By Jamie Ruby

Many people may not recognize the name Adam Copeland, as most fans know him as WWE Superstar "Edge." Copeland, however, has recently retired and stepped out of the ring. He can now be seen on television in a new role. Friday marked the debut of Copeland on Syfy's Haven, where he plays the part of Dwight Hendrikson, the mysterious "Cleaner." Copeland will be back for three more episodes airing September 9, 16, and 23.

Copeland recently sat down with the media to talk about working on Haven.

Syfy Conference Call
Haven
Adam "Edge" Copeland

August 3, 2011
1:00 pm CT

QUESTION: What was your most memorable moment from all of the episodes that you've taped?

ADAM COPELAND: I think initially walking onto the set the first time, just because it was kind of nerve racking. It's still a relatively new experience to me. Kind of feeling like the new kid at school. But (unintelligible)...pretty quick. I never put any misconceptions out there that I'm this talented thespian or anything. Everybody knew that this was new to me and they really helped me along. So and I have to say that was initially the experience that stood out.

But then we, in the last episode that I filmed, did a fight scene with Eric Balfour who plays Duke, and that's when I felt like I was back in my wheelhouse again. I felt really comfortable and at ease right away. So that was fun too, just to bring it back to a little bit of a physical, you know, aspect for the character.

QUESTION: What would you say is the most important thing that you learned from the time you spent on the show?

ADAM COPELAND: I guess the differences between the WWE and what I used to do and this. There's similarities, but the difference is I think that I had to pull back the reins with what I used to do, the movements, mannerisms and everything had to be bigger so that it could translate to someone who is at the very last row of the Georgia Dome for instance.

So with this, the camera, it's right there. So it picks up any little like eye bulge or eyebrow twitch, or facial tics or things like that.

So I had to learn to kind of pull back the reins a little bit on that. And I'd like to think it's easier to pull them back then have to try and push it out.

The beginning of my wrestling career I was very shy and it was tough to get past that hurdle. So I found this a little bit easier than having to try and force things out.

QUESTION: What's next for you?

ADAM COPELAND: Well this week I'm going to relax. I retired, and within a week I was pretty much out in Nova Scotia the entire summer shooting these episodes.

So I'm just going to spend some time with my dog and then I have to fly out to LA August 9 for some WWE promotion. And then just kind of play it by ear from there and actually feel retired maybe for a couple of months.

SCIFI VISION: Can you tell us how you became involved in Haven. I'm assuming that they asked you to do this for Syfy.

ADAM COPELAND: Yes.

SCIFI VISION: So how did that come about?

ADAM COPELAND: Well it was kind of a happy accident. I had just recently retired. I had done a European trip because I was advertised for the WWE and I couldn't perform anymore but I thought, "Well I've been advertised, I don't want to kind of leave the crowds hanging like that."

So I went over there, got back from there -- it was a pretty exhausting trip -- and then two days later I got the call from the WWE and they said, "Would you be interested in flying out to Nova Scotia and filming an episode of Haven?"

And I went, "Yes. Yes, I think that'd be great. That'd be fun." It kind of helped with the retirement aspect, going from like 120 miles an hour with the WWE to kind of maybe, 70 miles an hour. So it was nice in that respect. And that's how it all worked out.

And I think it was one episode, and we kind of - which airs Friday, and I think, I don't know for sure, but it one of those, "Okay, let's see how this goes, and maybe from there this character will be recurring." And thankfully that's the way it ended up.

SCIFI VISION: Can you tell us a little bit about your character?

ADAM COPELAND: His name is Dwight Hendrickson. And he pretty much sweeps things under the carpet.

He cleans up any kind of weird happenings or events so that anyone outside of Haven that might be freaked out, like with some of the things that go in this town, he sweeps them away before anyone sees them. So he works with Nathan, Lucas Bryant, to just make sure everything kind of stays on an even keel, as much as that's possible within the confines of Haven.

SCIFI VISION: Now that you're retired, do you think you're going to try to do any more acting after you take your break?

ADAM COPELAND: Well what's been really nice about it, I've been really lucky in my adult life where I've never really felt like I had a job. Everything I've done has been hard work, but it's never felt like a job because it's been fun and it's been things I've enjoyed. And thankfully I really enjoyed this experience.

So if it pans out and things kind of start going that route, great. But I'm also a pretty simple guy in that I've never had an agent, I've always kind of just done my own thing. There may come a time where I have to do that kind of stuff but I haven't really thought that far ahead.

I really just wanted to kind of lick my wrestling wounds and kind of enjoy the house I bought a couple of years ago because I haven't had an opportunity until just now.

QUESTION: How would you compare your role on Haven to that of your work with WWE? How does it differ?

ADAM COPELAND: Well character-wise, way different. Character-wise on WWE I was - by the end I was the well-respected, grizzled veteran guy. On Haven, he's much more low key, down to earth. And I think that just goes back to the differences in the two types of vehicles that they are.

With WWE everything is so over the top, so big and so theatrical and kind of like this real life superhero type thing, which is what attracted it to me when I was a child.

But this is a more understated kind of role for me, and experience for me too, which is nice. It's nice to not always be pulling your hair out and bugging your eyes and getting thrown around by a huge man, it's a nice little diversion. I like it.

QUESTION: I could imagine.

ADAM COPELAND: Yes.

QUESTION: Do you have a standout moment from your time spent on the set of Haven? Is there a scene in particular that sticks out in your mind?

ADAM COPELAND: I did a fight scene, that was fun. But it was nice to kind of try and stretch my acting a little bit and just see if I had any kind of (unintelligible) I guess.

And there's a couple of scenes with Lucas that were nice because they were completely unrelated to anything I've done before. I was getting to show a different side, a little bit more layers to the character of Dwight. Yes, so that was fun.

I got to do some scenes with a little girl that reminded me of my daughter who had passed away. And so those were all different things that I'd never really had to explore before in any of my other experiences.

So it was a challenge, but it was a fun challenge. It's like it's one of those things where, I might not be good at this but I want to try and get good at it. So I knew that things like that were a little bit of a test for me.

QUESTION: Was there anything that you were surprised to learn about yourself after taking on the character?

ADAM COPELAND: I don't know, I'd like to think I've always had a pretty good handle on me. And I've always tried to kind of separate Adam from Edge so I think I can kind of - actually I think that there's probably more of myself in this character than there ever was in the character of Edge, he was a bit of a maniac so.

This wasn't as far of a step out for me as what I experienced before. So I can't say I learned anything personally. What I've learned is some more of the nuances of what goes into some of the scenes that you see.

I have a new respect for, if I see a long scene and a bunch of different angles and everything I'm like, "Man, that took some work. That was a long setup for that." So I learned more of those kind of things.

And just some little lingo like, when they say, "Okay, turning around." I was like, "What? Turning around? What are they talking about?" And so I'd stand there for 1/2 hour kind of twiddling my thumbs, and then realized, "Oh, okay so they're switching all the cameras to the other side so they can get the other angle, so I've got some time here."

So that was all learning experiences for me. And obviously everybody there already knew what they were talking about, so I'd just kind of stand there going, "Um, what am I doing?" But it was a fun experience. So now I know that kind of stuff I guess.

QUESTION: [I] loved seeing you on SanctuarY at the end of this season. Are you going to be back next season, do you know?

ADAM COPELAND: I have no idea. That was another one of those kind of happy accidents that I got asked to do through the WWE, and I guess obviously with the tie-in of SmackDown and Syfy. And it was a fun experience, but you know - I have no idea going forward what I'm going to be doing besides the next month relaxing.

QUESTION: Obviously the role you have on Haven's a lot bigger than what you had in SanctuarY. But what were some of the other differences between the two sets?

ADAM COPELAND: They were both very Canadian sets, which made getting acclimated, for me, a lot easier, being a Canuck.

The differences, well one's shot on the West Coast and ones shot on the East coast. But what I found with Sanctuary is - my scenes weren't, but it's so Green Screen oriented, that series.

Whereas with Haven, honestly the scenery and the locations are one of the stars of the series to me, just because of the way it's shot and I mean it's just gorgeous out there.

((Crosstalk))

ADAM COPELAND: And obviously the series itself lends itself to be able to be outdoors, which was another one of the things that I really loved about that is I got to be outdoors kind of hiking through forests all day, which was pretty much what I'd be doing at home anyway. So I wouldn't have a crossbow, like I do on the TV series, but so that it made it good to just be out.

QUESTION: Will we find out your entire story in the first episode, just because that's this week, or is it going to roll out over all four episodes or do you have a feel for that?

ADAM COPELAND: Yes, it kind of rolls out; you learn a little bit more about the guy as it goes along. It starts off where you don't learn a whole lot about the guy. He's a little bit of a mysterious figure.

And then a little bit more plays out as you go along and you see different sides, which was good for me because that way I could kind of learn along with it, and where to try and take this guy. So it plays out and I think it'll be interesting. I think I have some interaction with all the main characters. I ended up with Lucas/Nathan a lot, kind of playing his cleanup guy.

And then there's this butting, begrudging rivalry with Duke, I think to see who the alpha male is kind of thing. But then along the way you realize that they might like each other because they're so much alike, but that might also be why they hate each other. So I think that could go some interesting directions.

QUESTION: To set this first question up a little bit, a couple of years ago, former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champ Quinton Jackson stepped away from MMA for a little bit to go make The A-Team, and when he came back he said that he was really quite put off by the start, stop, hurry up and wait process of making a TV show versus just training and then going out there one night to have a fight.

When you were making Haven, or during any of your acting experiences, have you found that that's similarly jarring? How do the two paces really compare?

ADAM COPELAND: Well there's some comparisons; there's a lot of differences.

With WWE, we would basically gear our month toward the pay-per-view. So if you look at it in that respect, we put a month's worth of work into a pay-per-view, which is a 20-30 minute payoff. So there's a lot of work that goes into just kind of that one match.

That being said, you also have non-televised matches like three or four nights a week. With acting, there's more downtime between, but I'm at a point in my life where I enjoy that.

With WWE, it's pretty much as soon as you wake up you hit the ground running, and you're usually done by about 3:00 in the morning by the time you get to the next town. After doing that for 20 years it can get kind of monotonous.

I like in between scenes, or if I'm not in a scene, having a break to go back and being able to read and have a cup of coffee. I kind of like that. I also like that physically I can walk without like being hunched over or something hurting. So that's kind of nice.

But I'm also at that point in my life where that's kind of where I was already going anyway. So I haven't had a problem so far with missing the instant gratification or the instant reaction from the audience because it's still really new to me.

And I like, kind of not knowing if what I did was good or not until I sit down and see it or the director where I ask their opinion. With wrestling I kind of knew right away because you'd get that reaction. So that's one of the differences. But I kind of like it because it's a new challenge.

QUESTION: Another close acquaintance of yours, former WWE Diva Lita, famously seriously injured her neck while shooting a show, while shooting a scene on Dark Angel.

Considering that you retired with a neck that I imagine must have probably been in equally bad, if not worse shape than hers is, were there any concerns about doing any action oriented scenes and how that might jeopardize your health going forward?

ADAM COPELAND: Well, thankfully now I'm also at a point in my life where I can set boundaries. And that if I felt something was going to be that kind of danger to me going forward then I just wouldn't do it.

Haven was really cool in that they knew my neck issues. So anything that would possibly jeopardize that, or if I felt it would jeopardize that we just wouldn't do it, or there'd be a stunt guy. And I have no qualms about someone else coming in to get thrown instead of me now. I did enough of that.

QUESTION: During your active in ring career, you did a little bit of acting, you were in Highlander: Endgame, you did a couple of TV shows here and there, but you didn't do quite as much acting as some other guys like The Rock or the Big Show or even Triple H had done. Was it because you really had no interest in doing it then? Or were good offers just not coming your way at that point?"

ADAM COPELAND: Well, I've never had an agent. I've always just kind of done my dealings with a handshake, and a signature eventually. So I've never, on my off days, gone pounding the pavement to get auditions or anything like that. I'd rather spend it at home.

So in that respect I guess maybe I was a little bit lazy. But then I was able to shoot a movie through WWE last year and I had a really good time with it. I just realized that trying to maintain the wrestling schedule and shoot a movie where you're in 95% of the scenes was too much. So I told myself if I wasn't wrestling then that would be something that would definitely be an interesting option for me.

When everything happened with my neck, it just seemed kind of like a natural thing that if it happened, great, if it didn't happen, great -- I'm okay either way. Now that I've been doing more of it, it's a lot of fun. I've had really good experiences with it. So will I go pounding pavement? Probably not, but that's just kind the way I'm wired so.

QUESTION: How did you prepare or get to know Dwight before you hit the set? What did - what type of research did you do?

ADAM COPELAND: I didn't really know a whole lot about Dwight. And I think it was kind of written that way -- to not know a whole lot about him.

And I think it, especially the first episode, not really - at least I didn't know, going forward if I was in anymore episodes, to just kind of play it low key and leave more mystery, so that hopefully at some point you'll learn a little bit more and more and more.

Now I'm sure the writers probably had an idea, but I didn't really get involved in that process. So with each episode that I did, a little bit more of the character has come out. And I think there's still a lot more to come out, which is cool. That way I don't' feel like there's nowhere left to go with it.

So I think he's a pretty interesting guy. This last episode we did, he showed a couple of different sides that maybe you wouldn't expect if you caught the first three episodes that I was in.

QUESTION: Can you talk a bit about the relationship between Dwight and Nathan and how that evolves in relation to Nathan's father.

ADAM COPELAND: It was pretty interesting. What was cool about it is that Nathan/Lucas and I found out that we actually grew up 20 minutes from each other.

So we hit it off pretty quick and (unintelligible) personalities, which I think made the relationship on screen, hopefully seem like it was kind of a natural extension of that. In the first couple of episodes, most of my interaction is with Nathan. So that was a good thing, to be able to kind of connect with him on a personal level outside of it.

And like I said, hopefully that's translates over. Because Dwight kind of played the same role that he's playing for Nathan, he played for Nathan's Dad. And you come to find that out over time.

So there's a lot of different ways it can go because Nathan and I obviously form a bit of a partnership. Duke and I have this kind of little butting rivalry type thing, and then I start to work with Vince throughout it. And so there's some different things going on, which is cool.

QUESTION: What was it like to return to Nova Scotia to act instead of wrestling? Was that odd, refreshing, weird?

ADAM COPELAND: What was interesting is, if I - we had the weekends off so I would just drive up and down the coast and go, "Oh, I've been here before," but just kind of forget until I saw the town name.

So that was kind of a fun experience, and not have to worry about getting to the next town, just kind of enjoy it and appreciate what that coast has to offer because I lived out there, but I never really got to experience it.

So this time I was able to go sea kayaking and just really kind of try and soak in the local culture. And I was hoping to be able to do that too, so it was really nice to be able to do that too so it was really nice to be able to do that.

QUESTION: Is there any chance you could end up on WWTV anytime soon? Perhaps across from (Urchin) on SmackDown to promote your upcoming appearances on Haven?

ADAM COPELAND: I don't know. I haven't heard anything and I don't know if I'd really want to at this point. I mean I still think it's too soon. To me it's one of those deals, I never wanted to be one of those guys that retires and then you see him every week after that.

Initially I stuck around for a little bit to kind of get the culmination of the story with Christian, with the way we had to do it with, you know, my injury and everything, to kind of get that off and running. But I just personally feel like it would be too soon.

Unless it was something, an idea that came across and I was like, "Oh okay yes, that's perfect." But I think they also know that too. I just need a break from it.

QUESTION: You're going to be appearing at the Summer Slam Access, do a couple hours actually before the pay-per-view, so as far as you know, you're not going to be making any cameo or not standing in the crowd during the pay-per-view?

ADAM COPELAND: No. No, I will probably be on my way back to the hotel waiting for Christian and Ziggler to go have some sushi.

QUESTION: Are you in any hurry to shed the Edge character and reinvent yourself as Adam Copeland, kind of like what The Rock did with Dwayne Johnson, or are you happy using what happened - obviously you accomplished everything as Edge, do you really want to embrace the Edge character into acting, or is it something you kind of want to transition and reinvent yourself?

ADAM COPELAND: You know what? I'll never shed Edge, never want to. It's part of what got me to where I am now. That's how everyone knows me. But I have never introduced myself as Edge, to this day. I always introduce myself as Adam. That's never going to change, that's just always the way it's going to be.

But I understand that that's how kind of a generation of people and kids have known me. So I think if a show has me on it, they would probably want to promote me as that. And I understand that and accept that.

I guess I don't think you ever really shed something that's so ingrained with people. I don't think Rock will ever shed Rock. I think you know, Dwayne Johnson may be a part of it, but he's always going to be The Rock to people too.

So that's kind of the way I look at it. And I'll have a working relationship with WWE, so I guess it works out for everybody really. It wasn't one of those things where I was trying to get away from wrestling to become an actor. I'd still be wrestling right now if my neck wouldn't cause a chance to be in a wheelchair.

So it was one of those deals where it's like, "Okay, they're (unintelligible) and now acting opportunities are coming my way, "Okay cool, yes I'll do that." But that doesn't mean I'll ever be ashamed of Edge or ashamed of my career or try and shed that. I'm proud of that.

QUESTION: Would you ever consider a return to WWE in maybe an off-air role, maybe even as a backstage role, a producer or anything like that?

ADAM COPELAND: I don't think so. I don't think so. I think to be that close to it and not be able to do it, at this point anyway, it doesn't seem like something I would enjoy. Maybe 10 years down the road, 5 years down the road, when I've moved far enough away from the reactions and things like that then maybe I could do it.

But I also don't know if I would want to because that would involve just as much travel as I had before. And when I've been able to kind of pigeonhole my neck pain down to when I travel, my neck hurts. And I don't feel like hitting a different town every day anymore.

QUESTION: Do you keep up with WWE now? Have you been watching the stuff with CM Punk? I know that that's been the big buzz everywhere. You still been following programming?

ADAM COPELAND: No, actually. I've been watching Christian's stuff. So like (TPR) SmackDown and then I'll watch his stuff. But no, I really just wanted to step away from it. And I think maybe it was one of those deals, okay if I can't do it, so watching it right now still might be a little funky for me, I don't know. I don't know what it is.

But yes, I guess what I'm trying to do is step into just everyday life and not have to have wrestling be a part of it all the time or all that I think of. So I never wanted to be one of those guys that has to be Edge 24/7, I always tried to keep a very, very stark separation between the two.

I never wanted to kind of live the gamut type thing. Not that just watching the show would cause that but I don't know, I'm just not at a point where I really want to sit back and think, "Ah man, it'd still be fun to be out there."

QUESTION: You got to go out as World-Heavyweight Champion, got to relinquish the belt on your own terms. Had you have known that your match at WrestleMania against Alberto Del Rio was going to be your last, would there be anything you'd do differently or were you pleased with how it went down?

ADAM COPELAND: Well even that day I wish it had been longer. But that's just from the wanting to tell the absolute best story that you can.

We had a lot of business to take care of that day though with the car, the long entrance ways, all of those things, and at that point thought going forward that we had a whole storyline to culminate all of this in, kind of not realizing that this would be the culmination. It segued into Christian and where it went.

It didn't really bother me too much, but I mean sure I would have liked to have taken even just an extra five minutes to really get across the story so that I've always been a big false finish guy, and like to really come up with some good false finishes. It's kind of been one of the things I've always done.

So I would have liked to have had an opportunity to maybe get people a little more invested in them with more time. But I was still really happy with all of the reactions and everything. I don't sit there and - really I hadn't thought about it until just now.

QUESTION: One thing that happened is Christian went on to Extreme Rules and essentially took your spot and ended up winning the title that night.

Being a longtime fan of the business, watching Christian celebrate with that title, and then with you with him, what was it like - what was your opinion on Christian winning the belt, so much emotion, and then going and having them drop it to Randy Orton the following Tuesday? Were you down on that, or could you understand the big picture? Because of course now he's back as World Heavyweight Champion.

ADAM COPELAND: Well I always look at the big picture. I always try to get a kick out of how people get so worked up about it, and that's cool because that means they're passionate and they're fans of it.

But if they don't know where it's going, it's tough to make that kind of educated, "Okay, well this is bad, this is good." Well you don't know if it's bad or good yet because you don't where it's going. I appreciate reactions and things like that, but knowing where it was going I was like, "Well this is going to be great for him."

Would you rather be, maybe the Number 2 Baby Face on the show or the Number 1 Heel? Me personally; I want to be the Number 1 Heel. And knowing how good he is at being a heel, I thought that it would end up being really good for him -- and it has.

QUESTION: The WWE Hall of Fame -- you've accomplished everything, multiple World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion -- is it something that you would be interested in if asked? And if asked, who would you have induct you?

ADAM COPELAND: Sure it'd be cool. Yes, I mean I think it'd be. You look at it and go, "Okay, yes that's definitely something that, if they ever decide, yes great." I wouldn't say, "No."

And then induction-wise, you've got to go with Christian. I don't know who else besides him you could even contemplate choosing for it. I think he's the gimme for sure.

QUESTION: Being that Haven is actually based on Stephen King's work, do you have a favorite Stephen King novel or one of his films?

ADAM COPELAND: Well I've pretty much read everything. And it's kind of the one that everybody's going to say, but The Stand, I enjoyed The Shining, Dolores Claiborne -- I really liked Dolores Claiborne the movie actually too, which was shot in the same area as Haven is.

And one of the things I really enjoyed about that movie was the scenery. So it was kind of neat to be able to go out there and be involved in the same kind of scenery with the same kind of mood to it.

QUESTION: Do you think you'll be doing any motion pictures? Or do you have a favorite genre of movies or television shows?

ADAM COPELAND: Well I shot a movie last year, I think it's out sometime in 2012. And it was a fun experience so I wouldn't be opposed to doing more. But it's not like I'm heading out to Hollywood to audition for stuff either. I'm pretty happy being nestled up here in the mountains.

So it's one of those things that's like if work comes my way, yes great I'll totally jump at it. And maybe there'll come a time where I do audition for stuff. I really don't know. I didn't put that much thought into it.

This whole experience with Haven, yes it just all kind of fell into my lap once I retired. And once they asked me I knew I wanted to do it. And it turned out to be a lot of fun, which I had a feeling it would, and then it lived up to that. So if stuff pans out, great. If nothing ever did and there's no movies, great, I'm okay with that too.

SCIFI VISION: Can you tell us about your upcoming movie; what it is and that kind of stuff?

ADAM COPELAND: It's called Bending the Rules, I play a cop who's been kicked off the force pending, because he was skimming money out of some of his busts and things like that to put his daughter through school.

So he's kind of one these - I likened to The Big Lebowski that can fight. So it was a good experience. It was fun. We shot it down in New Orleans last August. I believe it comes out in January.

I think it's straight to DVD, it's through WWE. It had Jamie Kennedy, Jennifer Esposito, Philip Baker Hall, Jessica Walter -- so it had some really good actors in it, which was fun for me to kind of try and pick their brains.

SCIFI VISION: If you do do more acting, is there someone specific that you'd like to work with?

ADAM COPELAND: I hadn't really thought of it in those terms honestly. Yes I hadn't really thought of anyone in particular that I'd, "Man it'd be cool to do a scene with that person," or "be directed by that person," or anything.

Go to any Marvel Studios film and I'm just like, "Man, I could play that villain." That's kind of the (unintelligible) of being like a lifelong comic book fan, I think that's kind of a given. But I'm starting now to watch things in a different respect and try and really - instead of just enjoy just a movie, really try and focus on performances now.

I don't fashion myself an actor by any means, but I'd like to start understanding why certain people make certain choices. So I'm having fun watching movies in a different way now.

SCIFI VISION: Is there anything throughout your wrestling career that you think helped you when you started acting, that you used and brought to acting?

ADAM COPELAND: Well I mean, one of the great things that I was able to have with WWE is that we adlib so much of what we do. We would (unintelligible) on the air at 9 o'clock and they wanted me to fill eight to ten minutes of time talking. And give me a script two minutes before I went out. Well obviously I'm not going to memorize that in two minutes. So what are the bullet points? I'll hit them.

So in that respect it was pretty cool, to be in front of a live audience worldwide and be out there without a net, if you make a mistake it's out there. And it really taught me to think on my feet. It made getting scripts and lines really easy because I actually have time to study lines. It's like, "Okay, cool."

So it was good training in that respect because now at least I know I can, you know, think on my feet and hopefully get across, you know if - with an actor who wants to just kind of go off script and just feel it, then I think I can do that.

SCIFI VISION: What's something your fans would be surprised to know about you?

ADAM COPELAND: I don't know, it's pretty much all out there. There's not much left to the imagination with us because of the way WWE puts out everything on us.

What would they be surprised? Yes, I don't know. If there's hardcore Edge fans out there they pretty much know it all now. Yes, I honestly, I can't think of anything. Pretty much...

SCIFI VISION: That's okay.

ADAM COPELAND: ...life's an open book at this point.

SCIFI VISION: Are you on Twitter?

ADAM COPELAND: No. I'm not on Twitter, I'm not on Facebook, I'm - apparently there's a lot of Edge/Adam Copeland's on there, because I'll get people saying, "Why didn't you friend - accept my friend request or return my tweet," or whatever they're called, and it's not me so.

QUESTION: You mentioned the art of improvising when you worked with WWE and how things can change even at the last second while they're in the midst of a live production.

For you what's more fulfilling now, having the script, learning the blocking, learning the lines and going out there and shooting...like you did with Bending the Rules or with Haven, or that old school improvisational WWE, "Here's your bullet points. Go out there, you've got 10 minutes, feel out the crowd?"

ADAM COPELAND: I don't know, I think they can both be rewarding. I don't if you can tear them, in a way, just because it's like there are similarities, but they're different animals too. So I think once you see the end result and the end product, that's when it's rewarding, whereas with WWE and with wrestling it's like instant, and you know whether it worked or not.

So I kind of like that up in the air, "Did it work? Did it work? I don't know, I don't know until I see it." That's kind of cool, but it was also great to know instantly whether it worked or not. So I can't - it's tomato, tomato. I don't know they're kind of like - or apples and oranges I guess.

QUESTION: You broke into WWF during the attitude era where there was a lot of really high risk physicality. And obviously in pro wrestling there's still high risk physicality, but with the latter matches and the TLC matches and stuff, obviously that took a toll on your body -- one of the reasons you're retired now.

What can be learned from that era, as a guy who came through it, that the next generation of guys who are coming up through WWE's developmental system or even on television now - the Kofi Kingstons, the Dolph Zigglers of the world - what can they learn from your experiences and the physicality and the effects of the physicality that you went through?

ADAM COPELAND: Well I think it has hopefully been learned already. I think it was kind of learned once you got to the era of Brock and Kurt and me and Ray and things like that, because then it just became, "Okay, there was too many German (suplexes)."

But once that kind of phase passed through, then it was more about the story telling as opposed to just big stunts. Now, I don't think it's just one guy or one team that is depended on to do ladder matches.

Now if there's Money in the Bank ladder match, there's usually a whole different prop of guys that are in them. So you can kind of spread the wealth a little bit.

And also too, as much as I'm not a fan of two money in the bank matches in one night, there is less ladder matches now, there are less TLC matches, there are - by branding the pay-per-views, the TLC pay-per-view or Money in the Bank pay-per-view, I think it's made for less of them, which obviously takes away a lot of the risk. Because with repletion, there's only so long your body can do it and I'm proof positive of that.

I was in 19 ladder matches. I mean that's just - the body's not supposed to do that. So thankfully now that I'm not getting thrown around, the neck's not bothering me as much. Obviously I know if I know if I took a bump tomorrow it's going to start bothering me that way again. So it's not an option.

But I don't look back and really regret anything. It was just part of my path to get to where I was. But I'd like to think, the Dolph Ziggler and Kofis and things like that, if you watch what they're doing, they're having good matches without a lot of the huge risks that we used to take.

They still do flashy things but they're not as - I mean any time you can have permanent injury in there but the - there's less of a risk of that. Ziggler bumps amazingly, but they're still in a somewhat controlled context.

QUESTION: You mentioned earlier that when you start traveling you start to feel the pains in your neck, you start to feel the pain issues again. Tell us a little bit more about that, like is it just getting on the plane?

Is it just the physicality of being on the road? What is different about being on the road versus everyday retirement in North Carolina where you're feeling those issues?

ADAM COPELAND: I think it's just sitting on the plane and not being able to really move. Whether you're first class - or the commuter planes are obviously worse because at some point it's always the two biggest guys that end up in the exit row of seats. So you're sitting there like lying all over each other kind of thing.

But I think it's just a matter of if my head's in a certain position and you're on a plane, you can't really like, for me and with a bad neck, you can't find a good position.

And now I'm at the point that I've tailored my workouts around the neck, so that doesn't affect it anymore. I do more of like a cross-fit type thing instead of just trying to lift dumbbells.

And I'm just always out moving, whether it's hiking or kayaking or mountain biking, it's all things that aren't high impact on the neck but I'm still up and moving. And I find as long as I'm moving, the neck doesn't bother me, pain-wise. I know the issues are still there obviously, but I'm not landing and my arm's going numb anymore.

QUESTION: A couple of years ago you penned your first autobiography, that was at least prior to the rise, really to the top tier of WWE as The Rated-R Superstar. Now that you've got more time on your hands, is there a possibility there's a second chapter of that book in the future?

ADAM COPELAND: I think so. One of my reservations of doing it back then was I thought it was too soon. And WWE said they had wanted younger guys to do them at that point. So I was like, "I don't know."

And then I remember having a conversation with Austin and he was like, "Do it, you can always put out Number 2 later." And I was like, "Well, you know all right, cool. As long as I can write it -- don't want a ghost writer, I want to do it myself."

And when they agreed to that after getting some chapters submitted, then you know, I was like, "Okay then I'll do it." So I think there's definitely a second one in there, obviously I've done more in the second half than I did in the first half so there's more to write about.

But I think it's just a matter of kind of sitting down and you know, getting myself in that mind frame, putting the pen to paper and just doing it. Right now it's kind of nice, now that I've wrapped on Haven, to just kind of relax for a little bit.

QUESTION: Obviously with you no longer an active competitor in pro wrestling, your relationship with WWE has to change somewhat since you're not on the road every week. I would assume you're still under some form of WWE contract, but how has your relationship with the company changed since you moved from active competitor to retired legend?

ADAM COPELAND: Legend, wow. I don't know. I mean I'm not in contact with them, really you know. And not in a bad way, just everybody's busy doing their thing. And you realize how busy it is when you're removed from it. And you don't take that personally at all. It's like it's, "Yes, they're doing their thing. They're in Boise, Idaho tonight, they're in Albuquerque tomorrow," or you know things like that.

I keep in contact with the same people that I did while I was on the road. My friends are still my friends. But in respect to taking on another job, things like that, I think they understand that I just needed to get away.

What I said in my retirement speech was true, I really did just have to take, you know, take a step away from it. And just kind of be away from the grind of it for a little bit and kind of come to terms with what life was going to be like now. And yes, so I don't think the relationship's really changed, it's just I don't see everybody every day.

QUESTION: You mentioned your retirement speech, which was one of the more emotional things we see on pro wrestling the last couple of years.

One of the things you did was bring your mother in, so she was there at that final show. You've talked about over the years, your mom actually bought you ringside tickets to WrestleMania in Toronto when you were a kid to see Hogan fight Warrior.

What was your mother's reaction to the fact you were going to have to retire and that that chapter of your life...was kind of over and you were going to move on to the next thing in your life?

ADAM COPELAND: Honestly I think for her it was relief. She knew I always wanted to do it. She knew that that's all I ever wanted to do. But I think she was relieved, because she also knew the pain that I was in.

And at WrestleMania week, I was kind of walking around with an eye closed just because my neck was constantly aching, but I still didn't' assume it was what it was. But I think, she - you see someone like that, especially your son, and I think you go, "Man okay, how much more has he got in him?"

So I think there's some relief there for her. "Okay that chapter's closed, I wonder what he's going to do next," which is kind of what I was thinking. It was like, "Okay, let's see what happens."

QUESTION: Have you found peace in retirement? Was it hard to one day walk away and know this is the last time you're going to be there as an active wrestler and then go home to North Carolina? Was it hard to kind of just settle in and relax a little bit, or did you find you were able to kind of turn the switch on and off from wrestler to Adam?

ADAM COPELAND: I've never really found it hard to turn that switch. I've always really tried to separate the two. I never wanted to be that guy who was - had to walk around and be Edge 24/7. I really made a point to not do that. So it was kind of easy honestly.

Haven helped with that too though because within - this is kind of like the first week I've been home since I retired. So I haven't really felt retired totally.

It really was one of those things where the schedule of WWE, it is 120 and segueing into Haven, it was kind going to like 60. And now I can kind of enjoy home, which I haven't been able to enjoy and get the stuff done that I really wanted to get done around here.

And then if things pop up in the meantime, great. I have an appearance at Summer Slam, awesome. I think I'm going to be doing something in Toronto -- not on air, but just I'll be there. And that also coincides with a Pearl Jam concert the night before, so I can go to that. That was kind of my perk for saying yes.

And then I'm going to Paris in October. So and in between things like that I want to just, enjoy stuff.