Adam Copeland provides some insight into his AEW Worlds End gear.
At AEW’s last pay-per-view of 2023, Copeland sqaured off against former friend and partner Christian Cage in a No Disqualification match for the TNT Championship. Copeland notably donned his iconic WrestleMania 22 gear, but it wasn’t without some hurdles.
During a recent interview with Sam Roberts of Notsam Wrestling (taped prior to Worlds End), Copeland opened up about how he recreated the Dickies shirt for the ensemble.
“So I decided for my match with [Christian at Worlds End] to wear my WrestleMania 22 attire because I still fit in it, I still got it,” Copeland said. “Except, and here was the caveat — I had the pants, but again, back to people stealing stuff, somebody stole the Dickies work shirt that I wore at WrestleMania because I started wearing it at house shows rather than the trench coat because it was a lot easier to pack and it’s not 45 pounds, so that’s nice.
“But one time, it was Lake Charles, Louisiana, somebody stole it. Yeah, so I got to work this week and the hardest part was finding a Dickies shirt, believe it or not. So finally, Walmart Super Center in Asheville, North Carolina, had one. I dragged the girls with me everywhere to find this thing and then I taught myself how to hammer rivets into shirts and it’s through leather. I’m crafty.”
“We know what happens then”
Copeland said he bought three shirts just in case he screwed up, and he learned how to use double-sided rivets. He settled on the WrestleMania 22 look for Worlds End because he wanted fans to think of a very specific moment from that match with Mick Foley.
“So I taught myself as I went,” Copeland continued. “I basically bought three shirts so that I could screw up. I pulled up a picture [of the WrestleMania 22 look]. And I learned how to use double-sided rivets as opposed to single-sided. I went through and punched all of the holes for the star, got the leather, cut it, worked it in, and then put the ‘R’ with all these [hammer noises]. It was a process.
“But I wanted it to look like, ‘Oh, he’s coming out in WrestleMania 22 gear. We know what happens then.’ So that was the mindset, honestly, with that. But then it became a challenge to, ‘I don’t have the shirt, dammit, somebody stole it. I gotta recreate it. I just gotta make it myself.'”
Copeland’s match did indeed involve a fiery table as Copeland sent Nick Wayne crashing through the flames with a powerbomb. “The Rated-R Superstar” also won the TNT title, but ended up losing it back to Christian Cage within minutes.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Notsam Wrestling with a h/t to WrestleZone for the transcription.
