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Canadian professional wrestler and actor (born 1973) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adam Joseph Copeland (born October 30, 1973) is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a former two-time AEW TNT Champion. He is currently on hiatus due to injury. Copeland is best known for his 25-year tenure in WWE from 1998 to 2023, where he performed under the ring name Edge.
Edge | |
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Born | Adam Joseph Copeland October 30, 1973 Orangeville, Ontario, Canada |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1992–2011, 2020–present (professional wrestler) 2011–present (actor) |
Spouses | Alannah Morley
(m. 2001; div. 2004)Lisa Ortiz
(m. 2004; div. 2005) |
Children | 2 |
Ring name(s) | Adam Copeland[1] Adam Impact[2] Conquistador Uno[3] Damon Striker[4] Edge[5] Sexton Hardcastle[6] |
Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[5] |
Billed weight | 241 lb (109 kg)[5] |
Billed from | Toronto, Ontario, Canada[5] |
Trained by | Ron Hutchison[5] Sweet Daddy Siki[5] |
Debut | July 1, 1992[7] |
Often regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time,[8][9] Copeland made his professional wrestling debut in 1992, wrestling in various independent promotions and competing in singles and tag team competition, the latter with long-time friend Christian Cage. In 1997, he signed a developmental deal with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed WWE in 2002) and made his televised debut in 1998 under the ring name Edge. After winning the Intercontinental Championship in 1999, he formed a tag team with Christian, and the two won the World Tag Team Championship on seven occasions. During this time, they gained notoriety due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. They are considered one of the major teams that revived tag team wrestling during the Attitude Era.[10] The team split in 2001 and Copeland embarked on a successful solo career. He won a total of 31 championships in WWE, holding the World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version) a record seven times, the WWE Championship four times, the Intercontinental Championship five times, the United States Championship once, the World Tag Team Championship a record 12 times, and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice. He is WWE's 14th Triple Crown Champion and 7th Grand Slam Champion. He won the 2001 King of the Ring tournament, the inaugural Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, and the 2010 Royal Rumble match, making him the first wrestler to achieve all three.[11]
Copeland first retired in 2011 due to several neck injuries and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year. Nine years after retiring, he returned to wrestling as a surprise entrant in the 2020 Royal Rumble match and won the next year's Royal Rumble, becoming the eighth man to win the Royal Rumble twice, the third to win it as the first entrant, and the first to win it after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events for WWE, including WrestleMania XXIV and WrestleMania 37, being one of the company's most prolific PPV performers.[12] After his WWE contract expired in September 2023, he joined rival promotion AEW the following month, debuting at the WrestleDream PPV. He went on to win the AEW TNT Championship twice.
Aside from professional wrestling, Copeland has acted in the films Highlander: Endgame (2000), Bending the Rules (2012) and Money Plane (2020). He has made guest appearances on television shows such as Weakest Link, Mind of Mencia, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, and The Flash. He played Dwight Hendrickson on the Syfy series Haven (2011–2015), Ketill Flatnose in Vikings (2017–2020), and Ares in the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023–present).
Adam Joseph Copeland[13] was born in Orangeville, Ontario,[2] on October 30, 1973,[14] the son of Judy Lynn Copeland,[15][16] a single mother who worked two jobs to support him.[17] He has said he never met his father, or even saw a picture of him.[18] He became interested in professional wrestling at a young age; his favorite wrestlers included Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart.[19] He met fellow future wrestler Jason Reso, known by his ring-name Christian Cage, in Orangeville when he was 10 years old, and they would make the trip to Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to watch their favourite wrestlers; at the age of 16, Copeland attended WrestleMania VI at the Toronto SkyDome in 1990, sitting in the 11th row at ringside.[20] He was cheering on WWF Champion Hulk Hogan against The Ultimate Warrior, and he credits this match with making him realize he wanted to be a wrestler.[5] When he was 17, he won an essay writing contest hosted by his local gym, the prize for which was free wrestling training with Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchison in Toronto.[17][21] However, he put his wrestling aspirations aside to help his mother pay the bills,[22] taking numerous jobs and then receiving a diploma in radio broadcasting from Humber College before resuming his wrestling training.[23]
Copeland made his professional wrestling debut on Canada Day 1992, in an event at Monarch Park Stadium in Toronto.[7] Throughout the 1990s, Copeland wrestled on the independent circuit in Ontario and the Great Lakes region of the United States under the ring name Sexton Hardcastle.[24] He became a part of the tag team Sex and Violence with Joe E. Legend. In the mid-1990s, he wrestled as Adam Impact for Tony Condello's Winnipeg promotion. In 1997, Sex and Violence became part of a larger stable called Thug Life, joining Christian Cage, Zakk Wyld, Bill Skullion, and Rhino Richards.[2] During his independent career, he won the MWCW Tag Team Championship twice with Legend and the ICW Street Fight Tag Team Championship twice.[25]
The duo of Hardcastle and Cage were known as Hard Impact before changing their name to The Suicide Blondes.[26] They also worked in Japan under the name The Canadian Rockers.[27][28] Copeland also wrestled as Damon Striker against Meng on an episode of WCW Pro in February 1996.[4][29] (Copeland stated in 2021 the name was intended to be "Damien Striker", but the on-screen caption of the name was incorrectly written.[30]) In the summer of 1995, he worked a show in Ajax, Ontario, where Bret Hart's business manager, Carl De Marco, was watching. Impressed, he suggested Copeland send an audition tape to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
On May 10, 1996, Copeland replaced Bob Holly's opponent on short notice in the opening match of a WWF house show as Sexton Hardcastle in Hamilton, Ontario.[31]
In 1996, Copeland initially made $210 per week while working for the WWF without an official contract. The company also paid for his outstanding college debt, which was around $40,000.[32] After a Grand Prix Wrestling tour in the summer of 1997, De Marco urged Copeland to go to Calgary, where Hart was informally training wrestlers while recovering from knee surgery. He spent his tour earnings on a plane ticket and landed with no money or place to stay. He called Johnny Smith, whom he met twice, and Smith agreed to give him food and shelter. Smith also drove Copeland to and from the gym and Hart's house, where he trained alongside Ken Shamrock, Test, Mark Henry and Kurrgan. Copeland returned to the Maritimes for another Grand Prix tour before going back to Hart's house, bringing Christian with him. After this camp, Hart was impressed enough to put in a good word for both men at the WWF.
Copeland received a developmental contract with the WWF in 1997.[33] His first match was on November 10, 1997, in Ottawa, Ontario losing to CFL football star Glen Kulka.[34] The next day in Cornwall, Ontario, he faced and defeated Christian Cage at Shotgun taping in a dark match,[35][36] this match is included on WWE Home Video's 2008 retrospective, Edge: A Decade of Decadence. From March to June 1998, Copeland appeared in many house shows and dark matches. Upon completing his training, Copeland made his WWF television debut on the June 22, 1998 episode of Raw as Edge. Copeland took the name Edge from an Albany radio station.[37]
Weeks before his WWE debut in 1998, vignettes were aired depicting Edge as a loner, mysteriously roaming across New York City in various locations such as on rooftops and the subway. The vignettes also depicted him, as