Adam Joseph Copeland[11] (born October 30, 1973)[12] is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Edge. He is currently signed to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), on its SmackDown brand.
Copeland was trained by former professional wrestlers Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchinson. Throughout the 1990s, he wrestled in North American independent promotions early in his career. During his time in these promotions, he competed in singles and tag team competition, the latter with Christian Cage, his storylinebrother. In 1997, Copeland signed a developmental deal with the WWF and began competing for the company the following year.After signing with the WWF, he began competing under the ring name Edge. In June 1999, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship, making it his first title reign with the company. In mid-1999, he and Cage, now going by just Christian, formed an alliance of their own, which led to them winning the WWF Tag Team Championshipon seven different occasions. During this time, they gained notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. The team, however, parted ways in 2001.
Overall, Edge has won 29 Championships in WWE, including nine World Championships (four WWE Championships and five World Heavyweight Championships), five Intercontinental Championships, one United States Championship, 14 Tag Team Championships (a record 12 World Tag Team Titles and two WWE Tag Team Championships), and is the only wrestler who has held every currently active male Championship in WWE.
In addition to his Championship accolades, Copeland won the 2001 King of the Ring tournament, the first-ever Money in the Bank ladder match in 2005, and the Royal Rumble match in 2010. Aside from professional wrestling, Copeland has appeared in the 2000 fantasy film Highlander: Endgame and made guest appearances on television shows, including The Weakest Link, Mind of Mencia, Deal or No Deal, and MADtv.
At November's pay-per-view event, Survivor Series, Edge made his return, interfering in a World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a Cell match between Batista and The Undertaker.[117] The following SmackDown!show saw Edge and General Manager Vickie Guerrero make their relationship public,[118] making his official in-ring return in a World title match against Batista on November 30, a match that ended after The Undertaker interfered.[119] At Armageddon, Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship, after giving The Undertaker two chair shots and pinning the defending champion Batista (who had been Tombstoned by Undertaker prior) in a Triple Threat match. During the match, Edge used two look-a-likes to distract Batista and The Undertaker.[120] It was later revealed that these look-a-likes were the Major Brothers,[121] who were then repackaged as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. Edge also formed an alliance with Chavo Guerrero, nephew of Vickie Guerrero, and on the January 22, 2008 broadcast of ECW, he assisted Chavo in winning the ECW Championship from CM Punk,[122] even though Chavo previously rebuffed Edge[123] and allied himself with Rey Mysterio, Edge's scheduled opponent at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.[124] The group eventually came under the name of La Familia. On the Valentine's Day episode of SmackDown, Edge proposed to Vickie, to which she accepted.[125]
At WrestleMania XXIV, Edge lost the World Heavyweight championship to The Undertaker when he tapped out to the gogoplata.[126] In a WrestleMania rematch, The Undertaker defeated Edge once again at Backlash to retain the World Heavyweight championship.[127] Following Backlash, The Undertaker was stripped of the World title by Vickie Guerrero[128] and faced Edge for the title at Judgment Day in May and then again at One Night Stand in a TLC match in June.[129][130] The first match ended with a countout victory for The Undertaker but no champion was crowned due to the circumstances.[129] The second match at One Night Stand saw Edge walk away champion, which also meant Undertaker was forced to leave the company.[130]
On the June 30, 2008 episode of Raw, Edge lost the World title to CM Punk, after Batista assaulted Edge and prompted Punk to cash in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Edge to win the World Heavyweight championship.[131] On the July 4, 2008 episode of SmackDown, Edge took his frustrations out on Vickie because he lost the title and told her the wedding was off.[132] The following week, however, after Guerrero saved Edge from a con-chair-to by The Big Show, Edge re-proposed, and the wedding was back on.[133] On July 18, 2008 at the wedding reception, Triple H came out and showed a video of Edge cheating on Guerrero the day before with the wedding planner, Alicia Fox. The angle continued at The Great American Bash in July, when Fox attempted to hand Edge the WWE Championship belt to use as weapon against Triple H, but was stopped by Guerrero. Edge attempted to spear Triple H but hit Guerrero instead, with the distraction, Triple H performed a Pedigree on Edge to retain the WWE title.[134] Edge attempted to apologize to Guerrero, even though he was seen talking to Fox, but she revealed to him that she had rehired The Undertaker and that Edge would face him in a Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam.[135] Edge then turned on La Familia during the August 8 episode of SmackDown, performing a one man con-chair-to on Chavo in the ring, and tossed Guerrero out of her wheelchair, effectively disbanding the faction. The following week, Edge verbally assaulted Guerrero, before he forced her to apologize to The Undertaker for what she did to him. He also mentioned to Guerrero, that it was because of her that La Familia suffered.[136] At SummerSlam, The Undertaker defeated Edge, and after the match, Undertaker chokeslammed Edge off the top of a ladder and through the ring canvas, with flames rising from the hole.[137]
