As Adam Copeland prepares for a huge match against Malakai Black and his House of Black acolytes at AEW Dynasty – and attempts to sell some planking equipment through a new venture with Christian Cage – the “Rated-R Superstar has been thinking a lot about his future in professional wrestling and how much time he has left before he has to let another person take a turn on the ride.

Discussing his past, present, and future in an interview with Brandon Walker on Mostly Sports, Copeland revealed that while he believes he's mentally the best he's ever been, evoking Tom Brady in the process, he knows his time in the ring is almost up.

“I've lived a lot more life. As strange as that sounds, it actually does add to your utility belt out there. As a performer, any kind of performer, they have to dip into a place to pull the character off. It's the same with wrestling. That, more than anything, is what I've noticed coming back,” Adam Copeland explained via Fightful. “Some of the skillset I got in the acting I did during those nine years off, I did over 100 episodes of television when I was retired. You kind of pull those things back with you. I feel that's the biggest difference. I might not be as fast as I used to be, but I feel mentally I'm better than I've ever been. That is why a guy like Tom Brady goes, ‘Yeah, well, mentally, I'm better than I've ever been. I see the game better than I've ever seen it.' I think that's the struggle. That's kind of how I feel, but I'm also a realist. I don't want to be that guy who sticks around to the point where a young guy looks at the sheet and goes, ‘Ah, okay, I have to wrestle him tonight.' I don't want to be that guy. I want young guys to still be excited if they're going to hop in there with me. I figure maybe I have a year and a half left, give or take. Hopefully, I've gotten all the ‘Yeah, yeahs' out by that point.”

To Copeland's credit, Tom Brady was able to still perform at a very high level during his final run in Tampa Bay, winning a Super Bowl and being a top-tier passer even as he prepared to retire. While only time will tell if Copeland is able to reach that same level of success during his final act in AEW, if his TNT Championship win is of any indication, it's safe to say he's off to a pretty impressive start.

Adam Copeland isn't sure if he can perform heel anymore in 2024.

Elsewhere on his pre-AEW Dynasty media tour, Adam Copeland was asked by VANCOLOUR host Mo Amir if he would ever consider turning heel in AEW after working that way in WWE at the end of his run as the founder and leader of Judgment Day.

While Copeland in the past has discussed the idea of forming a new faction as a member of AEW, he isn't as sure about the process of going heel, as he's having just too much fun in AEW to turn on the crowd so early in his run.

“It’s always fun to play a character where your job is to fall flat on your face and to have no redeeming qualities, and that’s easy. It’s easy to get people to not like you. Especially in today’s climate, it’s hard to get an audience on your side. I think the only reason I’ve been able to, up until this point, is because every understands the real story of Adam behind the character and the battle to get this thing back after being forced to retire,” Adam Copeland said via WrestleZone.

“I think now, as much as it’d be nice to try and be heel, I tried it once, and it failed pretty miserably [laughs]. So I don’t know if it would work anymore. But it was fun while it lasted, for sure.”

Would it be cool to see a heel Copeland in AEW? Potentially so, depending on the storyline, but when Copeland jumped from WWE to AEW, he became the ultimate rockstar anti-hero who skirts the rules to give the fans what they want, which, in 2024, is a babyface every day of the week. If this really is a revenge tour for Copeland, with roughly 18 months left before the grand finale, it's safe to say Copeland is going to enjoy what's left in the tank inside the ring and out of it.