Steve Maclin Reflects On Praised From Adam Copeland After MLP Northern Rising Match

Steve Maclin was touched by the praise that Adam Copeland gave him after their match at MLP Northern Rising. The two did battle in the main event of the show, with Copeland coming out victorious. The AEW star said after the match that Maclin “should be the most wanted free agent in this industry. He’s that damn good.”

Maclin was asked about Copeland’s words in an interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. He noted that it was a validation for him and that he takes the praise to heart.

“It’s better than anything I’ve ever done in pro wrestling,” he said. “There’s moments in my life that I’ll think of now, it’s just validation of the last 15 years of my life. You hear that from a Hall of Famer in Adam Copeland, and I’m just laying there on the floor. I have a video clip I put up on my Instagram that a fan sent me, and I’m so happy I have this video because it’s a moment that was perfectly shot by this fan where you just see me roll out of the ring and I just lean back and I’m just soaking in the moment. Then my wife’s laying there after getting Gored, and then I crawl over to my wife and then we’re both laying there. like, ‘Ah, we’re not going anywhere right now.’ Then Adam starts cutting this promo, and I just looked at my wife and started tearing up. I’m like, ‘F**k, this is insane.’ Like it’s just weird. It’s weird. It’s just so cool.”

Maclin continued, “There’s a lot of times in wrestling where you don’t think you’re good enough and there’s times where you’ve been places and people tell you, ‘You can do this,’ ‘You can’t do that,’ or ‘I just don’t see that for you.’ Here I am being validated by one of the best ever to do it from the Attitude Era and my generation of watching it. It means a lot. It’s something that I take to heart. I take with pride too, to carry that on every time I step in a ring.”