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While everyone in the wrestling world was grossed out by Jon Moxley’s gruesome stunt, Adam “Cope” Copeland didn’t bat an eye. Last week, the AEW wrestlers went viral when Copeland slammed Moxley on a spiked bat, resulting in nails getting stuck on Moxley’s back.
Jon Moxley did this for the love of the gamehttps://t.co/S7IxL0JFjJ
— Covalent TV (@TheCovalentTV) March 20, 2025
We sat down with Cope to get his thoughts on Moxley’s stunt, his mindset during the final stretch of his career, and why fans should be tuning in to AEW.
On a rating of 1-10, how nasty was Jon Moxley’s stunt compared to other stuff you’ve done in the ring?
@jzosports Adam Copeland not fazed by Jon Moxley having nails stuck on his back during spiked bat street fight on AEW #adamcopeland #cope #jonmoxely #aew @All Elite Wrestling
“I mean, you’re asking the wrong guy. For me, it’s like it’s another day at the office. So for us, it’s just like, okay, moving on…It’s like that gallows humor, I have a buddy who’s a surgeon, and he has that gallows humor because he has to cut people open every day and see the insides of bodies. And you’ve been doing this enough. You’ve been around it enough. You’ve been sliced with barbed wire enough. You’ve been hit with two-by-fours enough chairs, been through tables, jumped off ladders, and pounced into fire. It’s just part of the deal.”
Who came up with the stunt? Did a writer mention it, or was it all you guys?
“Well, I mean, writers aren’t going to come up with wrestling matches. That’s not their job. That’s our job. And you got two gnarly dudes that decided, Okay, we got a street fight. We’re both known for these types of matches. We got to bring something. Not only that, but you have those people that made it through a blizzard to be there. So, okay, those people went through the elements to get there, and by the noise, you could tell they came to have fun. So you want to give them a match and give them a good night of wrestling.”
“And I think with AEW, what you get is it’s a variety show, right? So you’ll get a technical wrestling match, you’ll get a high match, you’ll get a great women’s match, you’ll get a trio’s match, you’re probably going to get some hardcore stuff, too. I like them, I guess, AEW, it’s punk rock. I know that term gets thrown around a lot, but I don’t know, when I think of it, that’s what AEW. Brings to mind for.”
You’ve talked about this being the final stretch of your career. Are you soaking it all in or not thinking about it? What’s your mindset going into matches?
“I definitely soak it in.. I did with WWE, too, because I realized how finite this is. This window isn’t open forever, and it is closing more and more every day. I know that, so I really do enjoy it. Going back to Australia there and just walking around the day before and having a lot of people coming up and saying “It’s been 17 years since you’ve been here, and we grew up watching you,” and you start to go, Oh, man, these people have grown up watching me. That’s pretty damn cool, and then to get in the middle of the ring and hear everyone singing the song back and just the emotions that pulls up.
“I mean, gosh, you can’t not be in the moment with that, and to me in life, when you have things that keep you in the moment, those are the good things. Those are the things that I force you to stay in the moment. Those are awesome. I’m trying to not look too far ahead with what I want to do for retirement or what I’ve done in the past. I’m just really trying to live this day to day, match to match.”
What message do you have for fans who haven’t tuned into AEW?
“Man, it’s jam-packed with everything. I think more than anything, if you watch AEW, you have no idea what’s going to come next. Whether that be a dude being suplexed onto nails or whether that’s Tony Storm just in the middle of the ring with her spotlight and doing her character, there’s everything. Wrestling is a variety show, and in a perfect world, it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you mad, it’ll make you happy. That’s what we go for it every time, and the locker room across the board, that’s our goal. Our goal is to outdo the match before it. And when you get a company-wide mentality like that, that’s when cool things happen, and I feel like we’ve rounded a corner. These last couple of months, we’re really, really finding our groove, and that feels good. It’s exciting.”