Cage and Cope Win Tag Team Gold for the First Time in Over 25 Years

Adam Copeland and Christian Cage are once again in possession of tag team gold, ending a 25-year-long drought for one of the greatest tandems of all-time.

Cage and Cope defeated FTR Sunday night at AEW Double or Nothing in an I Quit New York Street Fight to capture the AEW Men's World Tag Team Titles, and for Millennial wrestling fans across the globe, this was a moment that totally reeked of awesomeness.

The sold out crowd packed into Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York was fired up for this one, which was the opening contest of the night.

Dax goes face first into the barbed wire!

Watch #AEWDoN LIVE on HBO Max PPV pic.twitter.com/73cTX3XWly
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 25, 2026

Anyone expecting some kind of technical spectacle between these two generational tag teams was left gravely disappointed. This was the culmination of a blood feud that saw the chest of Dax Harwood being buried into barbed wire by the feet of Christian Cage within the first few minutes of the match.

These four men brought all the toys to this party, including tables, ladders, chairs, belts, chains, a cinder block and even a pair of pliers that ended up being wrapped around a very sensitive area of the body on Cash Wheeler.

With the only rule of the match being that you must force one of your opponents to say "I Quit", it was only a matter of time before Stokley Hathaway got involved. After he delivered a low blow to Adam Copeland, the music of Beth Copeland hit and she made her way down to the ring for a measure of revenge against FTR.

STOKELY GETS DRIVEN INTO THE FLAMING TABLE!

Watch #AEWDoN LIVE on HBO Max PPV pic.twitter.com/miMGBgR6Yx
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 25, 2026

The Hall of Famer was able to duck out of the way of a spear attempt by Cash Wheeler, which would have sent her crashing through a flaming table. Instead, it was Big Stoke who took that bump. Beth then hit Dax with a low blow, which allowed Christian to lock in the sharpshooter.

Still, Harwood refused to give up. That was until Beth handed her husband his beloved spiked two-by-four. Cope buried spike in Dax's forehead with a crossface submission hold, as Christian held on to the sharpshooter, and Harwood had no choice but to finally submit.

The Copeland’s, both overcome with emotion, then celebrated with Christian Cage in the center of the ring, and even the Patriarch seemed a bit caught up by the moment.

Cage and Cope are World Tag Team Champions for the first time in 25 years

Adam Copeland and Christian Cage | Lee South - All Elite Wrestling

Prior to Sunday night, the last time that Cage and Cope ever found themselves atop any tag team division was April 17, 2001 when they were with WWE.

That night, they walked into the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee for a WWE SmackDown taping as the WWF World Tag Team Champions.

The Undertaker and Kane would end up leaving the arena with the gold, ending Cage and Cope's seventh and previously final reign as tag champs.

Copeland, then wrestling as Edge, started to take off as a singles competitor for WWE not long after that match. He went on to win the 2001 King of the Ring Tournament, and by August of that year, he and Christian were feuding with each other over the WWE Men's Intercontinental Championship.

They would each go on to have very successful solo careers and win the WWE Tag Team Championships with multiple other partners, but despite a couple reunion tours, they never had the opportunity to reclaim the top spot in the tag division before Edge's retirement in 2011.

Cage and Cope have now ended the third AEW Men's World Tag Team Title reign for FTR, which began back at AEW Full Gear 184 days ago. Dax and Cash defeated Brodido to win the gold, and went on to have successful title defenses against the Bang Bang Gang, The Don Callis Family, The Rascalz, and The Young Bucks, as well as Cage and Cope themselves at AEW Dynasty.

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