WrestleMania is the culmination of months' worth of storylines in WWE. It'due south where feuds stop, new stars are born and legends render. 1 of those returning legends is Adam Copeland, better known as Border.

Following a surprise and near-miraculous return at final year's Regal Rumble, Edge will enter the weekend challenging for the Universal Championship, his first title match in a decade.

"I'chiliad trying to make sure I soak all of this in and actually sit down in the pocket of this, because I didn't retrieve this would happen once more," Copeland told Newsweek recently. "I don't desire to look past information technology, I don't want to get caught up in the locomotive that is WrestleMania season, and sometimes when that happens you lose track of just how amazing this job is—allow lone the fact that I had information technology ripped abroad for 9 years and I got it back. I'm really just trying to savor it all."

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Edge afterward winning the 2021 Majestic Rumble pay-per-view. WWE

10 years ago, Copeland had his wrestling career come to an abrupt terminate. After successfully defending the World Heavyweight Title against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 27, Copeland, who had a history of neck injuries and previously had surgery, suffered another during the match. Information technology somewhen required a second surgery.

Just 24 hours after sustaining the injury, Copeland appeared on the Apr 11, 2011 episode of Monday Dark RAW to relinquish the championship and announce his retirement.

"It was a strange time considering it wasn't by choice. I was told I had no pick and this was it," Copeland recalled to Newsweek. "And then that forces you pretty speedily to come to some kind of decision. Like, 'OK, there'southward no choice in this affair. I'd better wrap my heed around this, otherwise, emotionally, this is not going to be a healthy thing.'"

Copeland explained that having the pick of wrestling over again taken away from him really made it easier to cope with the fact that he wouldn't be able to do what he's known his entire adult life.

The then-37-year-one-time didn't have to think about whether he could nevertheless wrestle. Now, he said he can look back at that time of his life and notice condolement in knowing that he tried and left it all out there in the ring. And while he admits there were some rough patches of trying to effigy out how to navigate the "emotional roller coaster" of his state of affairs—he says that he didn't consume wrestling for three or four years after his retirement—it led to some interesting interim opportunities.

Copeland's RAW retirement oral communication caught the attending of producers on the supernatural Syfy series Oasis, and they decided to bring him on for one episode. It went well enough to really turn into a full of 41 episodes. That role as well catapulted the former champion to other interim roles, on series like Vikings and The Flash.

"Interim fell in my lap and that really opened up a creative doorway for me that had been airtight, and that really helped me kind of turn the corner and get, 'OK, that aspect of my life is done, and now I'1000 moving into this new chapter,'" Copeland said.

Of class, the career change didn't mean that Copeland'due south love for the wrestling business organization simply disappeared. He just needed fourth dimension away.

Copeland credits Jay Reso, a longtime friend and former tag squad partner improve known to wrestling fans equally Christian, for his render to the ring. Years ago, WWE's Executive Producer Kevin Dunn offered the duo a take a chance to create an original evidence for the WWE Network streaming service. Copeland said they were given "carte du jour blanche," which resulted in a wrestling sketch-comedy show chosen The Border and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness.

"Jay was withal watching [wrestling], but I realized I got to get caught upward now, because I don't know the electric current product, so I need to see some of these current characters and see how we can fit them into skits," Copeland said. "In doing that, I'g seeing matches between The Usos and The Wyatt Family unit and going, 'Wow.'"

In one case the sketch comedy prove and E&C's Pod of Awesomeness—a podcast in which the duo spoke nigh wrestling, music and other topics—were up and running, so was Copeland'due south path back to WWE television.

It'due south not uncommon for legends to appear in various roles on WWE'due south weekly television shows after they retire. WWE finds ways for its legends to be involved, whether it's in an authoritative role, like on-air commissioner or full general manager or via a backstage segment, but Copeland wasn't interested at first. He was adamant well-nigh staying away from the business; merely, once he finally became open up to it, he wanted to be used sparingly and with purpose.

"I didn't want to be that guy that showed up every week and was just in backstage skits," Copeland explained. "I had to become away. I just had to become away from it."

Copeland appeared in various segments throughout the years, but information technology wasn't until the summer of 2019 that everything changed. SummerSlam 2019 took place in Toronto, near Copeland's hometown of Orangeville. The Rated R Superstar interrupted a live performance by Elias and, to the shock of everyone in attendance and watching from home, Edge "Speared" the troubadour. It was Copeland'due south showtime in-ring "bump" since he retired.

"That Spear to Elias was a visual audible. We caught eyes and I was like, 'Nosotros gotta do this. This crowd wants this,'" Copeland recalled. "Thank God for Elias because y'all know to exist the performer that he is, to pick up on a visual cue like that, information technology says a lot about him and it actually kickstarted this whole thing."

Months before, Copeland was on a bicycle ride about his home in Asheville, Due north Carolina, with electric current WWE superstar Sheamus. Copeland crashed his bike during the ride, simply he got on his feet and felt fine. For someone with by cervix problems, it was a surprising development.

A physician confirmed to Copeland that the "hardware" in his cervix was doing well, only when he asked about wrestling once more, his doctor couldn't respond. Copeland then got a 2d opinion, which cleared him to resume wrestling. He wouldn't be able to do the 220 shows a year that WWE superstars normally do, simply he got the green low-cal to re-enter the ring.

"I had a six-hour drive dwelling house back to Asheville and I went and found a donut place, and I bought one-half a dozen donuts and I cranked Foo Fighters and ate donuts on the 6-hour drive home and I chosen [my wife, ex-wrestler Beth Phoenix] and was like, 'Honey, I'm cleared,'" Copeland said. "The windows were down, the music was cranked. I'm stuffing my face and I'm just similar, 'What is happening right now?'"

What happened next was the return of Edge. After his appearance at SummerSlam 2019, Copeland didn't get dorsum into the ring until January 2020, just before the COVID-nineteen pandemic put the whole globe on hold and forced the WWE to do shows without fans present. That didn't stop Edge, though, from taking on his former rival, Randy Orton, over the summertime of 2020. The feud culminated at the Backlash pay-per-view in June, which was promoted equally the "greatest wrestling match ever." Orton came abroad as the victor, simply the real lasting impact from the match was Edge trigger-happy a tricep that put him on the shelf for months. Only despite that injury disrupting his comeback run, Copeland took it in stride.

"That [injury] was almost similar water off the duck'due south back," Copeland said. "It sounds like it should have affected me more. I oasis't washed this for 9 years and I simply wrestled for 48 minutes against a guy who is at the absolute tip-top of this industry. Okay, there was some fallout. I tore my triceps, that sucks, but man, I've had fashion worse than a torn tricep."

Copeland tin list off the injuries he's accumulated while in a wrestling ring. A torn achilles, torn pectoral muscles, no labrum and the triple fusion cervix surgery that put a rubber disc in his spine—he's had plenty. He drew on those past experiences to put himself in the mentality of rehabbing and getting back in shape for his render. At 47 years sometime, Copeland not just made it back in time for the 2021 Regal Rumble in January, but he really won the 30-man boxing royale. Information technology was the second such victory of his career, stamping his ticket to this year's WrestleMania to wrestle for the Universal Championship.

The man looking to terminate Edge'due south pursuit of his first championship in x years is the Universal Champion, Roman Reigns.

Reigns, a 2d generation WWE superstar, has held the title since August 2020. With a new attitude and persona, Reigns—once the company's biggest babyface even though fans refused to cheer for him similar ane—is at present the WWE'south biggest heel and the mount to climb at WrestleMania.

"This is the Roman that I knew was e'er there," Copeland said. "As a performer, when you see a guy and feel similar they got the handcuffs on him, that's what I ever thought when I saw him. Merely in terms of his promo and his character and things like that, because I'd see him in the ring and I'm like, 'Man, this guy gets information technology.'"

The pairing of Reigns with advocate Paul Heyman, whom Copeland says has been instrumental in bringing out the strengths in wrestlers dating back to his days in ECW, has been key for Reigns. "It'due south really, actually neat to see a talent just connect and fire on all cylinders like that," Copeland said.

When Edge won the Rumble and challenged Reigns for his title at WrestleMania, it was originally scheduled to be a one-on-one affair. However, the months leading up to the Showcase of the Immortals has seen the Universal Championship match change to include sometime champion Daniel Bryan in a triple-threat tour.

Despite Edge feeling that Bryan is stealing his chance to become champion, the human being backside the character has nothing simply wonderful things to say about the performer. Copeland calls Bryan a technician'south handbook and likens him to WWE Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart, because he makes the near out of everything in front end of him while likewise making the story being told relatable and believable.

For most two months, Bryan has challenged Reigns for the Universal Championship, and he's come close to winning on multiple occasions—Border cost him at the Fastlane pay-per-view in March. This has given Bryan leverage to get inserted into the match at WrestleMania. And information technology's also helped Copeland realize that he needed to resurrect a familiar office of Edge's graphic symbol.

"I was simply playing the grizzled veteran. I'm Logan. I'm Rocky Balboa. I'grand trying to get through and show that I yet got that fighting spirit, but I don't know. It was the improver of Bryan into this that made me realize I tin't do that. That'due south not gonna work now," Copeland explained.

"Now I have to flip the switch and notice the Rated R Superstar once more. I gotta notice the character that's dangerous. I gotta find a unlike side to this 3-human lucifer considering Bryan is the perennial underdog. He's that guy who is e'er fighting from underneath and won't terminate fighting, and then I can't have that lane now," Copeland continued. "And because nobody's going to practice that lane better than him, I had to pivot and figure something out. I just got to dip into that guy again. That guy who'southward only motivation is the title; not just happy to exist back and try and hang, or try and go toe-to-toe with this era."

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Border after rediscovering the Rated R Superstar on an episode of 'Friday Night SmackDown' WWE

In the past, the "Rated R Superstar" was advised, cruel and the ultimate opportunist. This iteration has "higher stakes," co-ordinate to Copeland. Bringing some elements of truth into his character and promos, something he'due south washed since his return, this Rated R Superstar is more than dangerous.

"Before [retiring], I knew there was gonna be another match. Now at that place's that added layer of every match could be it. That adds a whole new twist of agony for the Rated R Superstar," Copeland said. "That graphic symbol was desperate before, merely now it's to a completely different level and that makes it really fun."

Only don't call him a heel—he'southward just Edge, co-ordinate to Copeland. At that place's a gray area with this version of the graphic symbol, where the simply affair that matters to him is the championship and it doesn't thing who is in his way. The multi-fourth dimension champion calls Border a complex character closer to Walter White of Breaking Bad, rather than a clear-cutting good guy or bad guy.

Other circumstances around Edge take changed, too. WWE looks dissimilar compared to when Copeland was working total-time a decade agone. There are now pay-per-views every month, and two shows to be promoted between the Regal Rumble and WrestleMania. NBC Universal purchasing the rights to the WWE Network for its Peacock streaming service also inverse WWE's sensibilities equally to who would be featured on its shows, specially Fastlane, the starting time pay-per-view on the service.

"You probably want Roman Reigns on your testify, but you lot don't want him facing the guy he's gonna face at WrestleMania, so how do you fill that time?" Copeland said, explaining why Daniel Bryan was added. "And sometimes, in doing that, yous realize something's communicable fire and perchance nosotros demand to go a different direction hither and figure this out at present. That'southward just the nature of the current beast. Having a pay-per-view every month, things are in such transition at all times. Everything's fluid, and then there is truly a run a risk to change an entire direction of the storyline because something's feeling this style and that way."

With the WrestleMania 37 match set for this Sun, April xi, Copeland has a chance to go out Raymond James Stadium in Tampa as the new Universal Champion. He'd get the focal point of Friday Nighttime SmackDown, and when WWE starts traveling again and welcoming back fans, they'll be coming to see him. But Copeland was quick to reiterate that his focus is on WrestleMania.

"When I say I want to exist in the pocket of this affair, I want to savor it, so if I start going too far ahead, I'one thousand not enjoying information technology, I'm not savoring information technology. Y'all know, at that place's a Pearl Jam song chosen 'Present Tense' and it just talks about living in the present tense and that's really what I'm doing with this this whole matter, so I don't want to get alee of myself."

And who could arraign him? A new chapter is most to be written in a career that everybody thought was already complete exactly 10 years ago.

"I don't know if it volition fully dawn on me. The gravity of it, or the specialness of the fact that information technology's ten years to the solar day, you tin can't write stuff like that," Copeland said. "That'south just one of those happy accidents, and I don't know if it will fully dawn on me until I'thousand in the band and the intros are happening and we're in front of a crowd again. Maybe that's when it volition all come crashing down on me again."

WrestleMania 37 is scheduled for Sat, April 10 and Lord's day, April 11 starting at 7 p.m. EDT exclusively on Peacock.