Edge
Adam Joseph Copeland (born October 30, 1973),
better known by his ring name Edge, is a Canadian
professional wrestler presently signed to World
Wrestling Entertainment, wrestling on the SmackDown!
brand, where he is the reigning World Heavyweight
Champion.
Copeland
initially rose through the ranks as one half of
the tag team Edge and Christian, alongside his
real-life best friend and storyline brother Christian.
He is noted for being one of the most decorated
tag team champions in wrestling history, winning
a record 12 tag team titles in WWE.
Copeland
is a four-time world champion, having won the
WWE Championship twice and the World Heavyweight
Championship twice.[8][9] In addition, he won
the 2001 King of the Ring and the 2005 Money in
the Bank ladder match.
Aside
from professional wrestling, Copeland has made
guest appearances in television shows, including
The Weakest Link, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, and
Mind of Mencia.
Early
career
Copeland
was born in Orangeville, Ontario on October 30,
1973. He began watching wrestling at a young age.
His favorite wrestlers included Mr. Perfect, Randy
Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels
and Bret Hart, all of whom he admired.
Copeland
won an essay contest in which he would have the
opportunity to be trained by Sweet Daddy Siki
and Ron Hutchinson.[13] Throughout the 1990s,
Copeland wrestled on the independent circuit in
Ontario and the Great Lakes region of the United
States under the name Sexton Hardcastle. He became
a part of the tag team Sex and Violence with Joe
Legend. During 1997, Sex and Violence became part
of a larger stable known as Thug Life, made up
of Legend, Hardcastle, childhood friend Christian
Cage, Bloody Bill Skullion, and Rhino Richards.
During his independent career, he won the SSW
Tag Title and the ICW Street Fight Tag Title twice
with Cage, in addition to his reign as ICW/MWCW
Midwest Unified Tag Title holder alongside Joe.
The
duo of Copeland and Cage was known as Hard Impact
before changing their name to The Suicide Blondes.
In 1996, the duo worked in Japan under the name
the Canadian Rockers.[14] Copeland also once wrestled
under the name Damon Striker (although Edge writes
it as Damien Stryker in his book) on an edition
of WCW Pro against Meng and Kevin Sullivan. In
his autobiography, Copeland states that it was
his worst ring name to date.
World
Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
Early
years (1998-2000)
Main articles: The Brood and Ministry of Darkness
In
1998, Copeland was signed by the World Wrestling
Federation and made his television debut on the
June 22 episode of RAW is WAR as Edge, a loner
character who entered the arena through the crowd
for his matches. His character's persona included
him walking around the city streets aimlessly
and beating up defenseless bystanders. His first
televised match was against Jose Estrada, Jr.,
which ended prematurely by countout when Edge
performed a somersault senton from the ring to
the outside, legitimately injuring Estrada's neck.[16]
In
his first pay-per-view match, SummerSlam 1998,
he served as Sable's mystery tag team partner
against Jacqueline and Marc Mero, and bodyslammed
Sable onto Mero in a pinning position to pick
up the win.
Edge
captured his first singles championship on July
24, 1999, defeating Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental
Title at a house show in Toronto Ontario. He would
lose the belt the next night to Jarett at the
Fully Loaded PPV.
Edge
was then placed into a feud against the vampire
wrestler Gangrel. During the feud, Gangrel introduced
Christian, Edge's kayfabe brother, as his ally.
Eventually, Gangrel and Christian convinced Edge
to join them, and the three of them formed a stable
known as The Brood. The Brood as a whole was later
abducted by and converted into The Undertaker's
Ministry of Darkness. In May 1999, the Brood broke
away from The Ministry after Christian was attacked
by Ken Shamrock and forced to reveal the location
of the captive Stephanie McMahon. The Undertaker
chose to have Christian punished for his trespass,
but Edge and Gangrel stood by him and turned against
The Undertaker.
Edge
and Christian (2000-2001)
Main article: Edge and Christian
Following
a short feud with the Ministry, they began a feud
with The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy). Soon,
however, Gangrel turned on Edge and Christian
and formed The New Brood with their enemies, The
Hardy Boyz. Even after the New Brood split, Edge
& Christian continued to feud with The Hardy
Boyz. The two teams competed in a tag team ladder
match at the 1999 No Mercy pay-per-view for the
"managerial services" of Terri Runnels
and $100,000, which the Hardy Boyz won.[17] On
April 2 at WrestleMania 2000, Edge and Christian
defeated the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz to
win their first WWF Tag Team Title in a triple
threat Ladder match which birthed the Tables,
Ladders, and Chairs match.[18]
Following
this victory, Edge and Christian found success
as a heel duo, shifting their gimmick from borderline
goth to a comedic pair of "cool dudes",
winning the WWF Tag Team Title six more times
(for a total of seven). During this time, their
trademark became the "five second pose"
where they performed a pose in the ring for five
seconds "for the benefit of those with flash
photography" to mock, insult, or otherwise
amuse the fans. They also competed as a team in
the first three Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches,
winning the first two over The Dudley Boyz and
The Hardy Boyz, at SummerSlam 2000 and then again
at WrestleMania X-Seven.[19][20]
At
the 2001 Royal Rumble Edge and Christian were
defeated by the Dudley Boyz and lost the World
Tag Team title.[20] They unsuccessfully attempted
to regain their tag team title at No Way Out against
the Dudley Boyz and the Brothers of Destruction,[20]
but they succeeded at WrestleMania X-Seven against
the Dudley Boyz and The Hardyz in the second Tables,
Ladders, and Chairs match.[20]
Singles
star (2001-2003)
Edge
went on to solidify himself as an emerging singles
star by winning the 2001 King of the Ring tournament.[21]
Christian turned on Edge shortly afterward, and
the two feuded over Edge's Intercontinental Championship
that Edge won the month before at SummerSlam,
which Edge lost to him[22] and won right back.[23]
Then, Edge lost the Intercontinental Title to
Test[24] and shortly afterward won the WCW United
States Championship from Kurt Angle. Edge defeated
Test at Survivor Series to unify the Intercontinental
Championship with the U.S. Championship.[25]
Throughout
the winter months of 2001, Edge feuded with William
Regal for the Intercontinental Championship. Edge
came up short in the feud.[26] When WrestleMania
X8 came around, Edge found himself in a match
with Booker T that was the result of Edge beating
out Booker for a fictitious Japanese shampoo endorsement.[27]
Shortly
after defeating Booker T at WrestleMania, Edge
was drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the first
WWE Draft Lottery. Upon arriving there, he began
a feud against Kurt Angle, which culminated in
Edge shaving Kurt's head following a hair vs.
hair match at Judgment Day.[28] When Rey Mysterio
made his SmackDown! debut, he and Edge formed
a team and captured the WWE Tag Team Championship.
He also received matches for the WWE Championship
against title holders Brock Lesnar and Big Show.
In
February 2003, Edge suffered a legit neck injury
and had to undergo surgery with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood.
Recovery kept him sidelined for close to a year
.[29] He was scheduled to return to the ring in
February 2004, but he suffered a legitimate broken
hand just before his planned return, forcing him
to stay out of the ring for an additional month.
He was placed on the Raw brand in the WWE Draft
after WrestleMania XX and returned to in-ring
action shortly after that event. On the April
19, 2004 edition of Raw he and Chris Benoit won
the World Tag Team Championship.[30] They continued
a close partnership even after losing the title,
but it was disbanded when Edge won the Intercontinental
Championship at Vengeance from Randy Orton.[31]
He then began to turn heel by cheating to keep
the title and getting confrontational with ally
Chris Jericho. Following a (legit) groin injury
in a non-televised match, Raw General Manager
Eric Bischoff stripped Edge of the Intercontinental
title. This was the first time that Edge turned
heel since his alliance with then heel, Christian
right after Wrestlemania 2000 and before the Invasion
Storyline.
Pursuit
of the World Heavyweight Championship (2004-2005)
Upon
his return, Edge's character became that of a
crazed heel with severe anger management problems
centered around his obsession for the World Heavyweight
Championship. Edge, Benoit, and Shawn Michaels
received a chance for a title shot for Triple
H's World Heavyweight Championship at Taboo Tuesday
2004. Michaels won the audience vote to receive
the title shot, giving Edge and Benoit a Tag Title
shot. During the match, Edge abandoned his partner
(although Benoit managed to win the title on his
own)[32] and instead interfered in the main event,
costing Michaels the championship.[32] On the
next night Edge and Benoit lost the world tag
team championships while Edge abanoned Benoit
again by sitting in a chair and just watching.
After the match, Edge attacked Benoit.
In
December, both Edge and Benoit competed in a #1
contender's battle royal, but eliminated each
other simultaneously at the conclusion of the
match, resulting in a draw. Due to this, the World
Heavyweight Champion Triple H was forced to defend
the title in a triple threat match. In the match,
Benoit locked on the Crippler Crossface on Edge,
who shifted his weight putting Benoit's shoulders
on the mat for a pin. This match also ended in
a draw for Benoit and Edge, as Benoit made Edge
submit at the same time the referee counted a
pinfall for Edge. As a result, the World Heavyweight
Title was vacated the next week on Raw.
Edge
competed in his first Elimination Chamber match
at New Year's Revolution 2005 for the vacant World
Heavyweight Championship. Shawn Michaels (acting
as special guest referee) would hit Edge with
a Sweet Chin Music in retaliation for an accidental
Spear, causing Edge to be eliminated first.[33]
This led to a match at the 2005 Royal Rumble later
in the month, in which Edge defeated Michaels.[34]
Subsequently, at WrestleMania 21, Edge won the
first ever "Money in the Bank ladder match",
gaining himself a contract that gave him a shot
at the World Heavyweight Championship within one
year.[35]
Even
though he was already a heel, Edge faced even
more scorn from the fans due to his adulterous
affair with Amy Dumas, who was known on-screen
as Lita.[36] Dumas had been the girlfriend of
Copeland's close real-life friend, Matt Hardy.
When Dumas suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament,
she was put out of action,[37] and it was during
this time that Copeland, began an affair with
her while she was still in a relationship with
Hardy. Shortly after the incident became public
knowledge, WWE had released Hardy resulting in
even more backlash towards Copeland and Dumas.[38]
After Hardy returned, however, the real-life situation
was translated into a storyline.
Nevertheless,
or perhaps because of this, Edge was paired with
Lita in an angle where she turned on her kayfabe
husband Kane. On the July 11 edition of Raw, Edge's
match with Kane was interrupted when Matt Hardy
made a surprising appearance. The situation was
a worked shoot, with Hardy referring to Edge as
"Adam" and issuing a threat to Lita
as well. When Hardy was officially brought back
to Raw, he and Edge continued their feud, including
a match at SummerSlam 2005 where Edge defeated
Hardy, causing Hardy to have "excessive blood
loss."[40] They also competed in a Street
Fight, which resulted in a no-contest when Hardy
performed a Side Effect on Edge off the entrance
ramp into the sound speakers and other electrical
equipment. They also fought in a Steel cage match
at Unforgiven 2005 that Matt won after a leg drop
on Edge from the top of the cage.[41] The feud
culminated in a "Loser Leaves Raw Ladder
Match" at WWE Homecoming, which Edge won,
causing Hardy to move to SmackDown!.
Shortly
after the Homecoming victory, Edge suffered a
legitimate torn pectoral muscle that kept him
shelved for several weeks.[42] During his time
off, he starred in his own talk show segment on
Raw entitled The Cutting Edge, dubbing himself
the "Rated-R Superstar". Edge used his
talk show to start a feud with Ric Flair following
Flair's well-publicized arrest in connection with
a road rage incident. Edge eventually began using
The Cutting Edge as a soapbox to run down Flair
until, after weeks of public mockery, Flair eventually
showed up and attacked Edge.
Edge
and Flair formally met at New Year's Revolution
2006 in a match where Edge was disqualified. Later
that night, following the main event Elimination
Chamber match, Vince McMahon appeared on stage
and declared that John Cena would defend the WWE
Championship he'd just retained "one more
time." An already bloodied and fatigued Cena
was forced into a match against Edge, who decided
to cash in his Money in the Bank contract at that
moment. Edge defeated Cena in less than two minutes
after two spears to become WWE Champion for the
first time, as well as a Triple Crown Champion.
In
an interview conducted after New Year's Revolution
on WWE.com, Edge announced that he and Lita would
have "hot, torrid sex" in the middle
of the ring on Raw the next night to celebrate
his victory. On Raw, Edge held up to that promise
by engaging in foreplay with Lita until they were
interrupted by Ric Flair, who called Edge a disgrace
and "dead in the bed." Flair, however,
ended up on the receiving end of a con-chair-to
on the announcers' table until John Cena came
out to rescue Flair and deliver an F-U to a half-naked
Lita much to the surprise of Edge. The "Live
Sex Celebration" segment earned Raw a 5.2
rating,[44] the highest Raw rating in over a year,[45]
leading Edge to call himself the "most-watched
WWE Champion in the last 5 years" due to
the high ratings.
Three
weeks later, at the 2006 Royal Rumble, Edge lost
the WWE Championship back to Cena. He then lost
a return match on a special Thursday edition of
Raw held on February 16, 2006. Edge blamed special
guest referee Mick Foley for his loss, claiming
biased officiating and attacked him. At Saturday
Night's Main Event, Foley got revenge on Edge
by assaulting him with a Con-chair-to. They feuded
until WrestleMania 22 in April, where Edge defeated
Foley in a Hardcore match by spearing him through
a flaming table.[46] The victory brought Edge's
WrestleMania record to 5-0, the second best undefeated
streak at WrestleMania (second only to The Undertaker's
being 14-0 at that point in time).
Edge
used his victory over Foley to once again challenge
John Cena for his WWE Championship. Triple H was
involved in a feud with Cena at the time, resulting
in a Triple Threat match at Backlash 2006, where
Cena pinned Triple H to retain the title.[47]
After Backlash, Edge continued his feud with Mick
Foley as they entered a Triple Threat Hardcore
Match. However, Foley immediately attacked friend
Tommy Dreamer with Edge's assistance. Edge and
Foley then proclaimed that, because of their brutal
match at WrestleMania, they were the true Hardcore
Champions. At One Night Stand 2006, Edge, Foley,
and Lita defeated Dreamer, Terry Funk, and Beulah
McGillicutty in an "Extreme Rules" tag
team match.[48] Edge later interfered in a WWE
Title match between champion John Cena and challenger
Rob Van Dam, helping Van Dam win the title.[48]
Edge had been #1 contender for the title at the
time, and there appeared to be some sort of collusion
between him and ECW. Edge was unable to win the
title at Vengeance 2006.
Two
weeks later on Raw, Edge pinned Rob Van Dam in
a Triple Threat No Disqualification Match, after
blindsiding John Cena with the title belt, to
become WWE Champion for the second time.[49] The
match marked the first time the WWE Championship
changed hands on Raw since October 8, 2001.
This
re-ignited his feud with John Cena, and Edge lost
by disqualification at SNME in order to retain
his title.[50] As a result of these tactics, Cena
snapped and FU'ed him through the Spanish announcers'
table.[50] Subsequently, a match was made for
SummerSlam 2006 with the stipulation that if Edge
was disqualified, he would not only lose the match,
but also his title. At SummerSlam, Edge retained
his title by pinning Cena after he hit him in
the back of the head with brass knuckles while
Lita distracted the referee.
On
the next night's Raw, Lita threw Cena's customized
"spinner" belt into the Long Island
Sound at Edge's command, who declared it the end
of the "Cena era" in his life. Edge
later unveiled the new "Rated R" version
of the belt. Cena, however, interfered in Edge's
match later that night, chased him down to the
outside of the building, beat him down, and tossed
him into the polluted Long Island Sound himself.
The next week, Cena made a deal with Edge: if
Edge could defeat him in a match for the WWE Championship,
he would sign a contract to move to SmackDown!.[52]
Edge agreed, on the condition the match be a Tables,
Ladders, and Chairs match (TLC) held at Unforgiven
2006 in Edge's home town of Toronto.[52] At the
event, he lost the championship after Cena FU'ed
him through two stacked tables from a ladder.
At one point during the match, Cena locked in
an STFU on Edge, who later said he was legitimately
choked unconscious, the first time he had been
knocked out in a match during his career.[53]
Rated-RKO
(2006-2007)
Main article: Rated-RKO
Edge
and Randy Orton as Rated-RKO
Edge and Randy Orton as Rated-RKO
On
the October 2, 2006 episode of Raw, interference
from D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple
H) cost Edge his "final chance" at Cena's
WWE Championship in a Steel cage match, though
their interference was a response to the interference
of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. On October 9,
2006, Edge used an edition of The Cutting Edge
on Raw to join forces with Randy Orton to form
Rated-RKO (although they did not use this name
until several weeks later) and began a feud against
DX. Edge cited Orton's lack of success after being
kicked out of Evolution by Triple H and DX's "stale"
antics "taking up TV time" as reasons
to join forces. The duo succeeded early in defeating
DX at Cyber Sunday due to the vote-in guest referee
Eric Bischoff favoring Rated-RKO.[54] The pair
then won the World Tag Team Championship from
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper on the November 13,
2006 Raw,[55][56] making Edge hold a record of
11 World Tag Team Championship title reigns in
his WWE career.[56] The success halted at Survivor
Series 2006 when Team Rated-RKO was defeated by
Team DX in a clean sweep of 5-0.
The
feud with DX continued at New Year's Revolution
2007 where Edge and Orton were battered by DX
to end the match in a no contest.[57] However,
Edge and Orton claimed victory on the grounds
that Triple H legitimately tore his right quadriceps
in the match. To Edge and Orton, this marked the
end of DX. Shawn Michaels vowed to deal with Rated-RKO,
and the next week on Raw he took out Randy Orton
with a con-chair-to while Edge looked on from
the entrance ramp.[58] On the January 29, 2007
edition of Raw, Rated-RKO lost the World Tag Team
Championship to Shawn Michaels and John Cena.[59]
In
early February, Edge beat Rob Van Dam to qualify
for the Money in the Bank ladder match, but suffered
a legitimate broken jaw in the process. He remained
on TV but avoided physical confrontations until
WrestleMania 23. Meanwhile, his tag partner Orton
also qualified for the MITB match, which led to
dissent between them. He failed to win at WrestleMania
after Jeff Hardy removed them both from the match
by performing a nearly 20 foot leg drop off a
ladder onto Edge. He then entered a feud, along
with former partner Randy Orton, with John Cena
and Shawn Michaels. All four men were aiming for
the WWE Championship, and at Backlash they competed
in a Fatal Four Way match in which Cena successfully
defended his title.[60]
Move
to SmackDown! (2007-present)
On
the May 7, 2007 edition of RAW, Edge defeated
Mr. Kennedy to win his Money in the Bank title
opportunity (Kennedy had suffered a legit injury
prior to the match), making Edge a two-time Money
in the Bank holder.[61] On the May 11, 2007 edition
of SmackDown!, Edge cashed in his newly won contract.
After a brutal Steel cage match between The Undertaker
and Batista and a savage assault to The Undertaker
by Mark Henry, Edge took advantage and defeated
Undertaker with a Spear to win his first World
Heavyweight Championship.[62] As a result of this
victory, Edge became a part of the SmackDown brand.
Edge
then began a feud with Batista and successfully
defended his championship title against Batista
at Judgment Day,[63] in a Steel Cage Match at
One Night Stand,[64] and a third and final time
at a last chance match at Vengeance.[65] Edge
then started another feud with Kane after the
SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced
Kane as the new number one contender for Edge's
title. Edge was forced to relinquish his title
due to a legit torn left pectoral muscle injury
on the July 20, 2007 SmackDown! following an attack
by Kane.[66] Edge stated he would be out of action
for about four months.
At
Survivor Series, Edge made his return, interfering
in a World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a
Cell match between Batista and The Undertaker.[67]
The following SmackDown! show saw Edge and General
Manager Vickie Guerrero make public their relationship,[68]
making his official in-ring return in a World
Title match against Batista on November 30, a
match that ended after The Undertaker interfered.[69]
At
Armageddon, Edge regained the World Heavyweight
Championship, after giving The Undertaker three
chair shots, and pinning the defending champion
Batista (who had been Tombstone piledriven by
Undertaker prior) in a Triple Threat match. During
the match, Edge used two look-alikes to distract
Batista and The Undertaker.[70] It was later revealed
that these look-alikes were the Major Brothers,[71]
who were then repackaged as "The Edge-heads".
The
alliance also saw the inclusion of Chavo Guerrero,
and on the January 22, 2008 broadcasting of ECW
on Sci Fi, Edge assisted Chavo in winning the
ECW Championship from CM Punk,[72] who had previously
rebuffed Edge[73] and allied himself with Rey
Mysterio, Edge's scheduled opponent at the Royal
Rumble pay-per-view.[74] At both the Rumble and
No Way Out, Edge successfully retained the title
after spearing Mysterio in mid-air. On February
22, 2008 Edge was interrupted by Undertaker as
he prepares to defend the World Heavyweight Championship
against the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIV.[75]
Personal
life
Copeland
used to play hockey with current Detroit Red Wings
Aaron Downey.[90] He is a New Jersey Devils fan.[91]
As
a teenager, Copeland attended WrestleMania VI
sitting in the eleventh row at ringside.[92] He
was cheering on WWF Champion Hulk Hogan against
The Ultimate Warrior, and he credits this match
with making him realize he wanted to be a wrestler.[3]
Twelve years later Copeland returned to SkyDome
as a competitor at WrestleMania X8, and won the
World Tag Team Championship with Hogan as his
partner that same year.
During
his high school years, Copeland was voted "Most
Likely to Win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship".
Copeland
has been married two times. He was originally
married to Alanah Morley in November 2001, the
sister of Val Venis, but they divorced after three
years. He was then married to Lisa Ortiz in 2004,
but they soon divorced.
His
autobiography, titled 'Adam Copeland On Edge',
was published on November 4, 2004. Unlike most
wrestlers who used 'ghost writers' to write their
autobiographies, Copeland wrote the entire book
himself. Mick Foley wrote the foreword to his
book.
Copeland
does not smoke. He claims he had his first cigarette
when he was sixteen, hated it, and hasn't smoked
since.
Copeland
has several tattoos. He has a tattoo of a red
and black sun on his left upper biceps (which
covers a tattoo of a muscular shark which resembled
the Street Sharks), a star on his right upper
biceps with several smaller stars below it, two
skulls wearing bandanas, adorned with flowers
and hearts, below said star tattoo, along with
a tattoo of a cross on his left forearm. All of
Copeland's tattoos represent a stage in his career:
his sun, which Copeland got while recovering from
his neck injury, represents "looking towards
brighter days." The cross tattoo represents
his time with the Brood, and his star and skull
tattoos represent his Rated R Superstar persona
and his self-proclaimed status as the "Guns
'N Roses of wrestling."
Acting
Film
In
2000, he made a cameo appearance in the movie
Highlander: Endgame, credited as "Road Bandit".
During the appearance, actor Adrian Paul remarks
"Looks like you've lost your edge, lad"
after defeating him in a sword fight.
Guest
appearances
On
the August 6, 2006 episode of Mind of Mencia,
Copeland appeared as Edge as a commentator for
"The Royal Religious Rumble". He punched
out an actor playing L. Ron Hubbard to stop Scientology
from ruling the world and then speared another
actor playing Tom Cruise. In March 2007, alongside
Randy Orton, John Cena, and Bobby Lashley, he
appeared on Deal or No Deal. Weeks later he appeared
on the sketch comedy show MADtv.
Television
In
March 2002, Copeland alongside other WWE Superstars
appeared on The Weakest Link. He was voted out
in the first round, and the eventual winner was
Kane. (Credit:
wikipedia).
Websites
WWE
profile
Edge
MySpace
Profiles
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