In 2023, Adam Copeland really wanted to go all out in his Hell in a Cell match with Finn Balor, ending his feud with Judgment Day in a huge way with big spots, a massive intro, and maybe even Gangrel making his long-awaited return to the promotion to help fight off the faction once and for all.

Unfortunately, basically none of that happened, as WWE wanted to have a 2023 WWE match, not a 2003 WWE match, but in the end, it was all good, as Tony Khan allowed Copeland to have his dream version of the match at Double or Nothing 2024, booking the match with a Slayer intro, the Gangrel arrival, and a massive 20-foot-tall flying elbow from the top of the cage, only, in an unfortunate turn of events, that particular spot ended in disaster, as Copeland landed right on his legs and ended up breaking his tibia.

Discussing the spot on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T questioned why Copeland went through with the idea, noting that he simply didn't see the benefit in such a dangerous spot for a performer in his 50s.

“I watched it, and the thing is, I asked the question man, ‘Why?' I mean, I'm not gonna sit here and sugarcoat it or anything like that, I asked the question, ‘Why?' Because you know, I'm thinking about doing it at 20, and it's gonna hurt at 20. Of course, your body's gonna take a whole lot more — it's just like drinking. When you're early and coming up in life, you know. You're 19 or 20 out there, drinking every day. And then you hit your thirties, you know, and it hits you a little bit differently. And then you get in your forties and fifties, and the next thing you know, they're taking you to the hospital for the exact same thing because your kidney is going out and whatnot,” Booker T explained via 411 Mania.

“It's just your body. — I mean, father time waits for no man. No matter how good you feel, you're capable of getting hurt. In this case, you're capable of getting injured. And not just injured, perhaps injured permanently. We don't know how that drop is really going to affect Edge. I mean, of course we know he's gotta have surgery. But I'm gonna tell you right now; the way I saw it, you know, it looked very, very painful, and it looked like it's gonna have more complications than just broke.”

Interesting stuff, right? Well, wait, it gets even better, as Booker had plenty more to say about staying effective as a wrestler ages.

Adam Copeland should lead with his words, not by example.

Continuing his comments on Adam Copeland, Booker T revealed that the former Edge doesn't have to do the crazy spots he did as a kid anymore, as he can be a good locker room leader in AEW without having to do spots that feel like getting in a car crash.

“Say for instance, when you're in a car wreck. And then you know, you go home that night, you feel pretty okay. Then you wake up the next morning and you gotta call the doctor because your body was traumatized. That was — you know, his body was traumatized from taking that fall, and then everything in his body jolted when he hit the mat, that's what I'm talking about. It's going to be much more than just a tibia. That's just my opinion, just because I've fallen before. I've been in a car wreck before, too. So I know what trauma is. And at 50? Man, I don't think anything good… it was no arc. He had no arc to his body or anything like that. It looked like he just jumped into a pool feet first… You know what, it was a bad idea. And I think in hindsight, if hindsight was 20/20, he would definitely think twice about doing that,” Booker T explained.

“You know what, certain things are unneeded. But when you put yourself, and you're trying to really, really, you know, impress the guys at the company. You're trying to really let the young guys see, ‘I'm willing to go out here and put it on the line, just like you guys are.' You could find yourself doing something like that. And I'm sure that had a little bit to do with it. You know, because I really — I'm not just saying it's just to be saying it. I think Edge has leadership qualities. I really do.

“So I can see Edge being that guy saying, ‘Lead by example.' I can see that, just like me coming to get in the ring at Reality of Wrestling, I lead by example. But d**mit, the last time we had a match I acted like I was gonna jump over to the top row. It went viral. it got a couple of million views. Because I'm like, ‘Man, I'm not doing that. What the h*ll are you thinking?' But no, you can find yourself one to have that moment. Just because you tried to press the young guys, that might be what it was.”

While Adam Copeland's match with Malakai Black is easily one of his best in AEW and a positive mark for the promotion as a whole, in the end, in the end, most fans would probably prefer to see more Cope Open matches with the TNT Champion on top after retaining his title than watch him explain that he broke his tibia on social media and announce that he'd be out of action for a very long time as a result. Even if Copeland got his moment, he did so at the expense of his many future moments in the future, which probably isn't a worthy trade-off objectively.