Adam Copeland on His & Christian Cage’s First-Ever Match With The Young Bucks at AEW All In, Reason For No Stipulation For Young Bucks Match, His One-Test Rule For Determine A Good Match, How He and Cage Avoid Rehashing Old Tag Team Dynamic, & More

Forbes held a recent interview with Adam Copeland. One of the topics discussed included Copeland’s thoughts about his and Christian Cage’s upcoming first-ever match against The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at AEW All In 2026.

“It was probably the Generation Me stuff with TNA, and I realized, okay, there are some cool ideas. And really, my wrestling viewing, especially when I was out (retired), didn’t take place too much. So it would have to be accidental, almost, if I stumbled across newer talents.

But then I saw them by watching everything over the years and seeing clips here and there, and then talking to the guys, meeting the guys and just having an appreciation for what they bring to the table, because we’ve talked about it. It felt like there have been ideas to kind of keep the flame alive. I love watching them and FTR because they’re so opposite, and I like that. Back to the Brain Busters versus the Rockers, and I feel like maybe we’re the Hart Foundation of that equation, maybe.

But yeah, it’s just one that we’re looking forward to. One that we truly thought, if that could ever happen, just imagine. And to be able to do it, especially in Wembley Stadium at the biggest show of the year. I know some people are expecting stipulations, but it’s the first match between these two teams. You don’t need to start throwing stipulations and stuff and overbooking it. Just let us go. It’s the first time ever and a match that I assumed would never happen.”

Copeland also gave his thoughts about the possibility of a stipulation being added to his and Cage’s match against The Young Bucks and why he believes that would be a “bad booking” decision.

“No, never. Not the first one. I mean, that’s just bad booking. There’s a lot of that on the internet.”

Copeland also gave his thoughts about the clash in wrestling styles and legacies of the two tag teams at All In 2026.

“It’s just one of those instances where you can see the Steelers from the ’70s play the Cowboys from the ’90s, or you can see the Patriots during their run against the Chiefs in their run. That’s kind of what this is here.

Or you can use a hockey analogy. You use the (Montreal) Canadiens from the ’70s and the (Edmonton) Oilers from the ’80s. That’s what these two teams represent to their eras, and the fact that we’re all somehow in a place to be able to make this match happen, and again, to do it in Wembley Stadium at our biggest show.

Sometimes all the dominoes fall in the right place, and this was one of those instances where it’s like, okay, I think this can work. I think we can get to All In with this. Who knows how our styles mesh, anything like that. Again, it’s the first-ever match, so there are so many questions going into it, and that’s fun. When you have questions going into a match, you want answers.” 

Copeland also gave his thoughts about his “one-test” measurement to determine a good match in wrestling being the fans’ reaction during the match’s finish.

“I use one test for if it was a good match: Do the people count along with the finish, or do they boo at the finish? That’s the only thing that matters is the reaction that you get, and the reaction in the arena, not the people that are always just complaining because they’re always just going to complain. But what do the people who paid the money to be there, to sit in those seats – what are they doing? Those are the people I focus on, and that’s always how I gauge it. Whether moves were hit or this or that or any of that stuff, it’s like, what did the crowd do? That’s the most important thing.

And if they count along with that three and the babyface is going over, okay, mission accomplished. That was a good match. And if they boo because the heel went over, and that was the idea, then mission accomplished.

I’m not one of these people that will say Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant wasn’t a great match. Sure, it was, because it drew however many people and people couldn’t take their eyeballs off of it. And so, to me, that’s a great match. Technically? No. But who cares? It’s all in the eye of the beholder too. It’s all subjective, right?” 

Copeland also gave his thoughts about how this tactic was developed throughout his wrestling career and was not something he was taught at the beginning of his career.

“Really, just through time. I always found that if I was having fun out there, chances were the audience would end up having fun too, in one way or another. Whether that was having fun watching me get tossed around by Batista or whether that was me spearing Alberto Del Rio.

I think more than anything, I learned that if I was having fun, chances are the people watching have fun too. And also, why do it if it’s not going to be fun? Again, there are going to be days, and there are going to be matches, and there are going to be times, or there’s going to be a bump where you go, ‘Whoa, okay, that sucked.’ But for the most part, the reason you got into this is so you didn’t really have to grow up. You can perform and be good. Those are the most important things to me now.”

Copeland also gave his thoughts about how his and Cage’s reunion in AEW as a tag team motivates them to avoid rehashing tactics they utilized decades ago and how they have evolved as a team to stay fresh.

“Not really. I think we were the first ones to wrap our minds around the idea, so it’s kind of business as usual. It’s what you would expect. Really, our biggest challenge was trying to make sure that we didn’t rehash the same thing. So we wanted to bring in the current incarnations of our characters to make the team an entirely different team than it was back in 2000.

I think that, more than anything, was our main goal, not the fact, ‘Hey, we’re doing this again.’ I think we probably had a moment after we won the titles. It’s like, it’s 25 years since we won these types of titles. So I guess there are moments like that, but I don’t really dwell on them.

Honestly, I think we have some memory of what we did, and we just thought if we can take what we’re currently doing and put it in the dynamic of this team, it’s almost this begrudging acceptance. And now it’s, okay, they’re finding their way, and they’re curmudgeons, or one of them is a curmudgeon, and the other puts up with it, and really just to explore the dynamics.

I play the straight man and try to set up the bowling pins, and then he knocks them down. That’s a fun element that we didn’t really have before because we were kind of playing the same role. Now we’re two entirely different characters, and that’s just fun.”