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Orangeville, Ontario
Adam Joseph Copeland (born October 30, 1973) is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on their RAW brand under the ring name Edge.
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, his storyline brother. In 1997, Copeland signed a developmental deal with the WWF and began competing for the company later that year; he made his televised debut the following June under the ring name Edge.
Overall, Edge has won 8 championships in WWE, including four world championships (the World Heavyweight Championship a record four times), and a record four Intercontinental Championships.
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, Haven, MADtv and made his movie debut as a leading actor in WWE Studios' Bending the Rules.
Early life[]
Copeland was born on October 30, 1973 in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, to Judy Copeland, a single parent, who worked two jobs to support her son. To this day, he has never met his father, or seen a picture of him. At a young age, he became interested in professional wrestling. His favorite wrestlers included Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. When he was eighteen, Copeland won an essay contest, with Sully's Gym offering free wrestling training to whoever could write a good essay, explaining why they would want to become a professional wrestler. As the result of his win, he was trained by Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchinson in Toronto. Copeland put his wrestling aspirations aside, to help pay the bills. He held numerous jobs and decided to go to Humber College, where he graduated with a diploma in radio broadcasting.
Professional wrestling career[]
Early career[]
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. Also in the mid-1990s he wrestled for promoter Tony Condello in Winnipeg, Manitoba under the name Adam Impact. During 1997, Sex and Violence became part of a larger stable known as Thug Life, made up of Legend, Hardcastle, Christian Cage (Copeland's childhood friend Jason Reso), Zakk Wyld, Bill Skullion, and Rhino Richards. During his independent career, he won the ICW/MWCW Midwest Unified Tag Titles alongside Joe.
The duo of Hardcastle and Cage were known as Hard Impact before changing their name to The Suicide Blondes. They also worked in Japan under the name the Canadian Rockers. Copeland also wrestled briefly as Damon Striker against Kevin Sullivan and Meng on separate episodes of WCW Pro.
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (1997–2013)[]
Intercontinental Champion (2005–2007)[]
Info here
World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2010)[]
Info here
Various storylines and feuds (2011–2013)[]
Info here
Personal life[]
Copeland used to play hockey with National Hockey League (NHL) player Aaron Downey. He is a fan of the NHL's New Jersey Devils. As a teenager, Copeland attended WrestleMania VI sitting in the eleventh row at ringside. 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. Twelve years later Edge returned to SkyDome as a competitor at WrestleMania X8. Edge resides in Tampa, Florida.
His autobiography, Adam Copeland on Edge, was published on November 4, 2004. Unlike most wrestlers who used "ghostwriters" to write their biographies, Copeland wrote the entire book himself, in longhand. Mick Foley, who also wrote his wrestling autobiography himself in longhand, wrote the foreword to his book. Copeland does not smoke. He claims he had his first cigarette when he was sixteen, hated it, and has not smoked since. Copeland has several tattoos: a red and black sun on his left upper biceps, which covers a tattoo of a muscular shark which resembled the Street Sharks; a star on his right upper biceps with several smaller stars and two skulls wearing bandanas, adorned with flowers and hearts, below said star tattoo; a tattoo of a cross on his left forearm; and another tattoo of a scroll like piece of paper adorned with the words "Rise Above". All of Copeland's tattoos represent a stage in his career. His sun, which Copeland got while recovering from his neck injury, represents "looking towards brighter days." The cross tattoo represents his time with the Brood, and his star and skull tattoos represent his Rated-R Superstar persona and his self-proclaimed status as the "Guns N' Roses of wrestling". He is close friends with fellow wrestler William Reso, otherwise known as Christian. Copeland's favorite band is the Foo Fighters.
Edge has previously dated WWE Diva Ashley Massaro and former WWE Diva Lita.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Edgecator (Kneeling inverted sharpshooter) – 2001–2005; 2011; used rarely in between – innovated
- Edgecution (Lifting DDT, sometimes from the top rope or transitioned to a sitout facebuster)
- One-man con-chair-to; used mainly in hardcore matches – innovated
- Spear, sometimes from the second or top rope
- Signature moves
- Big boot
- Camel clutch
- Diving crossbody
- Edge-O-Matic (Sitout rear mat slam)
- Electric chair into either a drop or a facebuster
- Flapjack
- Flying forearm smash
- Gutbuster
- Missile dropkick
- Northern Lights suplex
- Running crossbody to an opponent draped over the second rope
- Russian legsweep
- Sharpshooter – 2009
- Sitout powerbomb
- Somersault plancha
- Spinning heel kick
- Vertical suplex - sometimes from the top rope
- Winning Edge (Half nelson bulldog)
- With Christian
- Two-man-con-chair-to (Double steel folding chair shot to the head of an opponent)
- Nicknames
- "The Rated R Superstar"
- "The Master Manipulator"
- "The Ultimate Opportunist"
- "King Edge the Awesome"
- Entrance themes
- "Rated RKO" by Jim Johnston (Used while a part of Rated RKO)
- "Metalingus" by Alter Bridge (November 1, 2004–present)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
- World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
- WWE Intercontinental Championship (4 times)
- Slammy Award for Best Dressed (2009)
- Slammy Award for Superstar of the Year (2010)