Adam Copeland won his second TNT Championship, this time in his hometown, against his childhood best friend Christian Cage in an “I QUIT” match on AEW Dynamite.
AEW – All Elite Wrestling – held its weekly episodic television show, Dynamite, Wednesday night at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, followed by a one-hour live special of Rampage. Toronto was the second stop on the Canadian tour this year.
An announced sell-out filled most of the downtown building.
Cage and Copeland were billed as the main event, and they gave the crowd their money’s worth.
The two Canadians have been friends for over 40 years having met growing up in Orangeville, Ont., just outside of the city. They started their careers together in WWE and went through it all, either being a tag team or ‘enemies’.
Cage held the championship for 81 days before losing it to Copeland, the Rated-R Superstar. The former won the title from Copeland at AEW Worlds End PPV – Pay Per View – where Adam held the championship for three minutes after defeating Christian that same night.
Copeland was the first wrestler to come out to the ring, wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs, his favourite hockey team. He did something similar the last time he performed here, his final WWE match at Smackdown last August.
Cage came out to the ring second to a cavalcade of boos.
Once the bell rang, almost immediately the stars started after each other. A few minutes later, they took the action out of the ring and into the crowd.
The two went inside the hockey penalty box. Copeland ripped a Maple Leafs jersey off a fan and put it on himself. Afterwards he grabbed a Boston Bruins jersey off another fan and put that on Cage.
Slowly making their way to the arena’s concourse around the top rim, Copeland and Cage found their way towards the women’s washroom, which caused some to run out.
They eventually made their way back to the ring, where the wrestlers brought out equipment from underneath the ring, such as a ladder and a table – the famous TLC combo — which the crowd demanded in chants.
Cage was asked a few times by the referee if he was ready to quit (thus the “I Quit” match), but always denied.
After being thrown into the table by Cage’s top turnbuckle jump, Copeland was seen with a bloody head. Despite being asked if he’s ready to quit, he responded saying “$%#&@ you”.
Later the two had speared into each other. The referee asked both stars if they were ready to quit. Copeland responded “Christian, I hate you. Never.” and Cage’s response was “I’m not a quitter like Toronto.”
Ironically, Cage got out of the ring and headed backstage, where Copeland grabbed a hockey net from the storage, picked Cage up and power bombed him into net.
Shayna Wayne came out to Cage’s aid with a hockey stick, giving a low blow to Copeland.
The TLC combination was complete where Cage brought a chair, and a special barbed-wire chair mimicking Copeland’s Spike.
Killswitch, FKA Luchasarus, and Nick Wayne of Cage’s Patriarchy faction also came out to his aid and later Daniel Garcia and Matt Manard came out for Copeland, and the free-for-all was on.
Adam cuffed the Patriarchy to the turnbuckles and finally brought Spike out, a darkened paddle with nails attached.
He gave several low-blows where Cage refused to quit, but then gave a low-blow with Spike. Before he could do it for a second time, Cage had repeated the words “I QUIT.”
The Rated-R Superstar won the TNT Championship.
OVERALL: This was a great match whether you’re a pro-wrestling fan or not. Copeland, formally known as Edge, and Christian, have so much history that it made this special. They started in a small Ontario town made it to the big leagues and lived their dreams together.
This was the ultimate Canadian match. The Leafs vs Bruins element was a personal touch to the city, defining who the Heel and the Face were. The only thing I’d wish is that the match was longer, but everyone wishes that for every great match.
Copeland was in control for most of the match. Ironically speaking, I would’ve liked to see Christian take control more, but either way it was great.
GRADE: A