Renee Paquette: ‘I will crap my pants’ if Edge comes to AEW

“If he were to come over to AEW, I will crap my pants. Like, I’ll die.”

Turns out that All Elite Wrestling’s Backstage Correspondent, Renee Paquette, is just like many of us in the wrestling world when it comes to the thought of Edge finishing out his Hall of Fame career anywhere but in WWE.

The Rated R Superstar’s current deal with WWE is expiring some time in September, and Edge himself has said, that Friday night’s match against Sheamus was the last one under that contract.

Edge, real name Adam Copeland, is expected to take some time to think about his future and whether professional wrestling in any capacity is going to be a part of it.

We may not know for some time whether Edge has wrestled his final match or if he’ll eventually return to the company he’s called home for the last 25 years. Of course, there’s always that other option.

A report from Fightful Select over the weekend states that Adam Copeland, the name Edge is trademarked by WWE, eventually making the move to AEW is not as farfetched as some may think. What does Renee think of that possibility?

“It gives me goosebumps. Like, the idea of that happening. Not only just as a Canadian and as a kid growing up, watching Edge in WWE and watching his career, but to get to know him as a human. To get to know him and his wife, Beth Phoenix. They’re just such incredible, like top notch, world class human beings. To be able to watch what he was able to do and wrap up his last match in Toronto. What a storybook ending for him.”

I had a chance to catch up with Paquette this past Saturday afternoon, and by then, speculation about Edge’s future was already running wild. Just a mere hours after his 25-year WWE Celebration on SmackDown went off the air Friday night.

Paquette says that if Adam Copeland did decide to jump ship, so to speak, the long-awaited reunion with his best friend and former tag team partner Christian Cage would finally be possible.

“Imagine seeing the two of them reuniting and having this like one last hurrah. Like, that is a wrestling fan’s dream.”

Much like Edge the year before him, Christian made his miraculous return to pro wrestling at the 2021 Royal Rumble. Seven years after he walked away from in-ring competition due to a number of concussion related issues.

The former Tag Team Champions were able to share a heartfelt hug in the middle of the ring that, very likely, would have received a huge pop from the live audience — if there was one.

With COVID-19 restrictions still in place, Christian’s shock return took place in front of the television screens that made up the ThunderDome. His final moment in front of the WWE Universe, happened remotely.

Two months after he delivered his long promised ‘final match’, Christian Cage would make his debut for All Elite Wrestling. It marked his full-time return to the sport he loves, but squashed any and all hopes of one final run for Edge and Christian.

Until now.

Speaking personally, as weird as it would be to see Adam Copeland wrestle anywhere other than WWE, an Edge and Christian reunion is something that I need in my life.

Both men, along with the Hardy Boyz, hooked me in as a young wrestling fan during the late 90’s. And they are all huge reasons why I still love the business to this day. I definitely would not be enjoying the privilege of covering it for you good people.

“I think that applies to so many people,” Paquette said. “It applies to you. It applies to me. It applies to so many people that we see in the ring. [Edge, Christian and the Hardy’s] fully reshaped and changed the way that tag team wrestling is done. They’re innovators of certain matches that we see, from ladder matches to like, you know, TLC situations. Those guys are just such innovators. They’re so smart. They live and breathe pro wrestling. Those guys are what is good about professional wrestling.”

The possibility of the last ever Edge and Christian vs. the Hardy Boyz match taking place in All Elite Wrestling is enough to have people like myself and Renee Paquette begging for AEW President Tony Khan to work his magic and make, what was once thought as impossible, possible.

Even if he’s only able to strike a one or two match deal with Adam Copeland, it would be worth it in the eyes of many wrestling fans.

You can read my entire Q&A with Renee Paquette below. Portions of this conversation originally aired on 700WLW in Cincinnati. Renee joined me on an episode of Reds Extra Innings coverage to talk about the second season of her podcast with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Exclusive questions to Cageside Seats we’re also asked and we’re aired for the first time on the Bleav in Pro Wrestling Podcast Channel Wednesday morning.

Disclaimer: The questions themselves have been edited to provide additional information and better fit the written format.

Cageside Seats: The last time we spoke, this was something that you were hoping you were going to get to do again. Obviously the team must have liked what you did the first year, because the Cincinnati Bengals have now brought your podcast back for the 2023 season. What can people expect out of this next season of ‘Renée All Dey’?

Renee Paquette: I am so excited to be back with season two of ‘Renée All Dey’. I mean, what is there to not love about this team? It’s one thing to be able to watch them on the field and see the talent, know the depth, all of those great things, but the times that I’ve been able to have to sit down with these guys... it’s so funny, I feel like I came back home and I was saying to my husband, Jon, I was like, ‘You know what? Those Cincinnati Bengals guys are good dudes.’

I really enjoy each of them, on a personal level, from the time that I get to spend with them doing some of these interviews. They’re good guys. You can see that in the interactions that I had and the time that they were giving me. So yeah, a ton of fun. I’m super excited for these episodes to drop.

CSS: It’s cool to hear you say that because since Head Coach Zac Taylor came to Cincinnati, Bengals fans have heard from day one about how he wants to build this great locker room culture. Good dudes with strong leadership skills.

Renee: You can feel it. Like you feel it from the second you walk in the door and you can really tell like, where that’s coming from with the leadership from Zac Taylor. I don’t know if it’s like that trickle down effect or they’re purposely seeking out guys that also kind of have that same personality. But it’s really cool to see.

I’ve been around so many different types of athletes throughout my career, whether it’s hockey, of course, professional wrestling. I’ve been able to interact with so many different kind of athletes, but to be able to go into the studio, go into the stadium with the Bengals - a team with the success that they’ve been having the last several seasons - you expect there to be almost a certain air when you sit down with them. And it’s not like that. These guys are just like humble dudes, that work their asses off and get the results. It’s really great to see.

CSS: You’ve been in the interview game for a long time now and you mentioned being around all different types of athletes, but that really only scratches the surface of the people you’ve spoken with. I mean, every occupation from actors to sex therapists. Is there one particular profession or group that you enjoy chatting with the most? Because sometimes, at least in my experience, getting a pro athlete to come out of their shell can be a little bit difficult.

Renee: I’m so spoiled coming from the pro wrestling world, where they understand more of that, like, turn on the charm, put on that entertainment. They kind of play the game along with you. So it’s very rare that you’re gonna sit down with a pro wrestler and be pulling teeth. Sometimes it’s different. It’s just certain personalities. Some guys just focus on their craft and their craft of being an athlete and that I one hundred percent get.

It’s funny. I can even use my husband as a comparison for that, in terms of like being a professional wrestler, but [Jon Moxley] doesn’t like doing interviews. I actually hate interviewing my husband [laughs], because he doesn’t like doing it. But for the most part, most professional wrestlers, they get the deal. They wanna come out. They wanna sing their song and do the dance. So it makes interviewing them always really, really easy.

CSS: I’ll never forget the first time I interviewed Jon, because it was really intimidating. I’ll say the same thing about Tommaso Ciampa. Those guys are really intimidating on screen. But when you actually sit down with them, they are completely different people. Jon for example, was just kind of ho-hum about it. Like, I could tell he didn’t really want to be talking to me, but he handled it professionally and gave great answers to my questions and I appreciated that. But yeah, there are some people though who are completely different in person than what you may have originally thought.

Renee: Of course and it’s hard sometimes when you go in and you’ve sort of crafted what you think an interview is gonna be based off of these preconceived notions of who these people are. And sometimes you get in front of them and you’re like, oh, the things I planned might not fly with this guy or this girl on this day. And it could just be the day. You never know. But that’s like the thing that I’ve really learned over the years of doing interviews is you’ve gotta be able to stick and move. And as much as you’ve been able to plan for what you want your interview to be, sometimes it’s just not gonna be that. And you gotta go with what your subject is feeling that day.

CSS: Alright, so episodes from season two of ‘Renée All Dey’ will begin dropping around the time the Bengals are kicking off week one against the Cleveland Browns, Sept. 10. Fans can expect conversations with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Logan Wilson, D.J. Reader, Mike Hilton and others throughout the season. All episodes will be available on Bengals.com.

This Sunday night in the UK, 1pm ET here in the United States, it is AEW: All In at Wembley Stadium. The biggest PPV in the history of All Elite Wrestling. 80,000 people are expected to be in attendance. To steal Excalibur’s nickname for you, it is utterly remarkable what Tony Khan and this company have done to set up this show and get that many people inside of Wembley Stadium to watch an AEW PPV.

Renee: So incredible. And just the buzz around it, the anticipation of getting over to London and being able to wrestle, or no, I’m not wrestling. God no one would pay to see that. But to see all of these stars under [the] really bright lights and such a platform for them as individuals, for the company, for All Elite Wrestling, it’s so cool.

I’ve been lucky enough to go over to the United Kingdom a handful of times in my career and there’s really nothing like that UK crowd. They’re loud, they’re so excited that we’re there. It just has such a different feel and vibe to it. And for the people that have not gotten to experience that, I’m so pumped for them. But to be able to pack Wembley Stadium with over 80,000 fans, just obviously speaks in magnitudes of what Tony Khan has been able to do in the short years of AEW being around. It’s incredible.

CSS: The show is going to be headlined by MJF and Adam Cole for the AEW World Championship. And this is a pairing, a friendship, that I didn’t know that I needed until I saw it. I feel like nearly every AEW fan feels the exact same way. This thing has just blossomed and turned into something that nobody wants to ever end. I think we’re all kind of just crossing our fingers that somehow these two just hug it out at the end of All In. You were there to witness this pairing, pretty much from the get go. You had to have known that this was money from the start.

Renee: It had to be! You look at how entertaining both of these guys are as individuals. To be able to put them together, like you said, it’s that oddball pairing that nobody really knew what we were gonna get or how this was gonna go, but it has been so much fun to watch.

And to have MJF and Adam Cole be opening the entire show for Wembley Stadium, they’re gonna be having a tag team match for the Ring of Honor Tag Titles, and then closing All [In] for the AEW World Championship, [it’s going to be] really cool to kind of see how that’s all gonna shake out for those two.

I do know this week on Dynamite, I’m sitting down with both MJF and Adam Cole separately to try to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on with them, as this our go home show going into All [In].

CSS: Have you ever met anybody like MJF? You’ve been in the wrestling business now for over a decade. This guy can singlehandedly go from the most despised man in the room to the most loved man in the room in a blink of an eye.

Renee: Dangerous, right? A little scary.

CSS: It’s amazing how talented this guy actually is, and he’ll be the first one to tell you that, but he does back it up.

Renee: He does back it up. Say what you want about MJF. It’s true, every time he has that floor, he shows up and he knows exactly how to have the audience eating outta the palm of his hand. And to be as young as he is, with the success that he’s had, it’s really cool to watch the ascent of MJF and be there to kind of witness it all firsthand and how his mind works. How he is as an in-ring performer. How he is, you know, all around as a professional wrestler. It’s really, really cool to watch.

I think so many people draw comparisons of somebody like The Miz. In terms of, the sort of, cache that he brings to the ring. But yeah, I think MJF is definitely in a category of his own.

CSS: Tony Khan has put together a really stacked card for this show. Your husband, Jon Moxley, is going to be a part of Stadium Stampede inside Wembly, which is just so fitting. Himself and Eddie Kingston, I’m really ecstatic to see this rivalry continue to blossom and hopefully to see yourself get interjected into the mix a bit more.

Renee: Oh God [laughs].

CSS: That backstage promo segment you did, where you went full Mom-mode. I literally Tweeted out afterward, ‘Remind me, never to piss Renee off.’

Renee: [Laughs] Well, you know what? People don’t know that. Everyone always thinks, oh, Renee’s all bubbly and nice and she’s always in a good mood. It’s like, I’m in a good mood until I’m not. Until you piss me off. And you know, the shenanigans between Eddie Kingston and my husband, Jon Moxley, those guys pushed my buttons that day. It’s enough B.S. between these two. They need to get on the same page.

CSS: Another match on this show that I’m genuinely excited to see, and not only just because of the talent that’s involved, but in particular the story that is surrounding your girl Saraya. She is returning to the UK, where she hasn’t wrestled in nine years. She came back from what was believed to be a career ending neck injury after five years off. Now she’s getting a World Title match in the UK, at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 fans. I have to imagine it’s going to be an emotional night for her, but I know you guys are really close, I would assume it’s going to be an emotional night for you as well.

Renee: Certainly. You know, thinking back to that first night of Saraya stepping back into the ring and not having seen her do that in five years, to be able to watch her from the minute that I met her at NXT to the woman that she’s now, the performer that she is now... And you know, you have those five years off, you’re not really sure who you’re gonna be when you come back. But to see where she’s at right now and to go into Wembley in front of 80,000 people, but not just like those 80,000 people, for her, I know having her Mom there and her brothers there and her Dad... there at ringside, is huge. I can’t even imagine how electric it will be, should she win the AEW Women’s Championship at Wembley. The roof... I mean that place doesn’t even have a roof. Thank God, it would be gone.

CSS: I’m really excited for her. She’s somebody that I truly admire with everything that she has overcome.

Renee: She’s such a badass. Like, nobody has been through more than her and wears it so well and handles things so well. It was just her birthday the other day and I was like doing a little birthday post for her, and it’s true, I’ve honestly never met somebody as magnetic as she is. She just has this draw and this pull around her, that makes you wanna root for her. She’s incredible.

CSS: Now, I do have to question some of her food choices recently. She always tends to stir something up online, and I’m not one to food kink shame, because we all have our little things. But where do you stand on, mayonnaise on pizza?

Renee: Ok, so she had pizza and mayonnaise in the locker room this past week for her birthday. I missed it. We had our daughter with us [that] week, so I was kind of M.I.A until I was needed for things. So I missed the mayo on the pizza. However, I don’t know, part of me thinks I might like it. I don’t know if this is some commonwealth [thing], we’ve got like really weird taste buds. I don’t know. I would try it. I’m not opposed to it. I think you just add a little more fat to the fat and it might be delicious.

CSS: I hate mayonnaise.

Renee: You don’t like mayonnaise on anything?

CSS: On anything.

Renee: That’s a you problem. You’re missing out. That is a you problem. Mayonnaise is amazing.

CSS: I can mix it into things, right? So if you gimme like pasta salad or egg salad, like, okay. It evens out the consistency of it. Because it’s not so much the taste, it’s the consistency. Then I can handle it. My buddy will drown a hotdog in mayo and... yea, no. I’m good.

Renee: A hotdog with mayo seems a little off putting to me, but I do like mayo on a burger. But you also need to be able to cut it with a little bit of the mustard and the ketchup. Like, you need that acidity to kind of go into it as well. Or a little tomato, some pickles, you need a little something else to be in there.

CSS: Yeah. He’s just plain mayo right on the hot dog. And it’s always at the turn on the golf course and I just want to hit him with my 9 iron every single time that he does it [Laughter].

Renee, thank you so much for your time as always, tell the fine folks where they can see all the great stuff you’re doing.

Renee: ‘Renée All Dey’ will be coming out as soon as this season kicks-off. We’re just around the corner from the NFL taking over all of our thoughts and emotions. You can catch me on Instagram, Twitter, and of course Wednesdays on Dynamite. I’ve got Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision. Check it all out!

You can follow Rick Ucchino on Twitter and subscribe to the Bleav in Pro Wrestling Podcast Channel for more of his work.