In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet as part of the INSIGHT With Chris Van Vliet podcast, All Elite Wrestling star and WWE Hall of Famer Adam Copeland discussed several topics, including how close he came to originally signing with All Elite Wrestling in late 2019.

“Really close, we had great discussions. When I first started talking to AEW, I wasn’t yet cleared, I had made it, we talked about it like the bosses of each video game level, but I still wasn’t cleared by company doctors, so once all of those clearances started to come, I was like oh, this is real now.

Before I did anything, I had to go and kind of get the final clearance needed for either company, but I had negotiated with everybody, I was like okay, here is where I’m at, here’s what I’ve been told that I can do and I started the process, and then, in going to WWE and sitting down with Vince, he goes well, it’s got to happen here.

At that stage, I looked at the equity built, and it felt like having to start over, especially having to start over after having been gone for 9 years felt really daunting, if that makes sense, it felt like at least with WWE, that’s one thing off the table that I don’t have to worry about, I can come back and walk into the history of this character.

I do feel like it needed to have happened there initially, I really do, if only for that Royal Rumble moment right before the pandemic hit and just feeling and experiencing that. I’m happy the way it turned out.”

The full interview is available at this link.