After decades and decades in the industry, AEW Dynamite on December 6th, 2023, offered of a TNT championship title match between Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. Two men who hadn’t faced one another in thirteen years.
The build up for this match between two former best friends really started the moment Adam Copeland made his debut in All Elite Wrestling, back in October at AEW’s WrestleDream. But who would’ve thought that a rivalry match for the TNT championship between two childhood friends would end in a shocker no one saw coming?
The match started off intensely from the get-go. After the fight had fallen to the outside of the ring, Adam Copeland bashed Christian Cage’s head into the announcer’s desk. That should’ve been the tip-off that this match wasn’t going to be a five-star technical masterpiece, even though both men are more than capable of committing such a feat. No, this match was partner versus former partner. More than that, with the history between Copeland and Cage, this match could honestly be described as brother versus brother.
The two men fought in and outside of the ring. After Cage threw Copeland over the fan barricade and ordered the ref to count, obviously in hopes of a count out victory, it wasn’t to be as Copeland made it back to the ring.
The fans in attendance for this match were just as committed as the two wrestlers, full invested in the match between two men who hadn’t battled against one another in over thirteen years. And the cherry on top was that the victor would be the TNT champion.
Of course, Cage has said publicly that the TNT title is the most important thing in his life, so it was no surprise to anyone at the lengths the wrestler would go to retain his championship. What some may have been surprised by is the length Copeland was willing to go to. I already mentioned the brutal head-bashing Copeland gave to Cage on the announcer’s table, but he would also resort to even biting the hand of Cage.
As the match progressed, even though Christian Cage seemed to get the upper hand for a moment, it looked like it was finally time for Adam Copeland to end the match, end his rivalry with his former best friend, and become a champion in All Elite Wrestling by capturing the TNT championship. The title win was not to be though.
Christian Cage deliberately delivered a low blow to the referee in an attempt to use his TNT title on Copeland. His plan didn’t come to fruition though, and both men tried to spear one another and knocked themselves out. And here is where the story turns upside down.
Coming down the ramp was Shayna Wayne, the mother of Nick Wayne. No one knew why she was coming down, but all questions would soon be answered. She picked up the TNT championship and for a few moments it seemed like she was going to use the title on Cage, but the unthinkable happened and she hit Adam Copeland right in the face with the TNT championship, knocking him out.
The announcers and the crowd were all shocked. One can only assume she used the championship belt on Copeland for what he did to her son weeks before, delivering a massive ConChairTo to Nick Wayne right in front of her.
After knocking Copeland out with the title, it was easy pickings for Cage, who not only hit his signature finisher, The Killswitch, on a helpless Copeland, but then proceeded to stomp on the surgically repaired neck of the Rated R Superstar while he lied on top of the TNT championship.
The referee came to just long enough to count to three, letting Cage retain his title, but what does this mean for Adam Copeland going forward? How much damage was done to him? What does this mean for Nick Wayne’s mother? Was it just revenge for her son, or was it all part of a more insidious plan laid out by the patriarchal leader, Christian Cage? We can only wait to see what answers, if any, he will give.
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