Cope & Cage will live to fight another day.
Adam Copeland and Christian Cage overcame Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of FTR in the opening match of AEW Double or Nothing 2026, winning the promotion’s World Tag Team Championships and continuing their run as a tag duo.
Copeland and Cage, who wagered their future as a tag team as part of Sunday’s title opportunity, won an I Quit Street Fight after 19 minutes of battle.
The Street Fight match was full of interesting plunder, including the use of a wrench, a cinderblock, barbed wire, and a belt. The win emerged for Cope & Cage after a surprise cameo.
Involvement from FTR manager Stokely caused Copeland’s wife, former WWE star Beth (Beth Phoenix) to appear for a run-in. While FTR attempted to spear her through a flaming table at ringside, Beth was able to avoid the move, causing Wheeler and Stokely to go crashing through the flaming setup.
While Harwood threatened to give Copeland a Conchairto, telling him to quit in order to avoid the deadly move, the chairshot was stopped by Beth, who took out the FTR member with a low blow.
Cage gave Harwood another low blow for good measure, then the team applied a tandem Sharpshooter and Crossface, along with the utilization of Copeland’s “Spike” bat, causing Harwood to quit.
This weekend’s top tag clash was a trilogy bout.
Copeland and Cage originally faced FTR at last year’s All Out pay-per-view in Toronto. While successful in the matchup, Cope and Cage suffered a post-match beatdown in front of their home crowd. FTR took out the tag duo as well as Beth in the attack.
FTR avenged their past loss at Dynasty in April, successfully defending the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a 21-minute showdown with the Canadian duo.
In order to get FTR to agree to a trilogy match, Copeland & Cage wagered that they would retire as a tag duo if unsuccessful at Double or Nothing.
The result brought an end to FTR’s third reign with the world tag titles. They earned the belts at Full Gear in November with a win over the team of Bandido and Brody King. They defended the titles seven times along the way, including at Dynasty, Revolution and Worlds End.
