In so many ways Adam Copeland’s break out in the WWE universe was part of the first wave of a new generation of wrestlers (not to be confused with the New Generation).
A new breed that had previously grown up on the same WWF Eighties characters and story.
Copeland serves as an embodiment of that given his appearance at Wrestlemania VI, sitting eleventh row ringside. Rumour has it you can spot him if you try hard enough (I haven’t). The point is, his generation of wrestlers—think Christian and Matt and Jeff Hardy—came in with an awareness for the global brand of wrestling WWF developed through its Eighties generation of wrestlers. Instead of guessing at what the eventual global brand might look like, these wrestlers knew what it was, how to play to it, and, more importantly how to push it in ring and out. These gave rise to the smart mark wrestlers like CM Punk and Jay Lethal that could play with the form openly (think Punk wearing Macho’s tights from Wrestlemania III or Lethal as Black Machismo in TNA).
Speaking of the Hardyz, no career retrospective of the man called Edge should start very far from the legendary TLC match between the Dudleys, the Hardyz, and Edge and Christian for the WWE Tag Team Titles at Wrestlemania X7. Edge’s spear of the crumpled Jeff Hardy off the ladder down to the canvas is only surpassed by Mick Foley matches for pushing WWE’s limits for what could happen in their wrestling ring.
Edge’s career began much earlier than 1999 and Wrestlemania X7. Adam Copeland himself admits his first incarnation was the best worst name ever in the history of wrestling: Sexton Hardcastle. He worked the indies in Canada (Copeland’s homeland of course) and the States starting in 1992 through the mid-90s. On this circuit he befriended and stabled with Christian Cage and Rhyno, future WWE allies. To highlight the meta-awareness of this new generation of wrestlers, Hardcastle and Cage teamed as the “Canadian Rockers” in their Japan tours.
Ironically, Copeland’s first national exposure was not on WWF TV, but WCW in 1996 when he wrestled as Damon Striker as a jobber to Meng (Haku to WWF fans) on WCW’s C-show, WCW Pro.
When impressed scout Carl De Marco became head of WWF Canada, it was only a matter of time before Copeland broke through with the WWE. It happened when he replaced Bob Holly’s opponent at a house show in Ontario in 1996. The rest is history, a storied and Hall of Fame career (Class of 2012) crescendoing in a final world title defense and shocking retirement.
After taking some polishing at injured Bret Hart’s training camp, Copeland signed his developmental deal with WWE in 1997. Despite his stable experience on the indie circuit and tag team work, Edge debuted in ’98 as a loner, an encapsulation of late-grunge angst that came out of the crowd to wrestle his opponents. The gimmick kept him strictly below the mid-card and in gimmick matches (he was the ill fitting mystery partner of Sable against Marc Mero and Jaqueline in a mixed tag match at SummerSlam ’98). Most noteworthy of this early singles run for Edge is that he defeated Vader in Vader’s last televised match for the WWE.
Edge’s shine would start to come out in the stable-happy post-NWO wrestling of the late Nineties. Teamed with the vampire-gimmicked Gangrel and storyline brother Christian, the Brood were a formidable heel stable.
The Brood spent the first part of 1999 joining then breaking away from and feuding with the Undertaker’s stable, the Ministry of Darkness. At King of the Ring 1999 Edge and Christian were paired in a losing effort to the Hardyz, in what would become a magical tag team matchup to come over the next several years.
When it came time to build the Brood’s legitimacy it was Edge, not the leader Gangrel, booked to win the Intercontinental Title off of Jeff Jarrett (even if it was only for a temporary pop at a house show in Canada; he lost the belt back to Jarrett the next night).
To further the Hardy Boyz rivalry with Edge and Christian, Gangrel was booked to turn on Edge and Christian and lead the Hardyz as the New Brood. Recognizing lighting in a bottle the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian were booked in a series through Wrestlemania 2000 (WM 16), in the first Triangle Ladder Match that spawned the TLC series. There Edge and Christian won the Tag Titles and continued as the dominant heel team throughout the year, elevated more by a successful defense against Degeneration-X at Backlash 2000.
More matches with the Hardyz followed, and culminated with the Hardyz taking the titles back at SummerSlam that year. In another meta-aware move, denied another title shot, Edge and Christian dressed as Los Conquistadores to defeat the Hardyz at No Mercy, a call back to Survivor Series 1988 (they lost the titles back the next night when the Hardy Boyz switched the gimmick and wrestled as the masked and body-suited “Latin American” team).
The run of Edge and Christian also evolved the wrestlers’ respective personas. The two moved away from the Brood’s vampiric and moody and dark gimmick into mocking, comedy heels that were genuinely funny (an important distinction from say a Jerry Lawler comedy heel). No doubt, without this shift, Edge and Christian wouldn’t have gone on to their championship reigns (Edge in WWE and Christian in TNA/Impact). Hell, it’s why Edge and Christian still get WWE money today (see the WWE Network series The Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness). It’s no doubt why his transition to acting post-wrestling has gone so well (see Vikings, see Private Eyes).
From 2001-2003 Edge established himself as the most worthy of mid-card champions, winning the Intercontinental Title and US Titles (once WCW was acquired by Vince) several times, even unifying the belts at one point. During this time his feuds with Christian and Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero solidified him as someone that could work headline worthy matches, and someone worthy of getting the torch post-Austin, post-Rock, post-HHH. It was during this time too that he got another Tag Title reign, this time alongside one of his childhood idols, the man he saw defeated by the Ultimate Warrior live at Wrestlmania VI, Hulk Hogan.
Unfortunately, Edge was then sidelined for a year with injury and surgery, but when he reemerged in 2004 he was pushed as a top title contender. He teamed then feuded with then champion Chris Benoit and was put into storyline over the next year to wrestle Benoit and Triple H on and off for the shot at the title or the title itself. Though unsuccessful at these attempts, Edge was now a top top guy. Adding to his TLC first on the list of firsts, Edge won the first Money in the Bank Ladder match. He lost his cash in title shot to Batista.
Shortly after this in 2005, Copeland began the real life affair with Lita, that resulted in the very public and shoot and kayfabe rivalry with Matt Hardy, whom Lita had been dating. Edge got the upper hand in the in-ring rivalry that ended when Hardy was moved over to the Smackdown brand and Copeland was once again shelved with injury (a now recurring theme that will lead to the end we should have seen coming but didn’t).
When he returned in 2006 he was once again pushed as top heel, this time, and finally, successfully defeating then champion John Cena at New Year’s Revolution after both had previously wrestled in the evening. After successfully defending the belt on Raw against Ric Flair, he lost it back to Cena at the Royal Rumble in a succession of matches where 3 generations of wrestlers collided.
Perhaps it’s important to stop there then and consider. I mean at this point we could run through every storyline, every title loss and switch, but you can read biographies or Wikipedia for that. Additionally, the ever-swelling WWE roster and brand splits and dual titles that would rise in the late 2000s into the 2010s began to create an inordinate amount of belt swapping and title changes and gimmicks that would have been unheard of in previous generations, and becomes tiresome to simply list.
But then, that generation and industry change is kind of my takeaway in looking back at the career of Adam Copeland in a lot of ways. He’s perhaps the top guy that ushered in the current era of wrestling. Like many wrestlers he bridged the gap between the two WWEs, pre- and post- competition from the likes of WCW and ECW. But what made him unique was his wit and intelligence in building a talent that would transcend the bloated roster and out of control title swaps. That’s why no doubt he is the record holder for World Heavyweight Championships at seven title reigns, the WWE Champions four times, and held thirty-one WWE titles overall, battling the old guard—Kane, the Undertaker, Triple H, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio—and the new—Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio. It is against the latter, Del Rio, that Edge successfully defended his World Title against in his last televised match at Wrestlemania XXVII. A new neck injury on top of many others, partly due to his popularizing the spear that Goldberg and Rhyno would later appropriate, became the last injury Adam Copeland wanted.
In April of 2011 Edge retired as Champion of the World. And, looking back at this storied and unprecedented run, from the Attitude Era through the modern product, it’s no wonder WWE made him one of the fastest Hall of Fame inductees ever, making him the headliner of the HOF Class of 2012.
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