Adam Joseph Copeland (born on October 30 1973), is a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name Edge. He is currently performing on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He currently is one half of Rated-RKO with Randy Orton.
Adam Copeland  | |
|---|---|
| File:Edgeonraw2.jpg | |
| Born | October 30, 1973 Orangeville, Ontario |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Edge Adam Impact Damon Striker Sexton Hardcastle Conquistador Uno |
| Billed height | 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight | 111 kg (240 lb) |
| Billed from | Toronto, Ontario |
| Trained by | Ron Hutchison Sweet Daddy Siki Bret and Stu Hart Dory Funk, Jr. Tom Prichard Leo Burke |
| Debut | July 1, 1992 |
Copeland initially rose through the ranks as one half of the tag team Edge and Christian, alongside his real-life best friend and kayfabe 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 the WWE.
Early 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, childhood friend Christian Cage, Bloody Bill Skullion and Rhino Richards. In his indy career, he also won the SSW Tag title and the ICW Street Fight Tag Title twice with Cage, in addition to a reign with ICW/MWCW Midwest Unified Tag Title alongside Joe. The duo of Copeland and Reso was known as Hard Impact, before changing their name to The Suicide Blondes. In his MySpace blog, he also recalls the duo being known as the Canadian Rockers. Copeland also once wrestled under the name Damon Striker on the February 3, 1996 edition of WCW Saturday Night, against Meng.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
In 1998 Copeland was signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and made his WWF television debut on the June 22, 1998 episode of RAW is WAR as Edge, a loner character who entered the arena through the crowd for his matches. His first character persona was that he would walk around the city streets aimlessly and beat up defenseless bystanders. His first televised match was against Jose Estrada, Jr. and ended prematurely, by countout, when Edge performed a somersault senton from the ring to the outside, (legitimately) injuring Estrada's neck.[1] In his first pay-per-view match with the company, SummerSlam 1998, 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.
1999-2000
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. This was historic in the effect that no one else actually defected from the Ministry before or after that: it dissolved with all the other members intact.
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 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.
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 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 goth to a comedic pair of "cool dudes", winning the WWF Tag Team Titles six more times for a total of seven. 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
At the 2001 Royal Rumble Edge and Christian were defeated by the Dudley Boyz and lost the World Tag Team Titles. They attempted (unsuccessfully) to regain their tag titles at No Way Out 2001 against the Dudley Boyz and the Brothers of Destruction but succeeded at Wrestlemania X-Seven against the Dudley Boyz and The Hardyz in TLC 2.
Edge 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 he lost to him and won right back. 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 Edge feuded with William Regal for the Intercontinental Title after being defeated by Regal 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.
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. It was also in this feud where Edge started the "you suck" chants every time Kurt Angle enters a WWE ring, usually in tune with Angle's entrance music. 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 The Big Show.
2003-2004
In February 2003, Copeland suffered a legit neck injury that required surgery and 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 (legit) broken hand just before his planned 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 shortly after that event. 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.
At Vengeance 2004, Edge defeated Randy Orton to win the Intercontinental Championship. He then began to turn heel, cheating to keep the title and getting confrontational with ally Chris Jericho. Following a (legit) groin injury in a non-televised match RAW then-General Manager Eric Bischoff stripped Edge of the Intercontinental Championship.
When Edge returned, his gimmick 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 by fans to receive 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.
In December, both Edge and Benoit competed in a #1 contender's battle royal, eliminating 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. 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 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 of this, the World Heavyweight Title was vacated the next week on RAW.
2005-2006
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, who was acting as guest referee, renewed their rivalry when Michaels hit Edge with 'Sweet Chin Music' as retaliation for an accidental Spear, causing Edge to be the first eliminated. Edge went on to defeat Michaels at the 2005 Royal Rumble later in the month.
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.
It was around this time that Edge came under heavy criticism, especially from the Internet wrestling community, due to his (legit) "betrayal" of fellow wrestler and real life friend, Matt Hardy, by having an affair with Matt's girlfriend of six years Lita. Hardy had been out of action for several months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and shortly after he recovered, Lita suffered the same injury and was put out of action. It was during this time that Edge, despite being married, began an affair with Dumas.
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 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. When Matt Hardy was officially brought back to RAW he and Edge faced continued their feud leading to a match at SummerSlam 2005, where Edge defeated Hardy in a hardcore match by "excessive blood loss".They then competed in a classic Street Fight. The match was resulted in a no-contest when Matt Hardy did a Side Effect on Edge off the entrance ramp and into sound speakers and other electrical equipment. They also fought in a Steel Cage match at WWE Unforgiven 2005, which Matt won after a leg drop on Edge from the top of the cage. Edge defeated Hardy in a "Loser Leaves RAW Money in The Bank Ladder Match". at WWE Homecoming, seemingly ending their feud once and for all.
Shortly after the Homecoming victory, Edge suffered a (legit) 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". 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 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 in which Edge was disqualified. Later that night, however, following the main event Elimination Chamber match Vince McMahon appeared on stage, declaring that John Cena would defend the WWE Championship he'd just retained "one more time." Cena was forced into a match against Edge, who decided to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. Edge defeated Cena in less than two minutes after two spears (the first one Cena used his last bit of energy to kick out) to become WWE Champion, and 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, a visibly aroused Edge seemingly held up to that promise by engaging in foreplay with Lita until they were interrupted by Ric Flair calling Edge a disgrace and "dead in the bed". However, Flair ended up on the receiving end of a con-chair-to on the announcers' table until John Cena came out to rescue Flair (and delivering 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 and Edge would later call himself the "most-watched WWE Champion in the last 5 years" due to the high ratings.
Three weeks (to the day) 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 WWE Saturday Night's Main Event, Foley had gotten revenge on Edge, assaulting him with a Con-chair-to. They feuded until Early April's WrestleMania 22 where Edge defeated Foley in a Hardcore match, bringing Edge's WrestleMania record to 5-0, the second best undefeated streak at WrestleMania (second only to The Undertaker's 14-0).
Edge would challenge John Cena for his title again in a Triple Threat match including Triple H at Backlash 2006. Cena pinned Triple H to retain.
After Backlash, Edge appeared to be continuing 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 are the true Hardcore Champions. The duo partnered against Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk, leading up to One Night Stand 2006'. At the pay-per-view, Edge, Foley, and Lita defeated Dreamer, Funk, and Beulah McGillicutty in an "Extreme Rules" tag team match.
During the ECW feud, Edge also won the #1 contendership for the WWE Title against The Big Show on RAW. While #1 contender Edge interfered in a WWE Title match between champion John Cena and challenger Rob Van Dam, helping Van Dam win the title. However, Edge was unable to win the title when he got his shot at it at Vengeance 2006.
Two weeks later, on the July 3 edition of 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. The match marked the first time the WWE Championship changed hands on RAW since October 8, 2001.
Winning the title re-ignited his feud with John Cena from earlier in the year with Edge taking a shortcut at SNME (losing by disqualification) in order to retain his title. As a result of these tactics, Cena snapped and F-Ued him through the Spanish announcer's table. A match was later made for SummerSlam 2006 where if Edge was disqualified he would not only lose the match, but also his title. In the SummerSlam match, Edge managed to retain his title by pinning Cena after hitting him in the back of the head with brass knuckles while Lita distracted the referee.
On the next night's RAW, Lita, at Edge's command, threw John Cena's customized "spinner" belt into the Long Island Sound, declaring the end of the "Cena era" in his life. Following that, a column of smoke descended from the rafters concealing his brand new "Rated R" version of the belt. Cena, however, continued to haunt Edge, only to interfere in Edge's match and chase him down to the outside of the building, beat him down, and toss him into the polluted Long Island Sound himself. The next week, Cena came out, procuring a "three year" contract to SmackDown! and promising to sign it if Edge could beat him one more time. Edge agreed, on the condition the match be a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match (TLC), and held at Unforgiven 2006 in Edge's home town of Toronto. At the event, he lost the championship to Cena after Cena F-Ued him through two stacked tables from the ladder.
On the October 2 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. Though the interference was a response to the interference of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, Edge joined forces with Randy Orton in 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 on defeating DX at Cyber Sunday with thanks to guest referee Eric Bischoff. The pair then won the World Tag Team Championship from Ric Flair and Roddy Piper on the November 13 RAW, giving Edge sole possession of the World Tag Team Championship title reign record at 11 reigns. The success halted at Survivor Series 2006 when Team Rated-RKO was defeated by Team DX, 5-0, in a clean sweep.
2007
The feud with DX continued at New Year's Revolution 2007 where Edge and Orton were battered by DX and the match ended in a no contest. However, Edge and Orton claimed victory on the grounds that Triple H legitimately tore his quadriceps in the match. To Edge and Orton, this marked the end of DX. Shawn Michaels vowed to deal with Rated-RKO and that vow was kept, when the next week on RAW he took out Randy Orton with a con-chair-to, while Edge looked on from the entrance ramp. On January 29, 2007 edition of RAW, Rated-RKO lost the World Tag Team Championship to Shawn Michaels and John Cena. As weeks went by, some signs of a break up between Rated RKO began to show - particularly when Edge walked out on Orton in a match on Raw. The next week on RAW, Orton told Edge that he did not have his back.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Spear
- Edgecution (Lifting DDT)
- Edgecator (Kneeling inverted sharpshooter)
- Downward Spiral (Modified reverse STO) - 1999
- Signature moves
- Johnny Bradford
- Christian Cage
- Gangrel
- Lita
- Terri Runnels
- Judd the Studd
- "Flambouyant" Lou Glamsly
- Nicknames
- King Edge the Awesome
- Mr. Money in the Bank
- The Rated R Superstar
- Edge's current WWE entrance music 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 pieces of WWF produced production music entitled You Think You Know Me and On the Edge. Since You Think You Know Me, all of his theme music has been preceded by the eponymous phrase from that song, including the Burn In My Light/Metalingus combination used for Rated-RKO.
Championships and accomplishments
- Insane Championship Wrestling
- ICW/MWCW Mid-West Unified Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Psycho Joe Sampson
- ICW Streetfight Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Christian Cage
- Outlaw Championship Wrestling
- OCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Psycho Joe Sampson
- 2000 Match of the Year – with Christian, vs. the Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs. the The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) (Triangle ladder match, WrestleMania 2000)
- 2001 Most Improved Wrestler
- 2001 Match of the Year – with Christian, vs. the Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs. the The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) (TLC II, WrestleMania X-Seven)
- 2004 Comeback of the Year
- 2005 Feud of the Year - with Lita, vs. Matt Hardy
- Ranked #3 in the 2006 PWI 500
- 2006 Feud of the Year - vs. John Cena
- 2006 Most Hated Wrestler of the Year
- Southern States Wrestling
- SSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Christian Cage
- WWE Championship (2 times)
- WWE Intercontinental Championship (5 times)
- WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (11 times) - with Christian (7), Hulk Hogan (1), Chris Benoit (2), and Randy Orton (1)
- WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rey Mysterio
- King of the Ring (2001)
- Mr. Money in the Bank (2005)
- Fourteenth Triple Crown Champion
- 2000 Tag Team of the Year - with Christian
- 2002 Match of the Year - with Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit (No Mercy 2002)
- Wrestler of the Year (2006)
- 2006 Jerk of the Year
Personal life and trivia
This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- As a teenager, Copeland appeared at WrestleMania VI as part of the crowd cheering for WWF Champion Hulk Hogan in the "Ultimate Challenge" Main Event against Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior. He credits this match with making him realize he wanted to be a wrestler, following in the footsteps of Hogan and Warrior.
- During his high school years, Copeland was voted "Most Likely to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship", and he did on two seperate occasions, defeating John Cena and then defeating Rob Van Dam in a triple threat match, also including Cena.
- Copeland has been married twice. He was originally married to the sister of Val Venis, Alanah, but they divorced after a while, remaining good friends. He then married Lisa Ortiz.
- 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.
- His autobiography, entitled Adam Copeland On Edge, was published on November 4, 2004. He was only the second WWE wrestler (after Mick Foley) to write his autobiography himself instead of using a ghostwriter like many other wrestlers. Foley also wrote the foreword to this book.
- 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 has another tattoo on his right upper bicep of a filled in black star with a faint red outline.
- Copeland used to play youth hockey with current Montreal Canadien, Aaron Downey [2].
- Copeland, as Edge, has appeared in every game in the WWE Smackdown! / WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW series.
- Copeland is currently 5-0 at WrestleMania, the second longest undefeated streak after the Undertaker's, which stands at 14
- Copeland, as Edge, has lost a championship to John Cena on January 29 two years in a row. On January 29, 2006 he lost the WWE Championship to John Cena at the 2006 WWE Royal Rumble, and on the January 29, 2007 episode of RAW he and Randy Orton lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Cena and Shawn Michaels.
- In WWE, Edge has only held a tag team championship with former, current, and future world champions.