Childhood & Early Life
Edge was born on October 30, 1973 in Orangeville, Ontario. He was raised by his single mother, Judy Copeland, who worked tirelessly to support her son.
Edge’s tryst with professional wrestling started early. He was a big fan of the sport and its legendary players and followed it religiously. It was this love that inspired him to become a wrestler himself.
His aspirations to become a wrestler took a backseat due to financial constraints. He took up odd jobs for survival. He graduated from Humber College with a degree in radio broadcasting. However, his love for the sport did not subside and he started training during weekends.
During the 1990s, he wrestled on the independent circuit under the name Sexton Hardcastle. He became a part of the tag team Sex and Violence. His independent career saw him achieve many victories. Together with wrestler Cage, he was known as The Suicide Blondes duo.
During the summer of 1995, Bret Hart spotted Edge and upon his suggestion Edge sent his audition tape to WWF. Though nothing materialized immediately, it marked the beginning of Edge’s WWF career.
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Career
Edge’s first ever fight in WWF was on May 10, 1996 as Sexton Hardcastle. Later in 1997, he toured the Grand Prix, where he got training from De Marco. Post training, he made his WWF television debut on the June 1998 as Edge against Jose Estrada Jr.
Edge’s first singles title, the WWF Intercontinental Championship, came on July 1999, when he defeated Jeff Jarrett. However, he lost the title next night to Jarrett. He collaborated with Christian for WrestleMania 2000. The duo went on to win the WWF Tag Team Championship, a victory they replicated six more times. However, they lost the tag titles to Hardy Boyz later.
In 2001, Edge went on to make a name for himself as an emerging singles competitor by winning the King of the Ring tournament. During this time, his friendship with Christian went sour and the two fought over Intercontinental Championship title, in which Edge defeated Christian. He, however, lost it to Test later. Edge made up for his loss by winning the WCW US Championship title from Kurt Angle.
Edge collaborated with Hulk Hogan to win the World Tag Team Championship in July 2002. However, they could not retain the title for long as they lost to Lance Storm and Christian. Edge’s feud with Christian finally ended when he won the SmackDown match.
For the SmackDown! WWE Tag Team Championship, Edge formed a tag team with Rey Mysterio. Though they lost to Kurt Angle and Christ Benoit, the match was voted as the ‘Match of the Year’. Later, Edge and Mysterio won their first Tag Team Championship title only to lose it to Los Guerreros later.
Following the loss, Edge parted ways with Mysterio, to focus on his singles career. In 2004, he was placed on the Raw brand in the WWE draft lottery. Together with Benoit, he defeated Kane to win the World Tag Team Championship. The team disbanded when Edge won the Intercontinental Championship at Vengeance defeating Randy Orton. However, in November, Edge and Benoit lost the World Tag Team Championship.
When the World Heavyweight title was vacated in 2005, Edge competed in the first Elimination Chamber match, which he won by defeating Michaels. Simultaneously, at WrestleMania 21, he won his first ever Money in the Bank ladder match that took him straight to World Heavyweight Championship. His first ever World Heavyweight Championship match was against Batista which he lost.
After Edge lost his 2006 New Year’s Revolution match to Flair, he challenged John Cena, the then reigning WWE Champion for the championship. Just after two spears, Edge defeated Cena to win his debut WWE Championship. It also marked his first world title win. Later, on January 16, 2006, he defeated Ric Flair in a TLC match to retain the WWE Championship title. However, at the Royal Rumble, Edge lost the WWE Championship back to Cena.
Edge’s second WWE Championship title came when he defeated Van Dam in a Triple Threat match on Raw. He retained his title at the SummerSlam when he defeated Cena. The two met yet again on the ring at the Unforgiven event held in September 2006 where Edge lost the championship to Cena.
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In October 2006, together with Randy Orton, Edge formed the tag team, Rated RKO. Rated RKO was the first to defeat Triple H and Shawn Michael’s DX. They soon dominated the Raw brand’s tag team to become the tag team champions. With this, Edge became a record holder of 11 World Tag Team Championship title reigns in his WWE career. They lost their title when Michaels paired with Cena to defeat the Rated RKO duo.
In May 2007, Edge became the first person to gain the Money in the Bank contract twice. Meanwhile Undertaker took the World Heavyweight Championship title from Batista. Later, Edge speared Undertaker for his first World Heavyweight Championship title. He successfully defended his championship title against Batista at Judgment Day. However, he was forced to relinquish the title following a loss against Kane.
In November 2007, Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon. However, at WrestleMania XXIV, he lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Undertaker.
Edge’s third WWE Championship win of his career came in November 2008 when he pinned Triple H to become the WWE Champion. The following month however, Edge lost the title to Hardy at Armageddon in a Triple Threat match. Interestingly, at the Royal Rumble, he regained the title in a no disqualification match but lost the title in February 2009 at the No Way Out event in Elimination chamber.
Edge won his eighth World Championship, eliminating Rey Mysterio and taking the title over to SmackDown. At WrestleMania XXV, he lost the championship to John Cena in a Triple Threat match. He won it yet again only to lose it to Jeff Hardy.
Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship with Chris Jericho at The Bash in 2009. The win made him a 12 time World Tag Team Champion. Later, Edge and Jericho’s relationship turned sour, after Edge suffered from an injury.
Edge returned to the ring at the Royal Rumble, in 2010. Despite coming in after an injury, he went on to win the Royal Rumble for the first time in his career. He defeated John Cena in the final match.
After his win at Royal Rumble, Edge was drafted back to Raw in WWE. At SmackDown and Rated RKO, he began a feud with his former partners Christian and Randy Orton. He returned to Money in the Bank ladder match as well but failed to strike a win.
In October 2010, during an episode of SmackDown, Edge defeated Dolph Ziggler to become part of Team SmackDown at WWE's Bragging Rights PPV event. He even won the cup for Team SmackDown.
Following his victory for Team SmackDown, in December 2010, he defeated Kane, Rey Mysterio, and Alberto Del Rio in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs PPV event to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the sixth time. This made him a ten-time World Champion. Later, he successfully defended his Championship title against Kane
In February 2011, Edge defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the World Heavyweight Champion for the seventh time. It was his eleventh World Championship title overall. He successfully defended his World Heavyweight Championship title in an Elimination Chamber match by pinning down Rey Mysterio.
Edge’s last official in-ring match was at the WrestleMania XXVII against Alberto Del Rio. He pinned down Del Rio to become successfully defend his world title in the last ever match. On April 15, 2011 in an episode of SmackDown, he gave up on his World Heavyweight Championship, officially retiring as a World Champion.
Wrestling apart, Edge’s indulged in acting as well. He made cameo appearances in several films, television series and music videos, such as ‘Highlander: End Game’, ‘Mind of Mencia’, ‘Haven’, ‘The Flash’, ‘The Edge and Christian Show’ and ‘Bending the Rules’.
