When former WWE star Adam Copeland (previously known as Edge) made his AEW debut on Sunday night, he did so with a familiar entrance theme — “Metalingus,” a song by the band Alterbridge. The brief opening cue to Edge’s music, which predates the use of the song itself, used to be the voice of a woman saying the line, “You think you know me.” While that was recorded and owned by WWE, there was nothing stopping Copeland from recording a new version of the intro, and according to journalist Chris Mueller, Copeland has confirmed fan suspicion that he and his wife, WWE star Beth Phoenix, recorded the new intro themselves.
Rather than copy the original intro exactly, the new introduction includes a slight variation, with the phrasing changed to, “You think you know him.” Some AEW viewers with keen ears were able to detect Phoenix’s voice before the news was confirmed. While it seems that Phoenix won’t be joining her husband physically in AEW for the time being, she will at least have a presence in his onscreen presentation each time he comes out to the ring.
During the media scrum that followed AEW WrestleDream on Sunday, Copeland discussed his reasons for leaving WWE and heading to AEW, stating that he had simply grown apart from the company and wasn’t interested in what they had planned for him creatively. The former WWE Champion also detailed his experience going out to film his intro vignette with Darby Allin a few nights prior, stating that they traveled through some questionable parts of Seattle and, at points, had people hanging out of vehicle windows to capture shots.
During Sunday night’s AEW WrestleDream 2023 pay-per-view event, Christian Cage defeated Darby Allin in a two out of three falls match to retain the TNT Championship in the main event of the show.
A heel turn from Nick Wayne allowed Cage to bury Allin and hold onto his title.
Following the match, Cage and Wayne mercilessly assaulted Allin which caused Sting to come out for the save.
However, the addition of Luchasaurus to the equation meant that the numbers game eventually took over and Sting met the same fate as Allin.
Cage went for a couple of chairs to deliver a ConChairTo, which led to a vignette of a car driving to the Climate Pledge Arena.
Edge stepped out of the vehicle and made his way into the ring with his classic Alter Bridge “Metalingus” theme buzzing the arena.
Edge stared off with Christian and held his hand out. The heel TNT Champion handed him the chair and asked him to deliver the ConChairTo.
Using the steel weapon and his signature spear, Edge laid out Wayne and Luchasaurus in the middle of the ring. Cage bailed out in fear and shock.
The announcers then referred to the WWE Hall of Famer by his real name, Adam Copeland. Taz also referenced him as “The Rated R Superstar.”
AEW President Tony Khan then announced on Twitter that Copeland is #AllElite.
[ZERO HOUR] 4 ON 4 MIXED TAG Satoshi Kojima, Keith Lee, Athena & Billie Starkz def. Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Diamante & Mercedes Martinez
[ZERO HOUR] Claudio Castagnoli def. Josh Barnett
[ZERO HOUR] Luchasaurus def. Nick Wayne
[ZERO HOUR] AEW TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP: The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass (c) def. TMDK
WRESTLEDREAM
Maxwell Jacob Friedman gets on the mic during his entrance, festooned with his AEW World Championship and both ROH World Tag Team Championship belts.
He says the devil has arrived in Seattle and addresses “bullshit” rumors that he attacked “Tofu” Jay White and to top it off, some schmuck stole his devil mask out of his bag. To make matters worse, his boy Adam Cole is hurt and not here tonight. But it’s all good ‘cause he’s gonna make sure when he comes back, these tag titles are waiting for him.
He tells DUTCH he’s gonna pick him up and bodyslam him, and for Vincent, he’ll grab him by his dirty hipster hair, tie into a neat little bow, and then shove it straight up DUTCH’s fat ass!
2-ON-1 HANDICAP MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: MJF (c) def. The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch)
NJPW STRONG OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Eddie Kingston (c) def. Katsuyori Shibata
AEW TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Kris Statlander (c) def. Julia Hart
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP NO. 1 CONTENDER’S FOUR-WAY MATCH: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) def. The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn), The Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) (with Alex Abrahantes) and Orange Cassidy and Hook
Swerve Strickland def. “Hangman” Adam Page
Ricky Starks def. Wheeler Yuta
Bryan Danielson def. Zack Sabre Jr.
Post-match, Danielson offers the handshake but Sabre refuses it and takes a walk.
The Don Callis Family (Sammy Guevara, Will Ospreay and Konosuke Takeshita) def. Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (c) def. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)
2-OUT-OF-3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP: Christian Cage (c) def. Darby Allin
Wayne stands in the ring next to Darby, Allin directs traffic… AND NICK CLOBBERS ALLIN WITH THE BELT MUCH TO THE DISMAY OF HIS MOTHER! Wayne walks off, Christian pulls Remsburg in and wakes him up, slow count but it’s over.
Post-match, Cage holds Allin up and Nick yells at Darby, slapping him and punching him and putting boots to him!
STING IS HERE! Christian sends Nick Wayne at him but the Icon drops them with right hands of vengeful fury! Drawing Wayne up, the Stinger puts him in the ropes but Luchasaurus is here to even the odds! They overwhelm the Icon and put boots to him on the exposed board!
Cage goes and grabs some chairs from the timekeeper’s area, setting up a Con-Chair-To on Sting!
The lights go down, we get an “Our Feature Presentation” video package. A man in a car drives over a road with “Rated R” painted on it and he gets out.
The lights come up…
EDGE IS HERE! WITH METALINGUS! IN ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME EDIT AS WWE JUST A DIFFERENT “YOU THINK YOU KNOW HIM” VOICEOVER! HOLY SHIT!
HE GETS FACE TO FACE WITH CHRISTIAN! HE EXTENDS A HAND AND CAGE GIVES HIM THE CHAIR! HE TURNS TO STING AS NICK WAYNE PUTS THE ICON BACK IN POSITION FOR THE CON-CHAIR-TO! THE AIR IS HEAVY BUT EDGE HITS NICK WITH THE CHAIR AND THROWS IT AT LUCHASAURUS! CHRISTIAN BAILED OUT OF THE RING! SPEAR TO LUCHASAURUS!
ANOTHER SPEAR FOR NICK WAYNE! EXCALIBUR CALLS HIM ADAM COPELAND SO I GUESS WE’RE DOING SHOOT NAMES!
Darby offers a hand and Edge shakes it. Sting offers a hand and Edge shakes his hand as well!
AEW Collision live tonight on TNT from the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington for the final show before tomorrow’s WrestleDream pay-per-view event.
Bryan Danielson, Wheeler Yuta and FTR vs. Ricky Starks, Big Bill, and Aussie Open
AEW presents WrestleDream live on PPV on Sunday, October 1 from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington at 8pm ET/5pm PT. – Zero Hour at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT.
AEW tribute to the founder of NJPW, Antonio Inoki.
CARD
2-OUT-OF-3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP: Christian Cage (c) vs. Darby Allin
Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (c) vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)
2-ON-1 HANDICAP MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: MJF (c) vs. The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch)
Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs. The Don Callis Family (Sammy Guevara, Will Ospreay and Konosuke Takeshita)
NJPW STRONG OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
AEW TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Julia Hart
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP NO. 1 CONTENDER’S FOUR-WAY MATCH: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) vs. The Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) (with Alex Abrahantes) vs. Orange Cassidy and Hook
Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta
[ZERO HOUR] AEW TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP: The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass (c) vs. TMDK
[ZERO HOUR] Luchasaurus vs. Nick Wayne
[ZERO HOUR] Claudio Castagnoli vs. Josh Barnett
[ZERO HOUR] 4 ON 4 MIXED TAG Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Diamante & Mercedes Martinez vs Satoshi Kojima, Keith Lee, Athena & Billie Starkz
Following a contract signing segment between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page that main evented this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, the cameras panned backstage where Jay White was being assaulted by a man wearing MJF’s devil mask.
The show closed with several people attacking White in the backstage area before the cameras faded to black. The segment saw White being thrown onto a production cart, and then the masked man grabbed the camera to end the show.
As of this writing, there is no word on who the attacker is.
The devil mask was reminiscent of MJF’s own; the AEW World Champion calls himself “The Devil,” and he has worn the mask several times. He introduced it at AEW All Out 2022, where a group of masked individuals helped him win the Casino Ladder Match. This faction was later revealed to be The Firm. The group included Stokely Hathaway, Lee Moriarty, Colten Gunn, Austin Gunn, Ethan Page, and W. Morrissey.
No members of the group on Wednesday were identified. However, it’s easy to connect MJF to the attack. He and White got into a heated exchange earlier in the show. White set his sights on the world title, criticized MJF, and make it clear that he intends to dethrone the champion.
It’s worth noting that Edge’s WWE contract expires at the end of September. The AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view event takes place the following day on October 1st.
Adam Cole has revealed that he suffered a broken ankle on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam.
On Wednesday night’s edition of Dynamite, Cole revealed that he broke his ankle in three different places on last week’s show. This led to him tearing multiple ligaments, which is going to result in surgery.
Due to the surgery, Adam Cole will be unable to compete at AEW WrestleDream. So the ROH World Tag Team Championship match will now see MJF defending the titles against The Righteous in a handicap match.
Malakai Black addressed fans’ concerns about his rumored injury, which was speculated to be the reason for his absence from singles matches in AEW in recent months.
Black’s last match was when House of Black lost the Trios Titles to The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn at All In. In a video on his Instagram story, Black confirmed that he does not have a back injury, but he is currently managing a minor calf tear and knee hyperextension.
“Something that I want to quickly address. I understand this is done from a perspective of caring, and I appreciate the fact that people care and that it comes from a good place. About a year ago, I made a video about rehabbing a back injury that I have. The video shows the process and strengthening my back. After the video was posted, people started bringing up this idea, ‘Oh, he has a bad back, therefore, ABC,’ which is not the case at all. For some reason, that has found its way back and the narrative is ‘he has not had singles matches because he has a bad back and nearly retired.’ That’s not true. Why I’m not having singles matches? I don’t know. I think it’s because they want House of Black to do six-mans. I was not in six-mans to hide a non-existing injury. Rest assured, I do not have a bad back and the reason I am home right now is because, well, due to a minor injury. I had a slight calf tear and a hyperextension in my knee, which is almost nursed back and almost ready to go back on the road. I appreciate the concern, but the reality is, I’m fine, and you will see me sooner rather than later,” he stated.
Wrestling News Blog 