article

Adam Joseph Copeland (born October 30, 1973 in Orangeville, Ontario), is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Edge. Copeland is currently performing on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment, where he is the WWE Champion. Copeland initially rose to fame as a member of The Brood stable and one half of the tag team Edge and Christian, both alongside his real life best friend and storyline brother Jason "Christian" Reso.

Career

Throughout the 1990s Copeland wrestled for many independent promotions in Ontario as well in the Great Lakes region of the United States under the name Sexton Hardcastle. As Sexton Hardcastle he was managed by Johnny Bradford and Judd the Studd and would go on to become a part of the successful tag team Sex and Violence, with Joe Legend, in the Detroit area. During 1997, Sex and Violence were a part of a bigger stable known as THUG Life, made up of Legend, Hardcastle, Christian Cage, Bloody Bill Skullion and Rhino Richards. In his indy career, he also won the SSW Tag title, the ICW Street Fight Tag Title and the ICW/MWCW Midwest Unified Tag Title, all with long time friend, Christian Cage. The duo was known as Hard Impact, before changing their name to the Suicide Blondes.

In 1998 Copeland was signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE), and made his WWF television debut later that year.

1998-1999

Copeland started his WWF career as Edge, a strange loner character who entered the arena through the crowd for his matches. In his first pay-per-view match with the company, SummerSlam '98, he served as Sable's mystery tag team partner against Jacqueline and Marc Mero, and actually bodyslammed Sable on to Mero in a pinning position to pick up the win.

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 faction known as "The Brood". The Brood as a whole was later abducted by and converted into The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness. In May of 1999 the Brood broke away from The Ministry after Christian was attacked by Ken Shamrock and forced by him 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 Undertaker.

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 Hardyz.

Even after the New Brood split Edge & Christian continued to feud with The Hardy Boyz. The two teams competed in the a tag team ladder match at the 1999 No Mercy pay-per-view for the "managerial services" of Terri Runnels and $100,000, however Edge & Christian came up short.

2000

At WrestleMania 2000, Edge and Christian defeated the Hardyz and the Dudley Boyz to win their first WWF World Tag Team Title in a Triangle Ladder Match which birthed the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.

Following this victory, Edge and Christian found success as a heel duo, shifting their gimmick from borderline goths to a comedic pair of "cool dudes", winning the WWF Tag Team Titles seven more times. During this time their trademark became the "five second pose" where they would perform 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.

2001-2002

Copeland would go on to solidify himself as a burgeoning singles star by winning the 2001 King of the Ring tournament. Christian turned on Edge shortly afterward, and the two feuded over Edge's Intercontinental Championship, which Christian won and lost back to Edge. Edge lost the Intercontinental Title to Test and shortly afterward won the WCW United States Championship from Kurt Angle. Edge defeated Test at Survivor Series 2001 to unify the Intercontinental Championship with the WCW United States Championship he previously lost.

Throughout the winter months of 2001 Copeland feuded with William Regal for the Intercontinental Title after Regal beat him for it. Edge came up short in the feud. 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.

After his feud with Booker T was quietly pushed aside Copeland was drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the first WWE Draft. Upon arriving there he began a feud against Kurt Angle which culminated with Edge shaving Kurt's head following a hair vs. hair match. When Rey Mysterio made his SmackDown! debut, the two formed a pair and captured the WWE Tag Team Championship. The duo were often referred to as "the future of SmackDown!".

2003-2004

In February 2003, Copeland suffered a neck injury that required surgery which kept him sidelined for close to a year. During his recovery he wrote a column for WWE.com. He was scheduled to return to the ring in February 2004, but suffered a broken hand just before his expected return which forced him to stay out of the ring for an additional month. He was placed on the RAW brand in the draft lottery after WrestleMania XX, and returned to in-ring action as a face shortly after that event. Upon returning Edge appeared to be a brand-new man, visibly having more muscle-mass and upping his weight from 240 to 250 pounds. He also sported a new tattoo on his left shoulder. On the April 19, 2004 edition of RAW he and Chris Benoit won the World Tag Team Championship. He continued to back Benoit and be there whenever Benoit needed him, even after they lost the titles. The partnership was disbanded when Edge won the Intercontinental Championship.

In July, at Vengeance 2004, Edge defeated Randy Orton to end Orton's seven-month Intercontinental title reign. With the title around his waist he effectivley turned heel by using illegal tricks whenever necessary to retain the belt and feuding with the babyface Chris Jericho. Following a (legit) groin injury in a non-televised match RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff stripped Edge of his title.

When Edge returned, his character was portrayed as a crazed heel with severe anger management problems centered around his obsession for the World Heavyweight Championship. He, Benoit and Shawn Michaels received a chance to be voted in by fans for a title shot at Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship for Taboo Tuesday 2004. However, Shawn Michaels won the vote, which gave the two remaining wrestlers, Edge and Benoit, a Tag Title shot. During the match Edge abandoned his partner (although Benoit managed to win the titles on his own) and instead interfered in the main event, costing Michaels the championship.

Edge would eventually abandon his tag team partner Benoit yet again, allowing them to lose the titles. Edge then joined Triple H's team for Survivor Series 2004 while Benoit joined Randy Orton's.

Later on in the year, both Edge and Benoit competed in a number one contenders battle royal, eliminating each other simultaniously at the conclusion of the match, resulting in a draw. Due to this, current World Heavyweight Champion Triple H was forced to defend the title in a triple threat match. During the course of the match, Benoit locked on the Crippler Crossface, while in it Edge shifted his weight putting Benoit's shoulders on the mat for a pin. The match ended in a Dusty finish as Benoit made Edge submit at the same time the referee counted a pinfall for Edge. As a result of this, the World Heavyweight Title was vacated the next week on RAW.

2005

Edge got another shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at New Year's Revolution 2005 in the Elimination Chamber. Edge and a returning Shawn Michaels would renew their rivalry in this match, with Michaels serving as special guest referee. During the match, HBK hit Edge with his Sweet Chin Music superkick. Edge would go on to defeat Michaels at the 2005 Royal Rumble in the event's opening match. However, Michaels would gain revenge on Edge by defeating him in a brutal Street Fight on an edition of RAW soon after. At WrestleMania 21, Edge won the first "Money in the Bank" Ladder Match, a match for a contract that granted the bearer a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. Per the stipulations of the contract, his title match contract was guaranteed for up to a year, up to and including WrestleMania 22 to be cashed in at any time within the time frame.

After winning this match, Edge began reffering to himself by the nickname "Mr. Money-in-the-Bank" and carrying the briefcase containing the contract wherever he went.

Around this time, Edge came under heavy criticism by wrestling fans due to his betrayal of a fellow wrestler and real life friend, Matt Hardy, by having an affair with Matt's girlfriend of six years Amy "Lita" Dumas. Lita had been out of action for several months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Shortly after she recovered, Matt Hardy suffered the same injury and was out of action. It was during this time that Edge, despite being married, began an affair with Lita.

Nevertheless, Edge was controversially paired with Lita in a TV storyline after she turned on her on-air "husband" Kane.

At Vengeance 2005 on June 26, he would find himself losing to Kane, who wanted revenge for Edge's stealing Lita away from him.

On the July 11 edition of RAW, Edge's main event match with Kane was interrupted when Matt Hardy made a surprising appearance. The situation was suspected to be a worked shoot, with Hardy referring to Edge by his real name, "Adam", and issuing a threat to Lita as well. This episode raised suspicions of it all being a storyline, using the internet community to achieve heel heat to boost Edge's standing as a major player in WWE with all parties involved conspiring to fool the fans to believe what may have really been kayfabe all along.

With Matt Hardy officially back on the RAW he and Edge faced each other in an all-out brawl at SummerSlam 2005. The match came to an end when Edge dropped Hardy onto the top of a ring post, causing him to bleed and eventually the referee ending the match on the grounds that Hardy could not continue. Edge was declared the winner, by technical knockout.

Matt Hardy and Edge met repeatedly, trading wins back and forth until Edge defeated Matt Hardy in a Loser Leaves RAW match at WWE Homecoming, seemingly ending their feud once and for all.

2006

Shortly after the Homecoming victory, Edge suffered a torn pectoral muscle that kept him shelved for several weeks. During his time off, he starred in his own talk show segment on RAW entitled The Cutting Edge and dubbed himself the "Rated-R Superstar."

At this time Edge started a feud with Ric Flair following Flair's well-publicized arrest in connection with a road rage incident. Edge began using "The Cutting Edge" as a soapbox to run down Flair, who had been advised by his lawyers not to speak about the incident in public, at every opportunity. Instead of getting Flair, Edge had a run in with Sgt. Slaughter and Michael "P.S." Hayes who took exception to his comments about the "old school" class of wrestlers. After weeks of public mockery Flair eventually showed up and attacked Edge. Edge and Flair formally met at New Year's Revolution in a match in which Edge was disqualified. Later that night, however, following the main event Elimination Chamber match in which reigning WWE Champion John Cena successfully defended his title, Vince McMahon appeared on the stage, declaring that Cena would defend the WWE Championship "one more time", this time against Edge who had decided to 'cash in' his Money in the Bank contract. After delivering two Spears, Edge defeated Cena to become WWE Champion, making Edge 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. On RAW, Edge and Lita seemingly held up to that promise by engaging in foreplay in a bed placed in the middle of the ring until they were interrupted by Ric Flair calling Edge "a disgrace." However, Flair ended up on the receiving end of a one-man con-chair-to on the announcers' table. This led to John Cena coming out to rescue Flair from yet another con-chair-to resulting in a brief brawl. Edge then fled from the ring, abandoning Lita, who was easy prey for Cena's F-U. The sex segment earned RAW a 5.2 rating, which was the first time RAW had a 5.0 rating since February 2005.

Edge only held the title for three weeks, during which he defeated Ric Flair in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match on RAW and helped RAW score a rating of over 4.0 each night. At the Royal Rumble, Edge lost the WWE Championship by submission, when he tapped out to Cena's STF-U.

On the February 16, 2006 special Thursday night edition of RAW, Edge would lose a rematch to John Cena for the WWE Championship, which was officiated by special guest referee Mick Foley. Following the match, Edge and Lita accused Foley of making biased calls that led to Cena's win, then attacked him.

In the weeks preceding WrestleMania, Edge compared his unblemished WrestleMania record of four victories and no losses to Foley's record of one victory, three losses and a draw. At WrestleMania 22 on April 2, Edge defeated Foley in a Hardcore Match by pinfall after spearing Foley out of the ring and through a flaming table.This brought Edge's WrestleMania record to 5-0.

After Backlash, Edge would once again be involved in a program with Mick Foley. However, this program would see Foley turning heel and siding with Edge to feud with Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer of WWE's revived Extreme Championship Wrestling brand. This would culminate in a match at ECW One Night Stand 2006 that saw Edge, Foley and Lita defeat Dreamer, Funk and Beulah McGillicutty in a six-person tag team match. During the ECW feud, Edge would also win the #1 contendership for the WWE Title. At the end of the ECW PPV, Edge aided ECW wrestler Rob Van Dam in defeating John Cena for the WWE Championship setting up a feud with Van Dam leading up a title match between the two at WWE Vengeance. Rob Van Dam defeated Edge in their match after his cheating backfired and RVD pinned Edge after the 5 Star Frog Splash.

The feud continued with Edge interfering in a number of matches to keep the title from changing hands until the July 3 edition of RAW when Edge pinned Rob Van Dam in a Triple Threat Match, also involving John Cena, to become WWE Champion for the second time in his career. The match ended when Cena gave RVD his F-U finishing move and Edge hit Cena with the WWE Championship belt. Edge then covered RVD for the victory. This match marked the first time the WWE Championship changed hands on RAW since October 8, 2001.

Personal life

As a teenager, he appeared at WrestleMania VI as part of the crowd, cheering for the then-WWF Champion Hulk Hogan in the "Ultimate Challenge" Main Event against Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior. It was this match which made him realize he wanted to be a wrestler and follow in the footsteps of Hogan and Warrior. As a WWE Superstar, he found himself back at the scene and finally alongside his hero Hogan as a star. On March 17, 2002, Copeland would return to SkyDome for WrestleMania X8, participating and winning in a match against Booker T. On the July 4, 2002 episode of SmackDown!, Copeland teamed with Hogan (who brought back the "Real American" music theme that night) to capture the World Tag Team Championship.

During his high school years Copeland was voted "Most Likely to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship." He was also on his school's basketball team but he quit after he was told he had to cut his hair.

In 2000, Copeland made a cameo appearance in the film Endgame as a road bandit. His scene saw actor Adrian Paul remark "Looks like you've lost your edge, lad!" after defeating him.

Copeland's autobiography, entitled "Adam Copeland On Edge", was published on November 4, 2004. He was only the second WWE wrestler (the first being Mick Foley) to actually write a whole book himself, instead of using a ghost writer like many other wrestlers.

Copeland was first married to wrestler Sean "Val Venis" Morley's sister Alanah, but was divorced from her in 2004. He then met Lisa Ortiz (not to be confused with the voice actress of the same name) when he was having neck surgery and married her in October 2004. He began an affair with fellow wrestler Amy "Lita" Dumas, who was herself in a six year relationship with wrestler Matt Hardy, in December 2004. When news of the affair with Dumas broke, Copeland sought a divorce from Ortiz, which was finalised in November 2005. During the divorce she released a statement in which she accused Copeland of taking steroids. This is doubted by experts as Copeland's skin quality and physique are atypical of steroid users. The status of Copeland and Dumas' relationship is publicly unknown at this time, though they have continued to be paired up onscreen.

Copeland had a tattoo on his upper biceps of a shark flexing its arm that resembled the protagonists of the cartoon "Street Sharks". He later covered that tattoo with a tattoo of a sun. He also suffers from hypermobility.

In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves

  • Managers

  • Nicknames

  • Theme Music
Edge's WWE entrance song is "Metalingus" by Alter Bridge. During 2001-2003 it was "Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)" by Rob Zombie and before that he used two original WWF made songs entitled "You Think You Know Me" and "On the Edge".

Championships and accomplishments

  • Insane Championship Wrestling
  • PWI Match of the Year 2000 and 2001 (with Christian, versus the Hardy Boyz, versus the Dudley Boyz)
  • PWI Most Improved Award (2001)
  • PWI Comeback of the Year Award (2004)
  • PWI Feud of the Year Award (2005) (with Matt Hardy)
    • Southern States Wrestling

Championship succession

WWE Championship Preceded by:
John Cena First Succeeded by:
John Cena Preceded by:
Rob Van Dam Second Succeeded by:
Current (WWF) World Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
Dudley Boyz First, with Christian Succeeded by:
Too Cool Preceded by:
Too Cool Second, with Christian Succeeded by:
Hardy Boyz Preceded by:
Hardy Boyz Third, with Christian Succeeded by:
Hardy Boyz Preceded by:
Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather Fourth, with Christian Succeeded by:
The Rock and The Undertaker Preceded by:
The Rock and The Undertaker Fifth, with Christian Succeeded by:
Dudley Boyz Preceded by:
Hardy Boyz Sixth, with Christian Succeeded by:
Dudley Boyz Preceded by:
Dudley Boyz Seventh, with Christian Succeeded by:
Kane and The Undertaker Preceded by:
Billy & Chuck Eighth, with Hollywood Hulk Hogan Succeeded by:
Lance Storm and Christian Preceded by:
Ric Flair and Batista Ninth, with Chris Benoit Succeeded by:
La Résistance Preceded by:
La Résistance Tenth, with Chris Benoit Succeeded by:
La Résistance WWE Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit First, with Rey Mysterio Succeeded by:
Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero WWE Intercontinental Championship Preceded by:
Jeff Jarrett First Succeeded by:
Jeff Jarrett Preceded by:
Lance Storm Second Succeeded by:
Christian Preceded by:
Christian Third Succeeded by:
Test Preceded by:
Test Fourth Succeeded by:
William Regal Preceded by:
Randy Orton Fifth Succeeded by:
stripped due to injury WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Preceded by:
Kurt Angle First Succeeded by:
unified with WWF IC title King of the Ring winner Preceded by:
Kurt Angle First
(2001) Followed by:
Brock Lesnar Mr. Money in the Bank Preceded by:
First First Followed by:
Rob Van Dam

References

External links

1973 births | Canadian professional wrestlers | Dungeon graduates | Living people | Ontario sportspeople

Adam Copeland | Adam Copeland | Adam Copeland | Adam Copeland | アダム・コープランド | Edge (fribryter)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Adam Copeland".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world