When Adam Copeland mentioned in an interview that he'd be open to forming a new version of Judgment Day in AEW featuring promising you performers like Griff Garrison, many, if not most fans assumed the “Rated-R Superstar” just threw out a name from developmental side of the roster.
Well, as it turns out, choosing Garrison was very deliberate, as the former Edge is such a fan of the developmental prospect that he picked him to have the opening match of the Copeland Open Challenge, taking the former Varsity Blonde to the mat for almost seven minutes while allowing him a few minutes to work on the mic for his first televised promo in what feels like years.
Discussing the decision on Busted Open Radio, Copeland put over the vets who helped him out early in his career and explained why he wants to return the favor to the next generation.
“I've had a blast, I've had so much fun. Even this past weekend, getting in there with a guy like Griff Garrison. Just to get in there so that he can feel what it's like, the difference that comes with that experience, because I look at it, and I look when I broke in and I had Rick Martel and Bad News Brown and all of these guys mentor me along the way. There's not a lot of that anymore. All of these guys were doing the indies, and if you were lucky enough to get in there with them, man, I learned. I just soaked it all up,” Adam Copeland told Busted Open Radio via Fightful.
“Now, it almost feels like these guys are gonna have to soak it up on national television, and that's a different challenge until itself, along with social media. So that to me is really fun, though, to get these guys in there, get hands on them, and feel what they're all about so they can also feel what 30 years of experience feels like.
“That to me, is really fun, to see lightbulbs go off for talent. That's part of the reason why, with the Copeland Open, whatever you want to call it, I want to work a bunch of young talent and a bunch of young guys, not only for them, but for me too because that's invigorating, and I want to work a bunch of different styles and try and incorporate new things to see if they work for my character. That's a really fun place to be navigating from, especially at this stage in my career.”
Alright, so that all makes sense, but did Copeland imagine that – largely WWE – fans would get so up in arms about such an otherwise inconsequential match? Well, Copeland commented on that, too, and his answer was fascinating.
Adam Copeland believes his AEW Open Challenge helps out everyone.
While some fans think having Adam Copeland wrestle performers without much national gravitas damages the aura of his character, in the opinion of the “Rated-R Superstar,” that couldn't be further from the case, as he believes the concept helps to elevate everyone involved as a chapter of his larger story with Christian Cage.
“Because long after I'm gone, Griff Garrison will be there, and just like Bad News Brown showed me, or just like Rick Martel showed me, you just like Tom Prichard showed me or Pat Patterson showed me, or Michael Hayes showed me or Bret Hart showed me, I'm in that stage of my career. So, if I can get in there with Griff Garrison, what is a 30-second match gonna do for Griff Garrison? But suddenly now, you get a couple like, ‘Woah, he almost took that thing.' Well, now you add in the element of the story, like, Copeland took this kid maybe a little lightly, and there's something to him. It's also an opportunity for him to get on a microphone. It's an opportunity for reps in front of an audience that will have eyes actually watching because there's a character in there that they know,” Adan Copeland noted.
“That to me is all that needs to be said. If he can get in there and we have five minutes of time in there, I feel like he can learn more in the five minutes than he would in probably 200 matches with people of the same experience. I know that sounds kind of cocky and egotistical, but that's the way it was for me when I was his age. That's what this is. That's why. That's why I wanna work a guy like Griff Garrison. That's why, put me in there with Dante Martin or Lee Moriarty or Zak Zodiac. This is a part within the story that Christian and I are telling, where we can do this and add another layer in the final book that is this story. That's so fun to me. I think nowadays, people are so, ‘Well, why isn't it this? Why isn't it right now?' Then if you give them right now, ‘Well, they did it too quick.' This is another chapter. While they continue to write more chapters on their end, I'm gonna write over here on this end, and there's always a plan. Sometimes, like my favorite stories when I was growing up, and I know it's a different time, but Steamboat/Savage, let 'em wrestle for a year.”
Alright, so excusing the statement that one six-minute match with himself is worth 200 with other developmental prospects, as that just feels incorrect from a reps standpoint, the idea does hold weight, as learning from vets like the “Rated-R Superstar” is incredibly valuable for any performer, especially one with just a few years of experience under his belt. If Copeland wants to use this chapter of his career to give back to the business before taking another shot at Cage, then why not let him cook and see how it turns out?