The long, final chapter of Adam Copeland‘s WWE career as Edge was his involvement with The Judgment Day. He created the group, only to be turned on as Finn Balor joined the group, prompting a feud between the WWE Hall of Famer and his former stablemates.
Nobody anticipated how quickly Judgment Day’s evolution would occur. Copeland formed the group and was turned on seemingly overnight, jumping from beginning to end of a longer story. It seemed fast, and apparently, the plans called him to stay with this group for a longer period of time, with the same conclusion.
Copeland discussed on Talk is Jericho what was meant to happen with Judgment Day, explaining the original plans fell through to prolong his involvement with the stable (h/t Fightful for transcription).
“When we were doing Judgment Day, the plan was that Balor joins and about a year later, they all turn on me. Well, then I got to Hell in a Cell and it was like, no, we’re changing everything and we’re speeding up that year long process and he’s joining tomorrow and turning tomorrow, and it was just starting to find some legs, but it was going to be swimming upstream with me in it. It really was. I started to have that realization. It’s like, I don’t think they’re gonna get where they need to get to with me in this thing. People know the real story and that was an instance where I did try and flip everything, change it all overnight, cut my hair off, change the music, and start coming out in suits. I tried changing everything and I realized at this stage, it’s not what they want, at least for me. They wanted to be able to cheer for this guy that they didn’t get for nine years.”
Once COVID-19 crowd restrictions lifted, fans were eager to cheer Copeland, whom they had followed and grown to love since the Attitude Era. No one could see him for a chunk of his full-time WWE return — a comeback once seemingly impossible to happen due to neck injuries. So instead of forcing jeers, WWE logically reverted the Rated-R Superstar to a face.
Copeland has started off with AEW as a face, but it won’t be shocking if he tries with his heel chops again later on. In a different pro wrestling company, he might have a different experience as a heel once the honeymoon phase of his debut wears off.