At WWE Backlash 2020, Adam Copeland (Edge in WWE) battled Randy Orton in what was promoted as The Greatest Wrestling Match ever before it even took place.
The greatest wrestling match ever is not only subjective, it's relatively tough to have when there is a lack of audience to react and enhance the moment, which was the case for Copeland and Orton as the match took place during the pandemic.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, Copeland recalled being in the position to have "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever."
"It's the toughest. I might be biased, but I think that's the toughest position. There is also no such thing. It's totally subjective. You probably think of a match when you think of your favorite match, and I think of a match, and then it's going to change. This month, it might be Austin [Steve Austin] and Bret [Bret Hart] submission match [WrestleMania 13]. Then it might be Nick Bockwinkel and Terry Funk from All Japan," he said.
When asked how Vince McMahon pitched the match to them, Copeland replied, "It was pitched to us like that. 'I have you two guys. You're gonna have the greatest wrestling match ever.' 'Yeah.' 'That's what we should call it.' 'Oh.' He's a promoter. That's the way the promoter brain works. Me, as the performer, I'm going, there is no audience and there is no such thing. I really had to wrap my mind around it and go, 'what angle do I come at this from?' Just make a love letter to wrestling. That was the idea. 'Charles [Charles Robinson], I need you in a long-sleeved button up and bow tie.' I want Howard Finkle to announce us. I want the old MSG thing to come down. Now, hopefully, people understand, 'this is really just a tip of the hat to what we do.' Hence, using other people's finishers."
Jericho applauded Copeland's take on things.
"That's a good take on it though. It's the greatest wrestling match, the greatest combination of all the best things we love about wrestling," said Jericho.
Copeland continued, "What else are we going to do? Seriously, what else are we going to do? We had like 50 students from NXT. We did what we could with it. I also had a blast. I've often heard, 'it was edited.' We did it once, all the way through, 48 minutes. We didn't have a time limit. We got to the back, 'you guys went 48 minutes.' 'Really? Wow, it felt like 10.' My stupid idea was, if we wanted to try different things, now we can. What if we picked up some iso shots. Might be kind of cool to cut in. I'm just trying to think of something different. I'm wearing a Go Pro on my head and I was going to take an RKO so it feels like a first-person player taking an RKO. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. I take the RKO, and I'm really trying to cover Randy here because we've gotten cold. It's after the match, we did the 48 (minutes), we're just doing four pick up shots. I take the RKO with a camera on my head, tear my tricep. It was an hour 20 in between. I took it too far. Then, I saw it with the edits in and I hated it. Vince loved it. I saw the unedited 48 minutes straight through and I loved it, even with no audience. Randy and I have great chemistry. I'm proud of that one, especially considering the scenario and circumstances, to walk in and still try and pull it off. I'm proud of that."
Copeland would be sidelined until the 2021 Royal Rumble due to the tricep injury.
Copeland is now in AEW, making his in-ring debut on the October 10 episode of the program. He defeated Luchasaurus in the contest.
Elsewhere during the interview, Copeland praised Darby Allin. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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