The Rated R Superstar

I will start my wrestler profiles by profiling my favorite superstar of all time and one of the newest inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame, The Rated R Superstar, Edge.

Stats:                                                                                          Signature Moves                     
Real Name: Adam Copeland                                                      Spear                                                   
Height: 6'5"                                                                                    Downward Spiral                    
Weight: 241 Lbs.                                                                           Edgecator                   
Birth: October 30, 1973                                                               Edgecution                   
Debuted: July 1, 1993                                                                   Con-Chair-To                   
Retired: April 11, 2011

Wrestling Accomplishments:

• 2 time ICW Street Fight Tag Team Champion (with Christian)
• 1 time NTPW Tag Team Champion (with Christian)
• 1 time SSW Tag Team Champion (with Christian Cage)
• 7 time World Heavyweight Champion
• 4 time WWE Champion
• 5 time WWE Intercontinental Champion
• 1 time WCW United States Champion
• 12 time WWE World Tag Team Champion (with Christian (7 times), Chris Benoit (2 times), Hulk Hogan (1 time), Randy Orton (1 time), and Chris Jericho (1 time))
• 2 time WWE Tag Team Champion (with Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho)
• 2001 King of the Ring Winner
• 2005 Money in the Bank Winner
• 2010 Royal Rumble Winner
• 2012 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee

Pro Wrestling Illustrated Awards

• PWI Match of the Year (2000) (with Christian vs. Dudley Boys vs. The Hardy Boyz in a triangle ladder match at Wrestlemania 2000)
• PWI Match of the Year (2001) (with Christian vs. Dudley Boys vs. Hardy Boyz in Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match at Wrestlemania X-Seven)
• PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2001)
• PWI Comeback of the Year (2004)
• PWI Feud of the Year (2005) (with Lita vs. Matt Hardy) 
• PWI Feud of the Year (2006) (vs. John Cena)
• PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2006)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards

• Tag team of the Year (2000) (with Christian)
• Match of the year (2002) (with Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit at No Mercy)
• Worst Worked Match of the Year (2008) (vs. Vladmir Kozlov and Triple H at Survivor Series)
• Worst Feud of the Year (2010) (vs. Kane)

Early Life
Adam Copeland is from a single parent family. He has never met his father or seen a picture of him. When he was 18 he won an essay contest at Sully's Gym offering him free wrestling training. Copeland put his wrestling aspirations aside to help pay for the bills and got a degree in radio broadcasting from Humber College.


Early Career
Throughout the 1990s Copeland wrestled on the independent circuit under the name Sexton Hardcastle. He formed a stable called Sex and Violence with Joe Legend, Zakk Wyld, Bill Skullion, Rhino Richards, and his longtime childhood friend, Christian Cage.  He also had a short stint with World Championship Wrestling.

World Wrestling Federation and The Brood
Copeland was asked to wrestle in a WWF match by the legend, Bret Hart in 1996. He debuted on November 10, 1997 as Sexton Hardcastle. That was the night after Hart left the company. He officially mad his television debut on June 22 1998. He was portrayed as a loner character and entered the arena through the crowd. Edge began to feud with the vampire character known as Gangrel. During the feud Gangrel introduced Christian to the fans as Edge's brother. Eventually Edge joined Christian and Gangrel and they were known as The Brood. The brood would then join The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkeness, but in May 1999 they broke away after Christian was beat up by Ken Shamrock and forced to reveal the whereabouts of Stephanie McMahon. The Undertaker chose to punish Christian, but Edge and Gangrel stood by his side.

Edge won his first singles title on July 24, 1999 when he captured the Intercontinental title from Jeff Jarrett at a house show in Toronto. He lost it the next night at the Fully Loaded Pay Per View. Later in the year Edge and Christian were betrayed by Gangrel when he formed the New Brood with Matt and Jeff Hardy, also known as the Hardy Boyz. Edge and Christian (as they were now being called) won their first tag team championship when they beat The Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boys in a triple threat ladder match at Wrestlemania 2000. They won the titles six more times after that. During this time they trademarked the five second pose. Along with the two previously mentioned teams, Edge and Christian competed in the first ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Summerslam 2000.

Intercontinental Champion
Edge won the King of the Ring tournament in June of 2001 and sided with the WWF during the Invasion angle. Out of jealousy, Christian betrayed Edge and the two feuded over the Intercontinental Championship. They traded the title back and forth a couple of times. Edge then lost the Intercontinental title to Test, but won the United States Title. At Survivor Series 2001, he beat Test to unify the two titles. 

At the beginning of 2002 Edge was put into a feud with William Regal where he came up short. He also feuded with Booker T over a Japanese shampoo endorsement. Edge was then drafted to Smackdown in the first ever WWE draft lottery. He started out on Smackdown with a feud against Kurt Angle where Angle was forced to get his head shaven in a hair vs. hair match. He also won the World Tag Team Championship with his childhood idol, Hulk Hogan. After No Way Out 2003, Edge had a neck injury and would be sidelined for about a year.

The Return of Edge
Edge was drafted by the RAW brand when he recovered from injury.  He had success and won the World Tag Team Championship with Chris Benoit and the Intercontinental Championship, but it was all short lived because he suffered a groin injury which made him vacate the title. Upon his return Edge started showing a more villainous side. He was one of the possible votes (along with Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit) to be able to compete against Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Shawn Michaels won, so Benoit and Edge were put into the tag team championship match. During the match Edge walked out on his partner, but Benoit still managed to win the titles. Edge then interfered in Shawn Michaels match, costing him the championship.

On the November 1 RAW, Edge and Benoit lost the tag team titles when Edge just sat in a chair and watched Benoit get beat up. After the match Edge attacked Benoit. During a battle royal for the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Title Edge and Chris Benoit both eliminated each other from the match, making the world title match a triple threat. During the match Edge pinned Benoit at the same time Benoit got Triple H to submit to the Crippler Crossface. As a result, the title was vacated. In January 2005, Edge competed in his first ever elimination chamber at New Year's Revolution. Edge was the first eliminated after a Shawn Michaels Superkick. This resulted in a match at the Royal Rumble where Edge won.

Mr. Money In The Bank and Matt Hardy
At Wrestlemania 21, Edge won the first ever Money In the Bank Match. This gave him a contract for a World Heavyweight Championship match at some point during the year. During this time Copeland began an affair with Amy Dumas, also known as Lita. During the time that Copeland started the affair, Dumas was still dating Copeland's friend, Matt Hardy. Shortly after the incident, the WWE released Hardy resulting in a lot of backlash from the fans against Copeland.  Later in the year Hardy returned and the real life incident was created into a storyline.

During a match with Kane in July of 2005, Hardy returned and issued threats to Edge and Lita. Edge and Hardy had a match at Summerslam where Edge won and Hardy had a significant amount of blood loss. They fought a few more times and eventually they entered in a loser leaves RAW ladder match. Edge won and Hardy left RAW and headed to Smackdown. After this Edge suffered a torn pectoralis major muscle and was sidelined for a few weeks. During his time off from active competition he started his own talk show on RAW called The Cutting Edge and he started calling himself the Rated R Superstar.

Feud with John Cena
After the grueling elimination chamber match at New Years Revolution in 2006 where John Cena retained the WWE Championship, Edge decided it was time to cash in his money in the bank. Edge defeated Cena in less than two minutes and won his first ever WWE Championship. This resulted in one of the most heated moments in RAW history. Edge and his girlfriend Lita said that they were going to have a live sex show on that nights RAW. Before anything got underway they were interrupted by Ric Flair. Edge attacked Flair with a Con-Chair-To and John Cena came out to save him. At the Royal Rumble Edge lost the championship to Cena.

Edge lost again on a special Thursday night episode of RAW. He blamed special referee Mick Foley for his loss and this resulted in a hardcore match at Wrestlemania 22. Edge won when he speared Foley through a flaming table and suffered second degree burns. After this feud Edge continued to challenge Cena for his championship. This resulted in a triple threat match at Backlash also involving Triple H that Cena won. After this match Edge continued to feud with Mick Foley until Foley betrayed his friend Tommy Dreamer and sided with Edge and they started calling each other the true hardcore champions. At One Night Stand Edge, Foley, and Lita defeated Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk and Beulah McGillicutty. Later in the event Edge interfered in John Cena's and Rob Van Dam's championship match allowing RVD to win the title.

Edge won number one contenders match on RAW, but was unable to win the title from RVD at Vengeance. Two weeks later on RAW Edge pinned RVD in a triple threat match also involving Cena to win his second WWE Championship. Edge lost to Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event by disqualification so he would not lose his title. This resulted in a match at Summerslam where if Edge was disqualified he would lose his championship. Edge beat Cena after hitting him with brass knuckles when the referee was not looking. After this Edge disposed of Cena's spinner belt and revealed his new Rated R belt. Cena then made a deal with Edge that if he could not beat Edge for the title at Unforgiven in Edge's hometown of Toronto, Cena would move to Smackdown. Edge agreed and declared that it would be a TLC match. Cena won after giving Edge the FU of the ladder through two stacked tables.

Rated RKO
D Generation X cost Edge his final shot at John Cena's championship on October 2, 2006.  This resulted in Edge asking Randy Orton to join forces and defeat DX. Randy Orton accepted and the alliance, Rated RKO, was born. The two were the first to beat DX since their reunion and they even won the tag titles which was Edge's record breaking 11th. To enrage DX, Rated RKO attacked Ric Flair and this resulted in a match at New Years Revolution for Rated RKO's tag titles. The match was ruled a no contest after Triple H suffered a legitimate injury. They continued to feud with Shawn Michaels and lost the tag team titles to him and John Cena. Orton Edge started to get angry with each other when their own aspirations to become WWE Champion got in the way of their friendship.

La Familia
On May 7, 2007 Edge defeated Mr. Kennedy to win his Money in the Bank title opportunity. On May 11, Edge cashed in his contract against The Undertaker  after Undertaker just beat Batista in a steel cage match and was decimated by a returning Mark Henry. He beat Undertaker and won his first ever World Heavyweight Championship. As a result of his victory Edge became a member of the Smackdown brand. Edge entered a feud with Batista and beat him three times at Judgement Day, One Night Stand, and Vengeance. He then entered a feud with Kane. Edge was forced to vacate the World Title after a torn pectoral muscle injury.

At Survivor Series 2007 Edge made his return and interfered in a Hell in the Cell match between Undertaker and Batista. Edge announced on the following Smackdown that he was in a relationship with general manager, Vickie Guerrero. At Armageddon 2007, Edge  beat Undertaker and Batista in a triple threat match to again become champion. Edge used two look-alikes to distract Undertaker and Batista. These look-alikes were later revealed to be The Major Brothers, now named Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. Edge also formed an alliance with Chavo Guerrero and assisted him in winning the ECW Championship from CM Punk. This group came to be known as La Familia. Edge proposed to Vickie on a Valentine's Day episode of Smackdown.

Edge lost the title to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXIV when he tapped out to the Hell's Gate. He again lost to Taker at Backlash. After Backlash the Undertaker was stripped of the World Title by Vickie Guerrero. Edge and Taker faced for the vacated title at Judgement Day. The Hell's Gate was band. This match resulted in a countout victory, so no champion was crowned. They met again at One Night Stand in a TLC match. Edge won and Undertaker was forced to leave the company.

On June 30, 2008 Edge lost the title to CM Punk after Edge was beaten up by Batista and Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank. Edge took his frustrations out on Vickie and told her that the wedding was canceled. A week later Vickie saved Edge from a con-chair-to from the Big Show and Edge proposed again and the wedding was back on. On July 18, 2008 Triple H came out during the wedding reception and showed a video of Edge cheating on Vickie with the wedding planner, Alicia Fox. At the Great American Bash Edge faced Triple H for the championship and was given the title to use as a weapon by Fox, but was foiled by Vickie. Edge hit the spear on Vickie and Triple H hit the pedigree and retained the title. Edge tried to apologize to Vickie, but she announced that she reinstated the Undertaker and he was facing Edge inside Hell in a Cell at Summerslam. Edge officially ended La Familia when he did the con-chair-to to Chavo and threw Vickie out of her wheelchair. At Summerslam, Undertaker defeated Edge.

Edge returned at Survivor Series to beat Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov in a triple threat match to win his third World Heavyweight Championship. Edge lost the title to Jeff Hardy at Armageddon, but won it again at the Royal Rumble. At No Way Out Edge lost the title in an elimination chamber after being the first one pinned. Later that night he attacked Kofi Kingston and entered himself in the chamber match for the WWE Championship. He won that match after last eliminating Rey Mysterio. At Wrestlemania XXV Edge lost the championship to John Cena in a triple threat match also involving Big Show. He got the title back three weeks later when he beat Cena in a last man standing match. After successfully defending the title against Jeff Hardy at Judgement Day, he lost it to him at Extreme Rules. The next night on RAW Edge admitted to Vickie that he only married her because she had authoritative power and that he wanted a divorce.

World Championship and Retirement
 In June Edge won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships with Chris Jericho. On July 3 Edge suffered a torn Achilles Tendon and it was said that he would be out of action for up to a year. Jericho replaced Edge with Big Show as tag team champion. At the Royal Rumble in 2010 Edge entered as a surprise entrant at number 29 and won the rumble. Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out and Edge challenged him for the title at Wrestlemania XXVI. Edge lost the match. During the 2010 WWE Draft, Edge was drafted back to the RAW brand. Edge entered a feud with Randy Orton because Orton did not want to get back together and form Rated RKO. Edge was part of Team WWE when they faced the Nexus at Summerslam. He then entered a feud against the anonymous RAW General Manager, where the GM cost him several matches.

At Night of Champions Edge failed to win the WWE Championship in a six pack challenge. At Hell in a Cell he beat Jack Swagger. The next night on RAW Edge was told he was traded to Smackdown for CM Punk after he destroyed the GM's computer. He joined Team Smackdown and helped them to win the trophy at Bragging Rights. After that he started a feud with World Heavyweight Champion, Kane. At TLC Edge defeated Kane, Rey Mysterio, and Alberto Del Rio in a TLC match to win the World Heavyweight Championship. After the Royal Rumble Alberto Del Rio announced that he would be challenging Edge for his championship. On February 18, Vickie Guerrero fired Edge and awarded the championship to her boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler. Teddy Long reinstated him and he beat Ziggler for his record breaking seventh World Heavyweight Championship and 11th World Championship in his career.

At Elimination Chamber Edge successfully defended his title in the Smackdown elimination chamber match. He was attacked by Alberto Del Rio, but Christian saved him. The next night on Smackdown, Edge and Christian reunited to defeat Alberto Del Rio and Brodus Clay. At Wrestlemania XXVII Edge successfully defended his title against Alberto Del Rio. On April 11, 2011 Edge announced that he was being forced to retire. He was suffering from cervical spinal stenosis and the doctors could not medically clear him to wrestle. He relinquished his World Title on April 15. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2012.

I hope you enjoyed this insight into the life of Adam Copeland. These take a lot of work, so I will try to do at least one a week. If you have any thoughts on who you want done next leave a comment.