One of the most decorated wrestlers of the 21st century is retiring next year.
Since 2025, the wrestling world has watched WWE legends Goldberg, John Cena, AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar retire. Now, a top AEW star and former WWE Champion is gearing up for one last rodeo.
During Wednesday night’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Adam Copeland (formerly known as Edge in WWE) announced that he’ll retire from in-ring competition in 2027.
“I am ageing out, and that’s okay; it happens to everybody,” Copeland told a stunned crowd at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. “But because of that, I just wanted to let y’all know that 2027 will be my last year in professional wrestling.”
Copeland announced the news after defeating Josh Alexander to qualify for the Clockwork Carnage match for the AEW World Championship at Saturday’s WrestleDream pay-per-view.
Taking stock following injuries to Christian Cage, Adam Copeland has announced 2027 will be his final year as a Professional Wrestler and looks to claim the AEW World Title before all is said and done#AEWDynamite is LIVE on TBS and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/raEinvwpYB
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) October 15, 2026
Copeland has yet to win the AEW World Championship, currently held by Will Ospreay. However, the former has won the AEW TNT Championship twice and previously held the AEW World Tag Team Championship with Christian Cage, his longtime wrestling partner.
Adam Copeland Has Had a Run for the Ages
(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
In 2011, Edge announced he had to retire prematurely at age 37 due to spinal stenosis. However, the WWE Hall of Famer never gave up on a return to the ring, and he made his thrilling return at the 2020 Royal Rumble.
After a three-year second stint in AEW, Copeland signed with All Elite Wrestling. An 11-time world champion in WWE (seven World Heavyweight titles and four WWE Championships), Copeland has had a remarkable career that will hopefully end on a high note in 2027.
