Early career
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.
Adam won an essay contest in which he would have the opportunity to be trained by Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchinson.[14] 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 Him 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.[15] 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.
Early years (1998-2000)
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 innocent pedestrians. 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.
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 Jarrett at the Fully Loaded event in July.
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)
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.[21] 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.
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.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble Edge and Christian were defeated by the Dudley Boyz and lost the World Tag Team title.[24] They unsuccessfully attempted to regain their tag team title at No Way Out against the Dudley Boyz and the Brothers of Destruction,[24] but they succeeded at WrestleMania X-Seven against the Dudley Boyz and The Hardyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.
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.
Adam won an essay contest in which he would have the opportunity to be trained by Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchinson.[14] 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 Him 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.[15] 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.
Early years (1998-2000)
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 innocent pedestrians. 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.
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 Jarrett at the Fully Loaded event in July.
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)
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.[21] 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.
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.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble Edge and Christian were defeated by the Dudley Boyz and lost the World Tag Team title.[24] They unsuccessfully attempted to regain their tag team title at No Way Out against the Dudley Boyz and the Brothers of Destruction,[24] but they succeeded at WrestleMania X-Seven against the Dudley Boyz and The Hardyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.