In what was a stunning moment, but one that was highly-talked about since Adam Copeland did not resign his contract with the WWE, the Hall of Famer formerly known as “Edge”, jumped to the competition and AEW!

Copeland’s debut happened in dramatic fashion during the closing moment of AEW’s WrestleDream pay-per-view on Sunday; emanating from Seattle, Washington’s Climate Pledge Arena.

In the main event, Christian Cage and hometown favorite, Darby Allin, fought two out of three falls for the AEW TNT Championship. In the end, and after a brutal match which also featured a shocking heel turn by Nick Wayne, Cage retained his title.

Courtesy/AEW

Wayne, who was Allin’s protégé and at ringside, double-crossed his friend and aligned with Cage. At this point, Cage, Wayne and Luchasaurus beat down Allin post-match.

When Sting arrived on the scene to help Allin, Cage was going to deliver a con-chair-to to the living legend.  However, the arena went dark, a video played and Copeland’s iconic theme music hit. The crowd went nuts as Copeland headed to the ring and confronted his former WWE tag partner and friend Christian Cage. While Cage and Copeland did not come to blows, Adam made the save and delivered chair shots and spears to Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne, before clearing the ring.

After his arrival, Copeland took to social media to clarify his move to AEW and his exit from WWE.  The Rated-R Superstar expressed: “As some of you may now know, I’m no longer with WWE. My new home is AEW. I’m excited. Whole new roster. Some familiar faces that I wanted to work with again and a whole set of first ever matches. New challenges, and if you’ve followed my career, you know that’s what I’ve always been driven by. But first and foremost I want to address my 25 years with WWE. I love WWE and appreciate everything the company did for me. Always have, always will. They put me on the map, gave me amazing opportunities and through hard work on both ends, I’ve been supplied with a wonderful life. Hell, WWE helped me meet the woman I’d start my family with. Sometimes relationships just grow apart and I feel the WWE and I have just outgrown each other. I wanted to do more. They didn’t have much more for me to do. Simple as that. And that’s ok. I’ll still be watching and still be supporting all of my friends there. ”

Continuing his statement, Copeland added, “I don’t buy into this odd mentality of one company or the other. It’s weird. If you took offense to that, take a walk, get some fresh air and soak up some sunshine. It’s wrestling. An amazing gig. But still, it’s wrestling. Relax. It’s supposed to be fun. And it’s just a segment of the fans, not most fans, and definitely not the performers. Within the industry we all know that more choices is better for everyone and pushes us all to be better. As a wrestling fan, which I still am, it’s exciting that there’s viable companies providing wrestling on national and worldwide platforms. If you’re actually a fan of wrestling, and not acronyms, that should make you happy too. I guess what I’m trying to say is this, if you’ve appreciated my work, you still can, no matter what the initials are. Because I’ll still be bustin my ass everytime I’m out there. This ride isn’t over just yet. Just try to have fun, like it should be. Because trust me I’ll be having fun everytime I’m out there in an AEW ring. Let’s go!”

After WrestleDream, Copeland led off the AEW post-show media scrum where he fielded some questions from the press and the plans for his arrival in the organization. According to AEW Owner, Tony Khan, Adam is on board to wrestle weekly on AEW programming starting with Wednesday night’s AEW Dynamite fourth anniversary show. The Rated-R Superstar will face Luchasaurus.

Courtesy/AEW

Adam shared in the press scrum what led to his decision to sign with AEW: “Part of coming here is that I wanted to contribute. I wanted to help, and I just felt like here, I’d really be able to do that and have the opportunity to do that. I look at an entire fresh roster of faces and so many talent that I’ve never laid hands on before. That to me, as a person who’s driven by challenges, that for me was the biggest thing.”

So, what do you think of Edge aka Adam Copeland coming to AEW and joining their roster? What did you think of the end of Sunday’s WrestleDream PPV? Comment below.

On Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, viewers learned of the fate and the condition of Adam Cole when he came out to the ring on a pair of crutches along with MJF.  Cole, was also wearing a cast on his leg.

On last week’s special episode of AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, Cole was to run-in and leap from the ramp on the stage to ringside to help MJF in his championship match against Samoa Joe, but he landed wrong. The update was not good. Cole broke his ankle in three different places, but also tore ligaments and will require surgery as a result.

This is a tough one, considering Cole previously battled back from a severe head injury suffered during the Forbidden Door PPV in 2002, which took him out of action for nine months.

Once in the ring on last night’s Dynamite, Cole was about to say that because he can’t wrestle at Sunday’s WrestleDream PPV, he and Max are going to have to relinquish the ROH Tag Team titles, since they can’t defend them in their scheduled match.

That’s when MJF cut him off, saying he knew Cole wouldn’t have gotten injured if it wasn’t for him, and didn’t want their title run to end this way. He instead will defend their titles in a handicap match.  The segment came to its conclusion when Cole’s ‘friend’ Roderick Strong was wheeled out in a wheelchair, pleading with Adam to help him as he “needed him” now. MJF told Adam to go to his friend and Cole limped out of the ring on crutches.

Next, Jay White came out to the ring to confront MJF.  Clearly, AEW is shifting gears for a White vs MJF championship match, if this is currently the end of the line for the MJF and Cole tag team story run, for now.

However, at the end of the episode, the cameras went backstage where four masked men dressed in black beat down White, and then the camera revealed MJF’s devil mask. So, does this mean MJF is behind the attack on White? Is someone else wearing MJF’s devil mask? Did Bullet Club Gold set up the champ? Does Adam Cole have anything to do with this?

Share your theories on the cliffhanger on AEW Dynamite, and let us know what you think of the ankle injury to Adam Cole via the comment section below. But first, check out the tweet from Cole’s girlfriend AEW wrestler Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D on his condition.

This guy broke his ankle in 3 places on a freak accident. He still hobbled around on live tv because as we like to say “the show must go on”. @AdamColePro gives his entire heart and soul to pro wrestling. He’s one tough cookie and this is just a small bump in the road. He’ll be… pic.twitter.com/Aya1JWTTvF

— Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (@RealBrittBaker) September 28, 2023

In a shocking development, but left with no choice, AEW has decided to fire CM Punk (Phil Brooks) effective immediately. The news came via an official press release on Saturday afternoon, just ahead of two key live events on television and pay-per-view this Labor Day weekend.

With both AEW Collision and the pay-per-view All Out, both in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, tonight and Sunday night, respectively, the timing of this couldn’t be worse for the company, as many were hoping somehow Punk might somehow wind up on those shows.

However, going into this week, CM Punk and Jack Perry were suspended by AEW after their backstage fight at AEW All in London last Saturday. Additional reports supported that Punk got into a verbal altercation with AEW Owner and CEO, Tony Khan in the Guerilla production position before going out for his match against Samoa Joe. At that time, Punk yelled at Khan that he was quitting AEW.

Photo: AEW

As to the fate of Jack Perry (the son of 90210’s late Luke Perry) has not yet revealed, as it is believed he incited the incident by first making a statement live on All In during his match with Hook.  On camera close-up, Perry made a snide comment directed at Punk, about Punk’s refusal the week prior, to let Perry break actual glass for the safety of everyone in a match.  Backstage reports since the incident shared that Punk and Perry went ‘nose to nose’ after Perry’s match. Then, Punk shoved and punched Perry before choking him.

Here is what AEW said on their cutting ties with Punk effective immediately:

“All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has terminated the wrestler and employment agreements between Phillip Brooks (CM Punk) and AEW with cause, effective immediately. The termination was confirmed today by Tony Khan, CEO, General Manager and Head of Creative AEW.  The termination follows a weeklong internet investigation of an incident occurring backstage at AEW – All In London on Sunday, August 27. Following the investigation, the AEW Discipline Committee met and later convened with outside legal counsel before making a unanimous recommendation to Khan that CM Punk be terminated with cause.”

Photo: AEW

Khan offered the following statement: “Phil played an important role within AEW and I thank him for his contributions. The termination of his AEW contracts with cause is ultimately my decision and mine alone. Of course, I wish I didn’t have to share this news, which may come as a disappointment to many of our fans. Nevertheless, I am making the decision in the best interests of the many amazing people who make AEW possible every week – our talent, staff, venue operators and many others whose efforts are unsung but essential to bringing our fans great shows on television and at arenas and stadiums throughout the world.”

So, what does this mean for Warner Brothers/Discovery’s investment in a Saturday night pro wrestling show on television, now that the biggest name familiar to audiences all over the world has been dropped from the organization? Share your thoughts, are you glad Punk was fired … or do you think anything else could have been done by the company after Punk one-year ago delivered shocking comments at the All Out pay per view which he trashed The Elite, Hangman Page and Colt Cabana?

Statement from All Elite Wrestling and Tony Khan pic.twitter.com/3MtW6MkGDf

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 2, 2023