Adam Copeland provided insights into his creative process and thoughts on storytelling in professional wrestling during an interview with Jon Alba on The Takedown on SI.
Copeland discussed the importance of storytelling in wrestling, particularly with the current high work-rate across the industry.
Everybody can have a good match if you’re at this stage, you know? And people can do wrestling holds. It’s when to do them. Do you know the right place? The right time? All of those things. And that becomes easier when you have a storyline built into it.
Copeland elaborated on how storylines enhance match quality, citing a specific example from AEW.
And so you look at like, Ricochet and Swerve. And yeah, they can have a spectacular match. But man, it’s going to mean so much more now because of Nana and Jimmy Rave’s robe. So you add that element of story to it. That, I’ve always said, makes the match that much more.
Copeland will challenge Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at Revolution on March 9. This marks his opportunity to win his 12th world championship.
The interview included Copeland’s perspective on the difference between technical moves and storytelling in famous matches.
Hogan and Rock didn’t do a whole lot of wrestling moves in their match because they didn’t have to. They had the people with these [poses], and they had them with just the enormity of it. But it was story. It wasn’t about moves. And at the base of it all, it’s still got to be about story. The moves are garnish.
Copeland addressed the value of long-term storytelling in wrestling during the conversation.
You can tell stories with moves, especially if it’s a cold match and it’s a one-off. You can. But give me those three, four-month stories with a culmination, or a six-month story, or a year-long story.
Copeland responded to criticism that AEW doesn’t tell stories by highlighting examples within the company.
I see a guy like Hangman do it in every one of his angles, you know, Swerve, you know, and I see what Ricochet has gotten from coming over and having some freedom to be able to start trying to create. And obviously, it was there that whole time. To see Toni Storm create this just amazing character, this fun, vibrant thing that’s totally different. So it’s not old, you know, it’s always there. It’s always going to need to be there.
Heading into Revolution, Copeland has been systematically taking out members of Moxley’s Deathriders group as he aims to save both the company and the championship from Moxley’s control.