Adam Copeland Reacts To Criticism Of AEW Collision Match With Griff Garrison

Adam Copeland’s run as a full-time professional wrestler may be nearing its end but that hasn’t stopped the ‘Rated R Superstar’ from giving his time to the next generation.

This was evidenced in the January 6 edition of AEW Collision, where Copeland defeated Griff Garrison in singles competition. The decision to put Copeland in a match with the former Varsity Blond rather than ‘save him’ for higher profile bouts has been criticised by some corners of the wrestling fandom, with Garrison also getting a fair amount of offence in against the multi-time world champion.

During a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Copeland addressed the criticism the match received, saying the following in response:

"I’ve had a blast, I’ve had so much fun. Even this past weekend, getting in there with a guy like Griff Garrison. Just to get in there so that he can feel what it’s like, the difference that comes with that experience, because I look at it, and I look when I broke in and I had Rick Martel and Bad News Brown and all of these guys mentor me along the way. There’s not a lot of that anymore. All of these guys were doing the indies, and if you were lucky enough to get in there with them, man, I learned. I just soaked it all up. Now, it almost feels like these guys are gonna have to soak it up on national television, and that’s a different challenge until itself, along with social media. So that to me is really fun, though, to get these guys in there, get hands on them and feel what they’re all about so they can also feel what 30 years of experience feels like," Copeland said.

Copeland continued, noting how he is having fun working with younger talent:

“That to me, is really fun, to see lightbulbs go off for talent. That’s part of the reason why, with the Copeland open, whatever you want to call it, I want to work a bunch of young talent and a bunch of young guys, not only for them, but for me too because that’s invigorating, and I want to work a bunch of different styles and try and incorporate new things to see if they work for my character. That’s a really fun place to be navigating from especially at this stage in my career," Copeland said.

H/T: Fightful