Edge On Tribalism In Pro Wrestling 

Watch the full interview with Adam Copeland on my main channel here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pRPcGnZ2K3Q.html

I love wrestling, but i hate the "fans"

I gave up arguing with people who Only know WWE and hate on AEW.... Adam said it best "I wanted to see everything I could" thats how most of us OG pro wrestling fans are.

I will never understand being upset at someone for going to another company to try something new. It’s happens all the time in sports when a player gets traded to another team, but if you go to a different wrestling company “you’re a traitor”

Tribalism is everywhere from Coke vs Pepsi, Windows vs Mac, Xbox vs PlayStation vs Nintendo, etc. I have no problem with people who prefer one brand over another, However, people that want certain brands to fail because they don't like the brand but then complain about monopolies.

Edge one hundred percent speaks the truth, and fools still can't realize it. Nobody benefits from a monopoly, even the monopoly itself stagnates & suffers without the threat of competition.

humans are weird now, back in the day you could find hundreds of fans who loved wrestling, and talk about whatever company you watched or didnt...

The irony of this video's comments section.

Ngl when Adam went to AEW I felt super excited because I knew he was going to work with Christian Cage. They did NOT disappoint. What truly matters is that the wrestler, wherever they might go, is happy and healthy. And that's coming from somebody who primarily watches WWE nowadays. Best wishes to Adam!

They're kids who didn't grow up yet

Adam comparing people only watching one wrestling show to going to only one restaurant is 100% accurate and true! You are going to get tired of it eventually. Variety is a good thing!

I love WWE and AEW, there's great wrestlers in both companies. Both of them are putting on some great matches. As a wrestling fan I feel like we're spoiled these days with all this wrestling available to watch every week. (In the best way possible)

Agree with Adam Copeland. Tribalism is pathetic. I love AEW. But if you love WWE good on you. Just can’t take the no it alls, who have nothing better to do than spew negativity and nonsense.

The power of talking trash to someone online that can't hit you back. We are living in this digital age where every wrestling company, every company, big or small is available at our fingertips. Indies, Japan, WWE, AEW, sit back and enjoy.

The tribalism is because of trolls, marks and former wrestlers all having their own opinions on the internet. I've watched wrestling since the mid nineties and I'm sure if we went back in time you could find tribalism. Adam makes a good point that isolating yourself to one team doesn't make you a fan of the sport itself. I love wrestling and primarily only watch AEW at this point. I would watch AEW and WWE but WWE just doesn't do anything for me in regards to entertainment so I just stopped it. Doesn't mean I am team AEW, I just like it more than what else is shown

Even though I don’t watch aew rn, I agree I would love to see that company grows so better

Edge: Tribalism is bad for wrestling Will Osprey: Hold my beer

Love Chris' interview style. I'd say chris and james from the dutch podcasts are definitely the two best wrestling interviewers out there.

It's not hard to just enjoy wrestling

I got so fed up with the fandom recently that I stopped following wrestling news and stopped participating in the discourse. I legit had a moment where I contemplated giving up wrestling, but then I thought that I'm not going to let others ruin my enjoyment of something that's been a big part of my life. It's been so nice being removed from everything, and I can just watch wrestling. I don't really care about initials. If I'm interested in a product, then I'll watch it or at least keep up with it. AEW is the only product I watch on a weekly basis at the moment. I watch WWE's PLEs and sometimes catch TNA's PPVs, but I don't watch week to week. That can always change though. The amount of times people online have accused me of being a tribalist or hating certain products says a lot about the community. I'm glad to be out, if you reply to this comment, I will not respond. :)

Tribalism is currently so bad, worse than it's ever been, that I was even hesitant to look at the comments here since I'm so used to tribalistic WWE fans going "aEw BaD!" by their NPC default setting. Thankfully, this comment section is one of the saner ones in the wrestling space.

Finding TNA was like a miracle for me. As a kid who was tired of the formula, seeing that 6 sided ring and the superstars made me so happy I had another option out there.

Wrestlers can go to whatever company they want. There shouldn't be this split between fans as there is. Edge/Adam is the same amazing performer no matter what company he works for.

I love Adam's positivity. Why is this such a hard concept to grasp. I am a wrestling fan. I didnt stand it with WCW vs. WWF vs. ECW., i didnt understand it with TNA vs. WWE, and I dont understand it with AEW vs. WWE. It's just rediculous to me. Absolutely absurd.

I still watch shows from every wrestling league I like. Although I realize that not everyone does it that way. But it would be a shame if there was just one big promotion that everyone followed. Furthermore, it would be bad for wrestling, because there would only be one style.

Tribalism exists because of quality control issues. When I was younger, I was able to watch TNA and WWE and enjoyed them equally. TNA had a lot of homegrown stars like Bobby Roode, James Storm, Abyss, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe, with a good mix of established WWE names like Sting, Booker T, Kurt Angle, Christian, etc. So, it made for compelling TV, at least from a kid's perspective. However, I think AEW would be much better if Tony stopped booking the show. Also, I think these smaller wrestlers aren’t much of a draw besides MJF. So, I guess it all comes down to a matter of preference. I think many people like WWE presentations and creative direction more than AEW. Which creates this feeling of being WWE or bust within IWC. So that’s where the tribalism comes from. It’s like NFL vs UFL.

Back in the day with WCW and WWF it was understandable, they aired at the same time. Now, there is no excuse. You can watch all wrestling programs at your own convenience.

I kinda want to know if he’s seen posts saying “Tony Khan really had him go out there after the footage was shown”, and I wanna know his take on that

I feel like Tony has to stop it because it is crazy to have Edge out there to make an amazing speech then 4 days latter Tony said what he said on NFL

Believe Me Adam Copeland as a long-term wrestling fan I have no idea why people pick sides like you said if wrestling was on I wanted to see it all no matter how where or when.

For me it's not an issue of tribalism. I'm just not a fan of AEW. Believe me, I wish there was another company that I enjoyed because when I was a kid, it was so much fun watching WWF, WCW, and ECW.

I never hated Edge moving to AEW because I want him to try different things in a different environment. But other wrestling fans are fickle so yeah...

love both companies man people forget that the most important thing is how the wrestlers are feeling and if they are happy they are the ones who produce our entertainment with their bodies

Tony khan: “AEW is the Pepsi of pro wrestling and WWE is the Harvey Weinstein pro wrestling” literally happened just 2 weeks ago

I’ve said this many times now.. I’m like Adam was or still is with wrestling. If you think about it, wrestling is available to be watched a guaranteed 6 DAYS A WEEK. Sometimes 7 if there’s a PPV (or PLE), 10 years ago, it was what? 4 days a week including PPVs? We as fans have so much wrestling contest at the click of a button what is there to complain about? Like they’ve said in basketball, “ Just shut up and dribble.” Well, just shut up and watch wrestling. 🎤 drop

Capital Group av" what's your Edge " got me off guard 😂

I completely understand where Adam is coming from I don't have allegiance to inetales I personally only watch wwe cause I find it truly entertaining like I don't watch tna anymore cause it wasn't entertaining anymore just like I don't watch aew it's not entertaining to me love you Adam hope the rest of your career turns out how you want 😊❤

💯💯

I rely a lot on RU-vid for any wrestling that's not WWE or AEW cause those 2 are aired weekly on cable. I like watching independent wrestling, CMLL, ROH, TNA, NJPW. During covid I watched pretty much every will ospreay matches that were available. I stopped watching WWE from 2013-2022 after I got cable post covid I started watching WWE again and was able to watch weekly AEW not just watch Dark and highlights from dynamite/ rampage

Ashley Massaro still deserves justice. As does countless other victims of McMahon. But NO ONE can convince me that Vince and Laurinaitis were the only people who knew anything about (or was involved in) this stuff going on for decades! I love watching lot's of different promotions (always have). But WWE can piss off!

Edge: “tribalism is bad” Also edge: “this is where the best wrestle”

Tell your boss to stop fanning the flames of tribalism then

I tried to watch TNA on television the other day until I saw a commercial for TNA+ for $9.99 per month and realized that I did not want to invest in watching the television show if I was not going to watch the premium live event that it was building to. I watch multiple police shows like The Rookie and Chicago PD but they do not lead to a culminating event that I have to pay for. So since I pay for Peacock (I used to have WWE Network) I watch WWE and when Edge left WWE it really was a loss because the AEW pay-per-views are not in my budget and also time is a factor because instead of watching another show like 911 Lonestar I would have to invest more time in another wrestling show on top of paying for another pay-per-view streaming service if I wanted to follow a wrestler that went to another company.

Edge is definitely 100% right. Imagine saying you love wrestling but get triggered when your favorite talent is released and get triggered again when they get a better job and exposure at a new company. Then just hating their guts and not being happy for them for finding work and being able to continue their careers and well feed their families

Wrestling Tribalism is the Biggest Heel in Wrestling Today….someone tell the toxic fans & TK that

Well adam all i can tell you is you wanted this ok you said that you are free it felt fun smmfh you broke our hearts when you went to the other side‼️💐

Come on. Let’s be honest…the biggest tribalist of them all is Tony Khan. He constantly attacks WWE by calling it the Evil Empire. Hell, he was just doing that a few weeks ago.

I appreciate him so much

I need to see Switchblade Jay White vs Adam Copeland and honestly Tony Khan should have Switchblade Jay White dethrone Adam Copeland for the TNT Championship. Copeland is 100% right, if you're a wrestling fan, be loyal to wrestling not some letters on a board. All wrestling is great and each promotion has it high points and points that it can improve on but competition is the best thing for the wrestling business.

But why do people blame Del Rio for his retirement? I don't get it? I wasn't watching wrestling back then can anyone tell me?

Bro I just want these wrestlers to use the competition to get that bag

I’ll watch whatever has good programming. If I like someone in AEW I’ll turn for that, same with WWE.

More companies means more entertainment for us

“Tribalism” has always been in wrestling. From the territory days to wcw ecw wwf.

Tribalism is even worse when the owners of one of the places is the one who contributes most to it

I also have felt like this as a kid I watch different things

What's the belt behind edge? Goat tag team championship?

Thats not a problem for me ill watch any wrestling that is good but i cant watch aew anymore. That ship has sailed for me i think. I do check out what edge/Copeland is doing because he i a childhood favourite of mine. I always knew he would be a main eventer and people thought I was crazy lol he was my favourite from 99 and finally after the ladder match at mania people started seeing it more and more. When i would tell people he was my favourite they would always say but the rock is better or this guy is better and he will never be champion and my own big brother who was a few years older and understood wrestling more even said it wouldn't happen but i never lost faith. The night he finally cashed in i felt so vindicated for my years of belief. But even if he didn't win it he was still gonna be my favourite and im glad he is still doing what he loves. But going back to what i was saying about aew i will check out his stuff but cant sit through the whole show i just cant stand some of the wrestlers too much to watch.. its not heel heat either i just groan when certain people come on screen. Anyway good luck adam/edge ill check out your stuff always dude you were a big part of my childhood.

Personally I haven't been a fan of WWE since 2005, and haven't watched a full event from them since Mania 21. I just don't like how they present wrestling. However, I'm happy they exist, I think they're moving in a better direction without Vince, but it's still story driven as the #1 priority. Look at WM XL, lots of people liked it. It was just mid to me. Most matches that I saw were ok, nothing special. I prefer action as the #1 set piece. But I am not tribalistic to one brand. I like pretty much all wrestling.

The problem with todays fans is that they have only used to WWE for the last 20 years that their not used to seeing another company on a major TV network

"The companies hate each other, and it will be a natural resource that powers the industry" - Tony Khan

Well, that promo about tribalism and 'enjoy wrestling' should be for your boss and that should have happened on the backstage not in the middle of the ring.

I don’t mind him going to AEW. I just hate that BS promo he cut the other week.

That’s why I respect Edge and Mercedes because they are open minded when it comes to wrestling. They get it. They just love pro wrestling.

True, last time i watch WWE edge still a partner with christian

Someone should tell him most of it comes from his boss.

this describes me 100 percent i watch it all , why do you think im the pro wrestling encolypedia according to family friends etc 👌

People need to stop the bs

it's not even brand vs brand. i've been attacked by fans of the same show i watch because i don't agree with them on things. it's like you can't even have your own opinion w/o being raked across the coals

Cope is exactly right. I watch F1, but I'm not going to go on a tirade about how IndyCar sucks ass. It doesn't at all, and there's a lot of great racing in IndyCar. More companies are better for everyone. Especially the wrestlers because they have more options. I don't understand how more people don't see that. Everyone wins.

See, this is exactly my problem with CVV. You've got a dude sitting here saying "i dont understand tribalism etc etc", and not once does Van Vliet say "well you know, the dude you work for is easily the biggest source of said tribalism these days and that doesn't help" But not, we get the wrestling equivalent of "i watched the movie last night and OMG u were amaaaaaazing"

Wait, this is Adam

Wrestling is at the best it’s been in decades and we got a bunch of idiots who would rather be miserable about it than enjoy it. Wresting fans are so damn weird sometimes man.

“There’s so much negativity” BECAUSE OF YOUR BOSS AND HIS CONSTANT NEED FOR BASHING WWE, TK is the guy who created the tribalism because he kept taking shots at WWE right from the start.

Ive always been wwf,e fan but also have watched wcw tna impact NJPW if my favourite wrestlers have gone there,but that's me.they are along time retired see them when you can

Adam let's be honest. Your boss is making things worse

no Adam Cope-land , its not that we hate wrestling, we hate bad wrestling like aew is promoting

I don't support tribalism, but it's hard to not pick a side when one company has made it it's mission since it's inception to knock the existing company at every opportunity it could instead of focusing on making your own company the best it could be. Tribalism would probably exist regardless but it's flourishing now because you have an owner of one company whose sole purpose is too compete instead of exist and flourish and let the product you put out speak for itself. Yet the majority of folks would have you believe it's the pettiness of the fans as opposed to the owner of one specific company basically imploring you to pick a side.

their boss and his roster itself is spreading negativity

Imagine attacking a friend who goes from a Tesco cashier to be a Walmart cashier. It's literally just a job and these people are workers. The internet really desensitized you all, these are not imaginary characters. Also how do you know he isn't happier here than in WWE? I don't watch AEW at all (ok I must tune in for MJF and Ospreay) but maybe it has everything he needs. Great money, lighter schedule, and maybe even other benefits he prefers. He is a made damn man, let him enjoy wrestling with Christian.

I like AEW but I just can’t support Tony Khan and The Bucks after the mismanagement of CM Punk. Their TV can be great but I just see a boss who isn’t fit for the industry and 2 troublemakers.

Edge thinks people were pissed at him for joining AEW. MAYBE they thought he had more to do in WWE as far as putting younger talent over since he won every feud he had, beat DEMON Finn at Wrestlemania, beat Grayson on smackdown, beat sheamus on smackdown, etc. so maybe people thought there wasn’t enough giving back done. But also, Edge goes online and sits on his porch and polices the fans by saying they shouldn’t speculate on whether or not he’s joining a different company, and then he DOES which justifies fan speculation. And then he says him in AEW is a “new character” even though he’s literally being called the Rated R Superstar and shirts were made that said “LEDGENdary” on them. So maybe it’s not so much tribalism but people having a natural reaction to their intelligence being insulted. And nobody wants to hear what an AEW wrestler thinks of tribalism when their boss is the worst example in media. “The fans are to blame, the fans are to blame” - look at your boss lol

Smart words

A serious question is tribalism and negative or its fair criticism about the product

I watch some aew content I watch some njpw content but mostly wwe content but I think most of the aew hate is because of Tony

It’s fucking depressing reading the comment section on any story about AEW. It’s just WWE fans hijacking it. I remember Booker T when WWE was doing badly a couple of years ago saying They’re my team, I want my team to do well. And I thought, Jesus, you’re talking about a corporation, Book.

Im a wrestling mark period lol I watch aew and njpw I watch wwe highlights on youtube focuding on the bloodline and watch some of the ppvs I just hope the real forbidden door happens one day AEWWE That should happen at survivor series or wrestlemania

The Irony though is that his boss Tony Khan STARTED the Tribalism and taking pathetic shots at WWE for the past 5+ years and is PART of the Tribalism between "WWE vs AEW". I want to agree with Edge (there's apart of me that agrees with him. don't care that he's going with his real name, to me he's edge) about the Tribalism and how everyone should just enjoy wrestling but it's kinda hard to enjoy it when his boss was the one that started it, having pointless arguments with "WWE drones" on X (which him unknowingly giving them the satisfaction of attention), his obsession with whatever WWE'S doing (especially expanding their WWE product and Tony Khan refusing to take valid criticism to make the AEW product grow and do better. What I find funny is that even though he hates WWE, he sure loves promoting them during their live television apparently 😂) and "fearing for his life" when pretty much nothing happened when they aired the "Incident" between CM Punk and Jack Perry. His promo about Tribalism in professional wrestling definitely didn't age well and most likely wouldn't, because there's always gonna be pointless WWE vs AEW arguments between "fans" regardless. (Keep in mind that he cut that promo a day later because of what Punk said during his time in AEW, which wasn’t really that bad when he was talking about it from his Point of View) Edited: to the people I offended, I just want to say....Thank you for proving my point that Tony khan STARTED and is PART of the Tribalism between "WWE vs AEW" that has been going on for 5+ years (in delusional "fans" heads), Adam's promo not aging well, and to STOP taking whatever Tony Khan/ Dave Meltzer says so SERIOUSLY for whatever reason (they both make excuses whenever they got something wrong, stayed delusional that everything "is fine" instead of improving their product FOR THE BETTER) and instead of trying to be in pointless arguments about "why this company is better than this one etc" that isn't nor ever resolved, maybe.....I don't know, GET A LIFE! Who I'm kidding, it's IWC that we're talking about. They easily get offended, stay in their delusional minds, (NOT) thinking whenever someone critize AEW to improve and grow the product, they attacked because they don't understand the differences between hating a company they support and giving valid criticism to have and make the company successful so they can actually be more supported in the future, making up excuses instead of facing facts and NOT WANTING to IMPROVE the company they "supposingly Support" and once said that AEW was gonna be the reason WWE goes out of business...all because the IWC don't know how to get a life.....Dang, that's sad.

When you have to do a cringe rah-rah speech to explain that you love wrestling and AEW, your company probably ain't at its best. I think people have become tired of Tony's booking and the show's overall silliness. The numbers back that up, too. Edge said in his first presser that being in AEW is like being in the indies. That's the problem. I wasn't tribal about WWE vs AEW until the gap between the 2 became so wide that I couldn't take AEW seriously anymore.

I understand what Edge is saying, but the one who is contributing to the growth of this tribalism is Tony Khan himself. When he compares WWE to a criminal, as he has been doing lately, that's ridiculous. And wrestling fans who only follow WWE are creating more and more contempt for AEW. Even AEW fans are realizing how ridiculous Tony Khan's behavior, always attacking WWE, is one of the reasons why AEW's ratings are dropping. Therefore, most of the blame for this tribalism lies with Tony Khan himself.

Tony is the biggest problem.

I want both companies to succeed. But you can’t say “no tribalism” when your boss was just on national television calling your competition “evil” and making assault/weinstein jokes. It just doesn’t add up

What I compare the wrestling tribalism to is sports tribalism. In some places if you like the Toronto Maple Leafs you can’t like or even respect the Montreal Canadians.

Adam, not the Leafs please 😭

Look no further than the mark tribal chief Tony Khan as the main source of fueling tribalism within wrestling fanbases.

alot of the negativity is fostered by the owners obsession with deflecting criticisms of his product, citing its either 'bad faith takes' or colluding bots. alongside monthly twitter meltdowns about 'bald assholes' in the fed

He should tell this to his boss

The problem isn't more than one company. The problem is that the current "alternative" company is run by Tony Clown.

I absolutely hate how often Tony Khan insults wwe; and AEW wrestlers shouldn't reference wwe too much. They should rarely reference wwe; if at all. With that said though, the venomous hatred towards AEW from wwe stans is absolutely disgusting. The wwe stans go on AEW posts and channels and leave hateful comments about AEW performers, AEW fans and talk about how much they want AEW to fail. If they hate AEW so much, they can simply choose to not watch it. Following AEW posts and channels to spew out hatred is unnecessary and cruel.

The "passionate" speech that he gave and went viral seems to get contradicted by the actions of others in AEW week-by-week. There are many on the Internet who forget that modern day "tribalism" began with one man: Tony Khan.