought of," Copeland said. "I was like, 'Man, that can be really cool.' I've never worked Tokyo. I've never worked for New Japan. That's really enticing. And, you know, at this stage of my career, it's finding those things, finding those new things that I've never done before because there's not many of them. Right?

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I look at a kid like [Kazuchika] Okada, and I'm like, 'Okay, yeah, I could see that as a match.' You know that would be fun. And I say kid, I'm sure he's not a kid. But you know what I mean [laughs]. That's just exciting. And to find excitement at this stage again, that's massive, and it just puts a smile on my face."

In addition to finding new goals inside the ring, The 49-year-old veteran is also hoping his time with AEW can include helping some of the younger talent on the roster much like how some of the legends who were around when he came up as a young wrestler helped him.

"So, yeah, there's still goals," he said. "And that's cool. That's fun. That's the challenge of it. And there's the aspect of trying to leave the industry a better place, or at least adding something to it to further it along. And whether that's just passing on knowledge or helping a character or a young talent, find their voice. That's really fun.

"I felt like with AEW, there was a huge opportunity for that. And this isn't a comparison to anything. It just feels like I can help more with AEW, and that's exciting to me. I've told everybody, and everybody knows this, and this is still open to WWE talent. Everybody knows if you want to pick my brain, I'm always here.

"If anybody wants to pick my brain, just like so many veteran talent let me pick their brains when I was coming in. That's part of the gig now. And that's a really fun, exciting part of the gig to see lightbulbs go off for people when you say something."

Acting and Movie Review

During the nine years that Copeland spent thinking his wrestling days were behind him, he discovered acting and developed a passion for it. He started with a role in the Syfy series Haven and has appeared in numerous other TV shows and films over the years including The Flash, Vikings and Money Plane.

While being cleared for action and returning to the ring has allowed The Rated-R Superstar to continue doing what he loves, he still intends to continue acting when the opportunity arises.

"I love it," Copeland said. "I really do. And acting really kind of saved me in a way through what could have been emotionally tumultuous times. Acting fell in my lap right after I retired. And it was Haven and going out to Nova Scotia shooting that and really diving into the character and becoming one of the main characters on the show.

"That was huge because otherwise I just would have been kind of floating and not really knowing what to do with myself. And that gave me something to do and then I realized, it still taps that creative vein. And it's not the same as wrestling. And it doesn't give me the same feeling that wrestling nothing does. But it still gave me a feeling. And a really good one.

"When you do a scene and you go, 'Oh man, I think we found something there. And we discovered something.' The act of discovery with another artist is so much fun. It's when you find a groove or you find chemistry and a connection with an opponent, you're doing this thing, but it's alive. That's the beauty of professional wrestling.

"You're discovering these things and hearing reactions off of these discoveries. And you're getting that instant gratification. That to me is just the best thing in the world. But yes, I plan on still continuing acting and you know, Percy Jackson comes out December 20."

We always end our AEW interviews with a movie review to give the wrestlers a chance to speak about something other than wrestling. Copeland decided to talk about a modern classic he just revisited recently.

"I just watched Gangs of New York randomly the other night, because I wanted to watch some Daniel Day-Lewis," he said. "And it's funny, we were talking about Nick Wayne with Christian Cage, and what is that dynamic? And it was an interesting dynamic with Daniel Day-Lewis, his character, and Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Gangs of New York.

"It was obviously, well performed. And yeah, just thought that that is an interesting dynamic. So that was one that I recently watched. I first saw that a theater and I see it now and realize some of the editing and some of the choices are a little of its time, but it still holds up because of Daniel Day-Lewis."

Copeland will step into an AEW ring as a competitor for the first time on the upcoming Title Tuesday episode of Dynamite on October 10 against Luchasaurus. Whenever The Living Dinosaur is involved, you know the TNT champion won't be far away.