At AEW Double or Nothing on Sunday, 50-year-old Adam Copeland lept from the top of the cage during his match with Malakai Black. On Tuesday, Copeland revealed the price he had to pay for that decision, saying he’d suffered a fractured tibia in the match.
Many fans were immediately worried that Copeland (formerly Edge in WWE) could have suffered an injury when he jumped from the cage and landed on his feet before hitting Black, who had been laid out on a table, with an elbow. Normally, the wrestler would land on his opponent and the table to break their fall.
Copeland posted a video on Tuesday morning confirming that he had suffered a broken tibia and would be out of action for the near future.
“Double or Nothing, flew back yesterday,” Copeland said. “Malakai Black, dude is an animal, just really, really, really damn good. As you’re about to find out in this video, I guess the house always does win. … I’ve been feeling really good lately and having so much fun in the ring and I got cocky, I guess is what it really boils down to. I’m probably a narcissist, egomaniac, and I’ll unpack that one day. My brain forgets what my body always seems to remember a little late — that I’m 50 and need to make better choices. My body pulled the emergency brake on me the other night and I ended up fracturing my tibia. It’s going to require surgery, I don’t know the timeframe on that yet.”
Copeland said that he wants to enjoy his daughter Ruby’s upcoming birthday before dealing with the surgery.
Copeland retired from wrestling in 2011 as a result of neck injuries before making an unlikely return to the ring as a surprise entrant in the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble. He continued to wrestle part-time for WWE until his contract ran out in September 2023, at which point he signed with AEW where he is a two-time, and current, TNT champion.
