Biggest Fan: John Rohner "Was in a tag team with Hulk Hogan. He's beaten so much people. His favorite move is called the spear."
Adam Copeland grew up in Ontario a huge fan of wrestling; he was even in the crowd at WrestleMania VI to witness Ultimate Warrior battling Hulk Hogan. After high school, he won an essay contest whereby he was granted free professional wrestling training. In the mid-1990s, Copeland and his childhood friend, Christian Cage, formed a tag team, The Suicide Blondes, on the independent wrestling circuit. Copeland was spotted by Bret "Hitman" Hart, and this eventually led to Copeland securing a developmental contract with the World Wrestling Federation.
Edge, as Copeland would now be called, made his television debut on the June 22, 1998 episode of Raw is War. All the building blocks were in place for Edge to have a solid career. He had cool music, he'd make his way to the ring through the crowd rather than down the aisle, he was tall and formidable-looking, he had an array of high impact moves and great mic skills. Soon, Edge was joined by Christian in the WWF and they formed a vampire-themed wrestling stable called The Brood.
After being dumped by Gangrel, Edge and Christian together formed a very memorable and successful tag team. They captured the WWF Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 2000 for the first time in the celebrated Tables, Ladders and Chairs match that also featured The Dudley Boyz and The Hardys. The following year, at WrestleMania X-Seven, the three teams would participate in a TLC match again, with Edge and Christian winning again, capturing the title for their seventh time. Both of these matches were designated by Pro Wrestling Illustrated as Match of the Year, perfect bookends to the period when Edge and Christian dominated the tag team ranks together.
Edge would go on to become the 2001 King of the Ring tournament winner, cementing his place on the WWF roster as a major singles competitor. Edge soon turned heel, though, and further fueled the flames of hatred the fans had for him by becoming involved with Lita, Matt Hardy's ex-girlfriend. The newly-dubbed "Rated-R Superstar" went on to win the first of many "Money in the Bank" ladder matches, and he cashed this in nine months later at the perfect opportunity. After John Cena successfully defended his title at New Year's Revolution in 2006, he was stunned by the announcement that he would immediately be defending the belt against Edge. Edge's opportunism was rewarded, as he became WWE Champion for the first time after spearing Cena twice and scoring the pinfall.
Edge's other accolades include a 2010 Royal Rumble win, seven World Heavyweight Championships, four total WWE Championships, fourteen tag team championships, a reign as United States Champion and five times holding the Intercontinental Championship. Shockingly, during his seventh World Heavyweight title reign, Edge was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and forced to retire from professional wrestling two months ago. Seemingly in his wrestling prime, it's almost unbelievable that this superstar's career (it seems like only yesterday that it'd begun) has come to a close. Either way, though, Edge did enough during the last dozen years to secure his spot as one of the Top 100 Superstars of Wrestling.
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