In an interview with AEW Unrestricted (via Fightful), Adam Copeland spoke about how his acting career helped him when he was finally able to return to wrestling. Copeland notably had a recurring role on the Syfy series Haven during his first retirement.
He said: “I didn’t fully realize what it brought to me until I came back. Acting was a happy accident, I never had aspirations, I never wanted that to be my career. I was pro wrestler, that was it, that’s all I ever wanted to do. But, when you’re told you can’t do it, you gotta wrap your mind around stuff. Luckily, executive producer for a show called Haven, they saw my retirement speech and said, ‘Can we get that guy?’ I went out there and one episode turned into 41 episodes. In the process, I learned, wow, this is really awesome. This is a cool gig. It’s not wrestling, you don’t have that instant gratification to know if what you’re doing is working, but it’s still very creative and it’s tapping into that creative vein, and I need that. I think anybody that is involved in wrestling is a creative person. It became kind of my place to still get that out. I fell in love with it, started putting work towards it. I talked to the directors, talked to the DP, ‘Okay, why are we lighting this way, why are we doing this?’ Talking to other actors and saying, ‘Why’d you make that choice?’ Not questioning it, but wondering and learning to the point where it’s probably annoying people, but that’s what I did in wrestling. I just asked questions. If I was on a indie show and Bad News Brown was on it, I was going straight to him and going, ‘What do you got for me? My ears are wide open.’ I wanted to be the same way on the set. Coming back to wrestling, I realized how many different things that I can use. As much as they’re different, they’re still the same tree, they’re just kind of different branches. It was fascinating to come back with a promo and realize how to use movement, how to use stillness to make it mean more, how to use your eyes. So often in wrestling, we get caught up in moves or spots or sequences, or whatever the term is these days. Give me those all day and I’m gonna get more across with those then I will by doing a shooting star. Plus, I can’t do one, so there’s that.”
