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Revision as of 21:26, 7 December 2006
| Adam Copeland | |
|---|---|
| File:Edgeonraw2.jpg | |
| Born | October 30 1973 Orangeville, Ontario |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Edge Adam Impact Sexton Hardcastle Conquistador Uno |
| Billed height | 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight | 109 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 |
Adam Joseph Copeland (born on October 30 1973), is a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name Edge. He is currently wrestling on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is one half of Rated-RKO, the reigning World Tag Team Champions, along with Randy Orton. Copeland initially rose through the ranks as one half of the tag team Edge and Christian, alongside his kayfabe brother Christian. He is best known for being one of the most decorated tag team champions in wrestling history, winning a record 12 tag team titles.
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, 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 Cage. The duo was known as Hard Impact, before changing their name to The Suicide Blondes.
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 televised match was against Jose Estrada, Jr. and ended prematurely, by countout, when Edge performed a somersault senton from the ring to the outside, (legitly) injuring Estrada's neck. 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.
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 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
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.
After his feud with Booker T was quietly pushed aside 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 with Edge shaving Kurt's head following a hair vs. hair match. When Rey Mysterio made his SmackDown! debut, the two formed a team 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 (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. 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.
At Vengeance 2004, Edge defeated Randy Orton to win the Intercontinental Championship. He then turned heel. 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 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 eventually abandoned his partner Benoit again, allowing them to lose the titles. He then joined Triple H's Survivor Series team at 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 simultaneously 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.
2005-2006
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'. 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 Amy "Lita" Dumas. Lita had been out of action for several months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and shortly after she recovered, Matt Hardy 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 on-air 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". Edge defeated Hardy in a Loser Leaves RAW 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 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 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, Edge and Lita seemingly held up to that promise by engaging in foreplay 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. 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).
At April 3rd, 2006, Edge came out during a segment with John Cena and Triple H and claimed he is a great champion and deserves another shot. The 3 had all 3 possible Handicap matches for 3 weeks (for ex. Triple H & Cena vs Edge, Triple H & Edge vs Cena, Cena & Edge vs Triple H). Afterwards, The 3 competed in a match against the Spirit Squad, which came to a no-contest after the Squad retreated when HHH and Cena hit their signature moves at the same time. Edge however, left the two fighting, laughing and indicated that he will win at Backlash, which Cena did.
After Backlash 2006, Edge appeared to be continuing his fued 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 ECW 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 Match, also involving John Cena, 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 shortcuts (losing by disqualification) in order to retain his title. As a result of these tactics, a match was 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, and held at Unforgiven 2006 in Edge's home town of Toronto. At the event, he lost the championship to Cena.
After interference from D-Generation X, (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) cost Edge his "final chance" at Cena's WWE Championship in a Steel Cage on the October 2 episode RAW. Edge then joined forces with Randy Orton, forming Rated-RKO, in a feud against DX. Edge cited Orton's lack of success after being kicked out of Evolution by DX member Triple H, and that the "stale" antics of DX "taking up TV time," as reasons to join forces against DX. They 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 "Rowdy" Roddy Piper on the November 13 RAW, giving Edge sole possession of the record for World Tag Team Championship reigns at 11. At Survivor Series 2006 Edge and Ortons team were defeated by Team DX, 5-0, in a clean sweep.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Spear
- Edgecution / Buzzkiller / C.O.D. - Concussion On Delivery / Impaler DDT (Lifting DDT)
- Edgecator (Kneeling inverted sharpshooter)
- Downward Spiral (Modified Reverse STO) - 1999
- Edge-O-Matic (Sitout rear mat slam)
- Half nelson bulldog
- Electric chair bomb
- Russian legsweep
- Belly to belly suplex
- Back drop
- German suplex
- Big boot
- Sleeper hold
- Rear naked choke
- Flapjack
- Missile dropkick
- One man con-chair-to
- Spinning heel-kick
- Crossbody
- Managers
- Johnny Bradford
- Gangrel
- Lita
- Terri Runnels
- Judd the Studd
- Nicknames
- The Rated R Superstar
- 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. 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 mash-up 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
- Match of the Year (2000)– 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)
- Most Improved Wrestler (2001)
- Match of the Year (2001)– 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)
- Comeback of the Year (2004)
- Feud of the Year - with Lita, vs. Matt Hardy (2005)
- Ranked #3 in the 2006 PWI 500
- 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), Chris Benoit (2), Hulk Hogan (1) and Randy Orton (1, Current)
- WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rey Mysterio
- King of the Ring (2001)
- Mr. Money in the Bank (2005)
- Fifteenth Triple Crown Champion
- Tag Team of the Year (2000) - with Christian
- Match of the Year (2002) - with Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit (No Mercy)
Personal life
As a teenager, he 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."
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 actually write their autobiography himself, instead of using a ghost writer like many other wrestlers. Incidentally, Foley wrote the foreword to this book.
Copeland was first married to Alanah Morley, sister to fellow wrestler Sean Morley (Val Venis), but was divorced from her in 2004. He then met Lisa Ortiz (not to be confused with the voice actress of the same name) and married her in October 2004. He began having an affair with fellow wrestler Amy Dumas in December 2004. Copeland filed for divorce from Ortiz which was completed in November 2005.
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.
Copeland used to play youth hockey with current Montreal Canadian, Aaron Downey .