Wrestling / Edge (Wrestler)

The Master Manipulator.
The Ultimate Opportunist.
The Rated-R Superstar.

You think you know me?^note Hehe. You never did.

Adam Joseph Copeland (born October 30, 1973) is a Canadian actor and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling, where he performs under his real name Adam Copeland, but is likely best known for his long run in WWE under the name Edge.

As Edge, he was among WWE's top talents (rivaling, if not surpassing, Triple H and Randy Orton as the most notorious heels of the first decade of the 2000s), and has many championship titles to his name: 4x WWE Champion, 7x World Heavyweight Champion, 5x Intercontinental Champion, WCW United States Champion, 12x World Tag Team Champion (7x with Christian, twice with Chris Benoit, once with Hulk Hogan, once with Randy Orton, and once with Chris Jericho), and 2x WWE Tag Team Champion (once with Rey Mysterio Jr. and once with Chris Jericho.) He also won King of the Ring in 2001, the Royal Rumble twice in 2010 and 2021, and the inaugural Money in the Bank in 2005. (He also won the Money in the Bank briefcase from Mr. Kennedy in 2007.)

Edge gained notoriety in the WWE first as member of The Brood, along with Gangrel and Christian. Edge and Christian became one of the tag-team division's mainstays. In the latter half of the Attitude Era, he and Christian engaged in long-running feuds with the Dudley Boys and the Hardy Boyz; these feuds included several now-legendary Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. Edge eventually found singles success, especially after his victory in the first Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which brought him into the main event scene after he used the contract to win the WWE Championship from John Cena. He became known as the "Rated-R Superstar" after his real-life affair with WWE Diva Lita became a part of his on-screen persona. He was also nicknamed "The Ultimate Opportunist" due to his penchant for using any available means to steal title victories from his opponents.

His career ended in April 2011 following a successful defense of the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 27. In a surprise announcement on the following night's Raw, Edge revealed that a previous neck surgery had led to his spine deteriorating; he risked being paralyzed or killed if he continued to perform in the ring. Rather than risk his health, Edge retired from in-ring competition. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2012.

After retiring, Edge starting dating wrestler Beth Phoenix. They had two children before marrying in 2016 on Edge's 43rd birthday.

After spending at least the latter months of 2019 denying rumors of a comeback, he made an appearance in the 2020 Royal Rumble, and confirmed that he was medically cleared to resume his wrestling career on the following night's RAW. After his WWE contract expired in 2023, he moved to AEW, making his debut with that company using his real name at WrestleDream. He's a 2x AEW TNT Champion.

He also played as a recurring character on Syfy's Haven, as well as The History Channel's Vikings, guest-starred on Sanctuary and played the lead in Money Plane. He, along with Christian, also hosted the WWE Network Show The Edge and Christian Show. He has been cast in Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023) as Ares, the Greek god of war.

During the course of his career, Edge racked up a total of 31 different WWE championship victories, more than any other wrestler in the history of the company - including 16-time world champions John Cena and Edge's fellow Hall of Famer Ric Flair.

This Edge is not to be confused with the video game Edge (2008), U2 guitarist The Edge, Final Fantasy IV's ninja prince, the knife-loving delinquent from Rival Schools, or the wielder of the Star Dragon Sword from Suikoden III.

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Rated 'R' Tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Edge and Lita's feud with Kane in 2005 abruptly ended within a few weeks. Instead, the feud was transferred to Matt Hardy due to Real Life Writes the Plot.
• Angrish: What he veered into when he was confronted by Daniel Bryan and Kane who did the usual "I am the the Tag Team Champions!" shtick.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Does this to the Anonymous RAW General Manager's laptop, which he uses to communicate with Michael Cole. But then his own bit of self-inflicted logic kicks in...
  Edge: WHY DO YOU KEEP INTERFERING IN MY BUSINESS?! WH—(Beat)... why am I arguing with a computer?
• Anti-Villain: In the lead-up to WrestleMania 37, he turned heel after Daniel Bryan was added to his match for the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. While he's portrayed as being in the wrong for his actions, even the face commentators admit that his motives comes from a reasonable complaint (that Edge, as the winner of the 2021 Royal Rumble, had already won a world title shot, only for Bryan to add himself up at the eleventh hour).
• Arch-Enemy:
  • John Cena. Despite WWE's attempts to push Orton as Cena's greatest rival, most fans agree that title belongs to either Edge or CM Punk. Cena's feud with Edge was integral to him developing the mega-face character he's more well-known for today, along with establishing Edge's legacy as one of WWE's most iconic heels. In addition, unlike Orton, who didn't really care about Cena other than the fact that he kept getting in his way, and Punk, who admitted to actually liking and respecting Cena, Edge flat-out hated everything about Cena and said as much to the man's face.
  • Batista and The Undertaker, which ironically happened after he interfered with their own storied rivalry.
  • The unseen GM of Raw (and his laptop).
  • Two words: Matt freakin' Hardy!
    • "That's three words, Paul!"
  • For that matter, Jeff Hardy as well.
  • Kurt Angle around 2001-early 2003.
  • Randy Orton, with whom he's had a rivalry with since at least 2004; Edge was the one to end Randy's eight-month Intercontinental Championship title reign. They buried the hatchet (so to speak) to form Rated-RKO in late 2006 to combat DX, but they didn't even last a year before the partnership fell apart thanks to their respective egos. Four years later in 2010, Edge tried to convince (read: force) Randy into reforming Rated-RKO with him, but Randy wouldn't have it after having just suffered the breakdown of Legacy. They buried the hatchet again after Edge's initial retirement... and then the rivalry started up again after Edge left retirement in 2020, this time far more bitter than ever before.
  • Seth Rollins, ever since Rollins used Edge as a hostage to force John Cena to bring back The Authority, only to try and kill Edge anyway after Cena gave in to his demands. Edge never forgot what happened, and it played a part into their rivalry after Edge left retirement to become a wrestler again. Rollins eventually became such a thorn in Edge's side that they eventually ended up in the Cell together at Crown Jewel 2021.
  • The Judgment Day, ever since the Judgment Day dumped Edge as the leader of the stable, replacing him with Finn Bálor, Edge vowed to destroy the very thing he created. Things eventually got so bad that Edge and Bálor ended up in Hell in a Cell together at WrestleMania 39, something that only happens outside of the gimmick match's titular PPV when the feud is extremely personal.
  • In AEW, his real-life best friend Christian Cage has become this in kayfabe.
• The Artifact:
  • His ring name, Edge, was basically a Blade Shout-Out around the time he had a vampire gimmick as part of The Brood, but it stuck for the rest of his career and is still a proper nickname for him in his post-wrestling exploits.
  • Still known by the nickname of the 'Rated R Superstar' despite the fact that WWE has gone PG. This has been downplayed following his supernatural heel gimmick change in his return run, but brought back once he turned face again. He kept the nickname as Adam Copeland in AEW, thanks to the fact that WWE abandoned the trademark in 2020.
  • The "You think you know me?" soundbite is in all of his theme songs. It originated in his debut as an angry loner. It stuck with him even after forming many tag teams and alliances. Particularly noteworthy in that he kept that line in all of his theme songs as part of a team with Christian that lasted for three years, yet when the team broke up in 2001 Christian got a new theme proudly proclaiming he was on his own now the next week.
• Atrocious Alias: Edge does not like it when people bring up the name he used in his indy days, Sexton Hardcastle.
• Ax-Crazy: Has no problem dipping into this.
• Badass Decay: In universe, during the whole "La Familia"/Vickie Guerrero angle. When Edge asks for Mick Foley's help with an upcoming Hell in a Cell, Foley calls him on it, and tells him that the only person who can help Edge is Edge himself. And Edge… he understands.
• Badass Longcoat: sometimes more of a torso exposing jacket but frequently used some for of this as his entrance attire
• Bittersweet Ending: The first retirement. He even explains this specifically during his retirement speech on WWE SmackDown on 4/15/11. Surrendering his title after being told to retire because of his injuries is bad, but not only was going out on top as champion and defending his title at WrestleMania in his final match a definite sweetener, the alternative, potentially taking a huge bump and not being able to get back up, would be even worse.
• Black-and-Gray Morality
  • Attempted to invoke this during his feud with Kane.
  • Acted as the 'gray' to Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler's black.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: His rant on how he hated everything that was stupid about the WWE, shortly before being fired from Raw and moved to SmackDown, bordered on this. He said almost everything that haters of WWE's TV-PG era rant about on the internet, and interestingly, a few of them started to like Edge after this incident.
• Book Ends: His initial retirement in 2011 provided plenty of these which stuck for nearly nine years.
  • On January 8, 2006, at New Year's Revolution inside Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y., Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship, the first of 11 world championships he would hold in his career. Fastforward to SmackDown airing April 15, 2011. Edge's career was ended due to chronic problems stemming from his 2003 spinal fusion surgery. As such, he was forced to surrender the World Heavyweight Championship inside the Times Union Center (formerly known as Pepsi Arena), the same arena where he won his first world title.
  • Here's another one for you.....the very first move Edge used in his first televised WWE match? The Spear. The final move used in his final match? Naturally the Spear.
  • Edge's debut match was against Jose Estrada, a Hispanic wrestler. His original final match was against Alberto Del Rio - again, a Hispanic wrestler.
  • He debuted "Metalingus" as his theme song interrupting a Christian match. His last night as an official superstar, he came out after a Christian win, and the show ended with "Metalingus".
  • From his debut to his retirement, and most nights in between, five feminine words have served as prelude to his entrance. "You think you know me."
  • His first and last ring entrance sunglasses were the black and red ones.
• Bootstrapped Leitmotif: "Metalingus" by Alter Bridge was used by Copeland as Edge in WWE since 2004. He would continue to use this in AEW.
• Call-Back:
  • A meta example, as he has the ornate cross logo of The Brood tattooed on his arm.
  • In WrestleMania 21, in the first Money in the Bank ladder match, he and Christian did a Conchairto with ladders on Kane.
  • When he started wearing sunglasses in his pre-match entrance again during his final face run, guess which ones he wore? The same red-framed black sunglasses he was wearing in the early goings of the Brood and periodically brought back in 2005-06 as a heel before and after getting with Lita.
  • His cryptic judge heel gimmick started in 2022, featuring Damian Priest as an ally, mentions his old Brood gimmick as well as nodding to Priest's pre-WWE identity as Punishment Martinez, revealing that the seeds were already there and it was their time to fulfill their omnipotent destinies while passing judgment towards their opponents. They even used supernatural dark lights both in their promos and against opponents.
• Canon Discontinuity:
  • After the Paul Bearer kidnapping debacle ended, he has these words to say:
    "Yep, that all actually happened, now if we could forgot that ever happened I'd be thankful."
  • When he and Christian started in WWE they where referred to as brothers. This was however downplayed over the years until they referred to each other as best friends.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Unlike most heels in WWE, Edge never tried to justify his heinous actions or opportunism. He was a thorough scumbag, and more than happy to admit it.
• Career-Ending Injury: The neck injuries he sustained from 2003 on led to his eventual retirement. Happily subverted in 2020.
• Chairman of the Brawl: Frquently uses the good ol' steel chair, and his Money in the Bank briefcase during his "Money in the Bank" run.
• Character Catchphrase: "Beware, take care, because the freaks come out at night!" during his Brood days. Notably this first came out when he salvaged a promo of the Brood with Michael Hayes (as Gangrel flubbed his lines and Christian was The Quiet One at the time). He would later break out this catchphrase during his 2021 feud with Seth Rollins, as he briefly incorporated elements of his Brood character during this time.
• Charlie Brown from Outta Town: When Edge and Christian revived the "Conquistadores" gimmick in 2000. The alternates, "Rick" and "Sparky," were played by Christopher Daniels and Aaron Aguilera.
• Cheap Heat:
  • Edge and Christian's Five Second Poses before their matches, in which they would insult the city, whether if it's the city's culture or sports teams. Kurt Angle would later join them in their poses.
  • The "Omnipotent" Edge revels in telling the fans how unimportant and stupid they are and how he's better than all of them every time he takes the mic, a trait that has since carried on to his protégé Damian Priest.
• Combat Pragmatist: As the "Ultimate Opportunist", Edge will do anything to win a match, whether it's utilizing chairshots, having followers interfere in his matches, distracting the ref, or getting in any cheap shot he can.
• Continuity Nod:
  • He's still "friends" with Zack Ryder, his old fanboy (with a much different gimmick and look) from 2008. Same goes for Curt Hawkins, though to a lesser extent.
  • Also, his late 2010/early 2011 feud with Vickie Guerrero and her new boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler, has repeatedly referenced Edge and Vickie's kayfabe marriage from 2008-09.
  • Edge's retirement speech had a nice long continuity nod to his entire career.
  • His SummerSlam 2021 feud with Seth Rollins has him bring back his old Brood days, from using Gangrel's music, a bloodbath (or "Broodbath" of black paint) and he even rises from a ring of fire, dressed in leather and Cool Shades!
  • Although he cannot namedrop them for obvious reasons, upon joining AEW, Adam telling Christian Cage on Dynamite after WrestleDream that Killswitch (formerly Luchasaurus) and Nick Wayne will inevitably betray Christian when have they gotten enough information from him is exactly what The Judgment Day did to Edge.
  • In a Collision promo before his "I Quit" match against Christian Cage, Copeland stated he received a phone call from a man who reminded him that the only person who can help him is himself, a reference to Mick Foley and his promo with Edge before the latter's match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIV.
• Cool Old Guy: As wrestlers generally qualify as "old" far younger than the general population on account of the damage they suffer over their careers, Edge might just be one of the strongest examples of this trope in wrestling: a wrestling machine who overcame career and life-threatening injuries to return to his craft while pushing 50, somehow better than he ever was before in spite of being way outside his prime on paper.
• The Corrupter: As of WrestleMania 38, Damian Priest aided him to victory against AJ Styles.
• Create Your Own Villain: After Finn, Rhea and Damian kicked him out of Judgment Day, the faction itself became one of the biggest thorns in his side, which he would later acknowledge.
• Cut Short: His career, due to a Game-Breaking Injury. Subverted as of 2020.
• Cute Little Fangs: Edge's eyes and teeth are slightly larger and more prominent than the average person's, making him appear to have fangs. This worked really well in selling the Brood angle.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Born to a single mother who had to work two jobs in order to get by, never met his father, had to put his wrestling ambitions on hold to help pay the bills, and was turned down by WCW after a couple of mediocre jobber matches. By the time he started working at the WWF, he was sunk in college debt totaling $40,000. No wonder he's called "Edge".
• Darker and Edgier: As the Rated-R Superstar. Also, an Incredibly Lame Pun.
• Deadpan Snarker: Something of the core of his persona after going solo.
• Determinator: In the ring and out of it. More than likely, his wrestling career should have ended at least seven years before it actually did. Something he mentioned in his retirement speech as, among other things, he's had lingering pain in his arms for years.
• Deus ex Machina: The in the last several weeks of his feud with Dolph Ziggler/Vickie Guerrero, the stipulations to his Championship matches became steadily harder to work one's way out of. Consequently, the ends of the matches and the ways he was rescued from losing the title became more and more outlandish, including Kelly Kelly retaining his championship in a mixed tag-team match using the Spear (when Vickie Guerrero said that if Edge used the move, he would be disqualified and lose the title), and Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers signing a one-day referee contract to come in and count the pinfall after Vickie (who had set herself up as the guest referee) injured herself trying to spear Edge. Then, finally, when Vickie Guerrero actually stripped him of the title and fired him, he was rescued by Theodore Long (who was supposed to be in critical condition at a hospital) rehiring him and gave him an immediate title match against Ziggler, which he won. The worst part is that he was able to count being stripped of the title for about an hour and a half as a separate title reign, bolstering his resume and giving him eleven world title reigns instead of just ten.
• Disappeared Dad: Has never even seen a picture of his father.
• Distressed Dude: His appearance on the last Raw of 2014 saw him essentially get taken hostage by Seth Rollins. (With the similarities between the two as top heels, this also doubles as Eviler than Thou.)
• Dragged Off to Hell: His Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker ended with him being chokeslammed through the ring and flames rising out of it, the implication being that The Undertaker sent him to Hell. He returned three months later with no explanation.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: The formation of The Judgment Day started off with Edge growing tired of playing the grateful veteran he had been since his return. In challenging AJ Styles at WrestleMania 38, Edge attacked him, provoking Styles to become the "pitbull" that he once was. The high that Edge got from the attack was so intense, to him, it felt like godhood.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: His final match in the WWE was finally getting to walk out as World Champion at WrestleMania. How many wrestlers — even the great ones — get to end their careers as Champion? Much less with any sort of dignity and grace like Edge did.^note About the only similar example since then is Sting, who went out in 2024 as half of the AEW tag team champions.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He pushed a ref because they insulted his mother, and he loves his mom. Also a particularly upsetting point about his loss to Cena at Unforgiven was that he lost in front of his mom.
  • When Christian inducted him to the WWE Hall of Fame, he mentions Edge's goal in the business was to make enough money to buy his mom a house.
• Eviler than Thou: When he and Lita interrupted a women's title match in order for Edge to voice his complaints about not getting enough attention and to get at Trish Stratus, who besides getting a title shot was also in a personal feud with the champion who was not amused by their intrusion. But the ultimate opportunist would not be denied.
  Edge: Mickie, SHUT UP!
• Evil Is Petty: After CM Punk gave him some lip on an WWECW edition of the Cutting Edge, a vindictive Edge interfered in two of Punk's matches with Chavo Guerrero Jr. to make sure Punk lost the ECW Championship. This would come back to bite him in the ass later that year, as Punk ended up being the winner of that year's Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and would cash in on Edge on his first night on RAW to win his first world title. Understandably, the two characters have never gotten along since then, up until Edge's first retirement.
• Evil Power Vacuum:
  • Edge ended up the top face for SmackDown! in 2010 because Batista (who himself was only moved to the blue brand to help make up for the absence of the departed Jeff Hardy) turned heel and moved back to RAW to feud with John Cena. The only other option, The Undertaker, was beginning to slow down his schedule this year, gradually transitioning into the part-timer status he became known for the rest of his career. The problem is that he had trouble connecting with the audience at first as a face after so many years as a heel, so they ended up turning Edge heel again and moving him to RAW for a few months while Rey Mysterio Jr. and The Big Show served as patch jobs to the situation. Then Edge was traded back, having finally gotten over as a face after a, frankly, bizarre feud with the Anonymous RAW GM, and took the position permanently. At least until his first retirement, which led to the opening of its own can of worms.
  • Edge's retirement literally could not have come at a worse time. The main event scene was severely depleted by that point, with Shawn Michaels having retired the year before, Triple H and The Undertaker semi-retired (the latter being mainly relegated to WrestleMania appearances), Chris Jericho on hiatus since late 2010 (he wouldn't come back until 2012), and Rey Mysterio embroiled in a highly entertaining feud with Cody Rhodes (which, no matter how good it was, relegated him to mid-carder status for the time being). The WWE was so reliant on him to carry SmackDown! that they bumped up the draft six weeks early just so they could move Randy Orton to take his place as the top babyface. The vacuum was then gradually filled by younger talent, while his place in the main event scene was taken by CM Punk, who ascended to superstardom during the "Summer of Punk II" of that year. Edge's retirement served as a lesson as to why it's so important for companies to build up younger talent. Not doing so risks not having a big enough name to make decent, money-making feuds with, and it should be noted that this same problem is what killed WCW.
• Eye Take
  • Edge has excellent crazy-eyes.
  • Lampshaded by the "Anonymous GM" laptop:
  "What are you doing, Edge? You've got the crazy eyes!"
• Face–Heel Revolving Door: In 2010 he returned as a face for the first time in six years. He turned back heel after a couple of months because it didn't go down too well. Then by the latter part of the year he was a face again.
• Foreshadowing: During Armageddon 2007, he told Vickie Guerrero that her love gave him the strength of "three men". Most people use the term "strength of twenty men", so where did the power of the other seventeen go? Turns out, this was the debut of the Edgeheads (Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder), who would interfere during his match.
• Finishing Move:
  • The Spear. Occasionally (more so in his earlier days), The Edgecution (which seems to no longer be called by any specific name by WWE commentators nowadays) and before then, The Downward Spiral. On occasion the Edgecator, a variant of the Sharpshooter.
  • When Edge teamed with Christian, they developed a two-man chairshot maneuver they referred to as the "Con-chair-to". They also used the "stacked Superplex," in which Christian sat on Edge's shoulders and they superplexed an opponent off the top turnbuckle.
    • Aside from the "Con-chair-to" mentioned above, he also uses other chair-assisted finishers such as the "One-Man Con-chair-to" variant and, during his feud with Roman Reigns in 2021, a crossface using a broken piece of a steel chair to pull his opponent's face and neck which he calls as the "Glasgow Grin". He also sometimes use regular crossface variations (either the regular arm-trap one or a variant that he combines with a sleeper hold) which he calls as the "Grindhouse" when he starts using it again in AEW.
• Game-Breaking Injury: His neck injury which put him out of action for a year, pulled groin which caused him to vacated the IC title, injured his Achilles heel, which made Jericho choose The Big Show as his new partner.
  • Career-Ending Injury: His surgically-repaired broken neck caused him to retire on the 4/11/11 edition of Raw; due to risk of paralysis or death if he continued to wrestle.
• Genre Throwback: His late 2000s run is very similar to the Attitude Era — law breaking, stupid pranks, faces acting like jackasses, held together by a massively charismatic star.
• Gimmick Matches: The Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match is largely considered to be Edge's "specialty match," much in the same way as Hell in a Cell is for the Undertaker and Triple H. He and Christian won the first two matches under the stipulation at Summerslam 2000 and WrestleMania X-Seven (as well as the Triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania 2000 largely considered to be the match's predecessor) and was undefeated in the match type until his loss to John Cena at Unforgiven 2006.
• Glass Cannon: Edge is somewhat more injury-prone than the average worker, not to mention very aggressive and violent in his style, beating his opponent down, but not being too good on the defensive. And his finisher even involves a fast projectile (himself, but still). This is now Harsher in Hindsight thanks to his retirement.
• Goth: Hinted at when he premiered, then full-tilt as part of the Brood, despite them actually being based on The Lost Boys and thus they're vampires. It is notable that while the Brood gimmick is on the face of it rather silly, it is still fondly remembered by many fans on account of the members were charismatic enough to pull it off.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath:
  • His last face run in WWE was this — he lies, cheats, tortures, kidnaps, psychologically torments, and brutalizes people, but he's so gosh darned funny about it.
  • After seeing him get the fans on SmackDown 11.26.10 to cheer the prospect of him going from kidnapping Paul Bearer to sending Paul Bearer tumbling to his death along with possibly some hapless spectators in the way, can we also claim serious Values Dissonance on his Face run?
  • In this way he's actually quite different from Randy Orton (the Raw Superstar with whom he teamed up in late 2006/early 2007 and whose "sociopath" gimmick most closely mirrors his own). Orton seems to be a lot more methodical in his schemes while Edge is more fiendishly creative, coming off as more mischievous than bloodthirsty. Think of it as the difference between Heath Ledger's version of The Joker (Orton) and Jack Nicholson's version (Edge).
• He's Back!: The end of Edge's career was even more decisive than Daniel Bryan's, because his neck was in such bad shape that all it would take was one bad bump and he'd never walk again, or possibly even die on the spot. But in 2019 at Summerslam he delivered his first wrestling move in almost 9 years when he came out to Spear Elias, setting the IWC buzzing at the possibility that maybe he'd recovered enough that he could be medically cleared to wrestle again, particularly in light of Bryan also being cleared and resuming his career as if nothing had ever happened in 2018. And then at the 2020 Royal Rumble it came time for the 21st man to make his entrance and... "You think you know me..."' The entire arena came unglued.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Christian, who grew up as best friends in Canada, joined wrestling school at the same time, broke into the business together and became the great tag-team "E&C", and as Edge puts it, have been together for twenty-seven years. They did everything together (something promptly lampshaded by Edge's mom when it was learned that they were having their daughters six weeks apart) — the only times they are ever apart were during Christian's stints in TNA and AEW and Edge's retirement.
• Hoist by His Own Petard/Humiliation Conga:
  • In 2008, Edge got beaten down by Batista on Raw, then got beaten for the World Heavyweight Championship by a fresh CM Punk, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract after the Batista beatdown (mirroring Edge's screwing over of John Cena in 2006 and The Undertaker in 2007). This also happened again at AEW World's End 2023, when after winning the TNT Title off of Christian Cage, Cage convinced his henchman Killswitch (who'd just jumped Copeland and savagely beaten him down) to give him the guaranteed TNT Championship match contract that the latter had won earlier that night and then proceeds to cash it in on a tired and brutalized Copeland, re-winning the title.
  • Also, Edge has been on the wrong end of a Con-chair-to a fair few times, such as during his 2011 feud with Alberto Del Rio.
  • Subverted during his early 2011 feud with Vickie Guerrero, who tried to hit him with a Spear during a match. It didn't work.
  • During his Hardcore match against Mick Foley at Wrestlemania 22 Edge goes for the Spear and puts Foley down... but is left rolling around on the floor in agony, apparently in worse shape than Foley. Foley then stands up and takes off his outer flannelette shirt to reveal he'd wrapped his own torso in barbed wire before the match!
• "I Can't Look!" Gesture: On the November 3rd, 2007 edition of Raw, Edge covers his eyes and turns away right before The Undertaker gives a tombstone pile driver to Vickie Guerrero.
• Identical Stranger: Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth and Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin◊. Edge even says so himself.
• I Just Want to Be You: He accused CM Punk of wanting to be him after Punk cashed in for the second time against Jeff Hardy^note Up until Miz did it in 2021, Edge was the only person other than Punk to successfully cash in multiple Money in the Bank briefcases. Punk burst out into laughter when he said this and even the aforementioned Jeff (who was hardly being charitable to Punk at the time) thought it was a ridiculous claim.
• Important Haircut:
  • Shaved off his long blond locks about a year after he retired. It's not his iconic look anymore, but most people think it doesn't look that bad.
    • As of a one-off appearance on WWE Smackdown 's 900th episode, his long hair is back, along with a very healthy (albeit gray-peppered) beard. The new (old?) look returning may have something to do with his upcoming role in Vikings.
  • Previously when he properly turned heel in 2004/2005 his longer hair was cut up to shoulder-length.
• Informed Flaw: Edge's lack of loyalty was often brought up as a reason he wouldn't be trustworthy during the Rated R years, as he'd supposedly turned on every tag team partner and otherwise ally he ever had. He only ever categorically turned on one, Chris Benoit, and that was when they had naturally split off but were forced to continue teaming anyway. With Rey Mysterio and Hulk Hogan, they simply stopped teaming, and he didn't feud with Rey until years later. His-onscreen pairing with Lita ended when she retired with no acrimony between the two. He and Randy Orton both had their own agendas and came to blows mutually. Likewise, his and Vickie Guerrero's mutual conniving got him sent to hell for three months by The Undertaker, crumbling the foundation of La Familia. Chris Jericho dismissed him for Big Show as soon as he got injured, and Gangrel and Christian had both turned on him.
• Irony: Edge got the biggest push of his career when he was paired onscreen with Lita, to take advantage of the heat they were getting for having an affair behind Matt Hardy's back. By the time the couple had gotten together onscreen, they had already split up in Real Life. For further irony, Lita got the brunt of the rage from the fans, to a far greater degree than Edge, which eventually caused her to retire; only for Matt to reveal that he blamed Edge more for what happened, and had forgiven her less than a year later. They even made attempts to get back together before realizing it wasn't going to work out and calling it a quits for good.
• It's All About Me: Exaggerated during the early years of his main-event heel run, with Edge hosting a talk show even when he couldn't compete and knocking over a giant cardboard replica of the latest issue of WWE Magazine just because Torrie Wilson was on the cover instead of him.
• JERKASS: From late-2004 on as a heel.
• Karma Houdini: He goes behind his friend's back and steals his girlfriend, and gets... rewarded by falling into the character that will make him a main event wrestler for years without ever experiencing the slightest negative repercussion? Yep.
  • To be fair, said character is a mostly-Heel Magnificent Bastard. Wait, that doesn't help…
• Kazoos Mean Silliness: During their tenure as a duo, he and Christian used kazoos for comedy bits. They started out playing their intro themes during a birthday party for Stephanie McMahon, then did Triple H's theme when he yelled at them to quit. They would bring out the kazoos for such bits later on, and in 2015, they even got Steve Austin to join in during his podcast, playing Austin's theme music on their kazoos while he joined them on a ukelele.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Edge lost the World Heavyweight Championship in the summer of 2008 due to a combination of this. After interrupting the farewell address of JR, who had been drafted to SmackDown, Edge began to taunt the fact that RAW no longer had a world champion (WWE Champion Triple H had just been drafted to SmackDown the week before), and claimed that he would never be seen on the show again and began to leave. Then, newly-drafted Batista, who Edge had screwed out of the title the night before at the Night of Champions PPV, would come out, beat the hell out of him, and then give him a Batista Bomb in the middle of the ring. Then CM Punk, the winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match, would come out, and just like how Edge had done years before to John Cena and The Undertaker, cash in the briefcase, give him a GTS, and win his first world title (Punk would later become the second guy to cash in the briefcase twice - the first being Edge). Irony, thy name is Edge.
  • It even applies in the normal sense. What's not well-remembered is that earlier that year, Edge cost CM Punk the ECW Championship by interfering in the No Disqualification title match between him and challenger Chavo Guerrero Jr. Punk cashing in is not only payback for all his opportunist antics, but also for this, which Edge really only did on a whim for the sake of his own ego after Punk gave him some lip.
• Large Ham: Edge can veer into this territory quite often in his promos.
  "What the hell are you doing here, Jeff Hardy?! Didn't you die like three years ago?!"
• Leitmotif
  • Alter Bridge's "Metalingus". And before that, Rob Zombie's "Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)". Dude loves his metal.
  • Alter Bridge, the band behind his "Metalingus" theme, actually thanked him for his continued use of the theme in the sleeve notes for their Blackbird album & congratulated him on his career & wished him well after his retirement in 2011. Speaking of which....
• Level Grinding: Basically his entire wrestling career.
• Light Is Not Good: He didn't adopt "Metalingus" as his theme until after his 2004 Face–Heel Turn. It's actually a song about Christian redemption. (Now, of course, the song is more Dark Is Not Evil.)
• Likes Older Women: His relationship with Vickie Guerrero. Subverted when he revealed that he only married her for her power.
• Loners Are Freaks: This was his gimmick when he premiered. One of the first young stars whose persona was crafted on the "Attitude" ad campaign.
• Looks Like Jesus: Occasionally, such as during his late 2008 return.
• Lovable Rogue:
  • The fact that he's (without the beard) dead sexy certainly helps.
  • And with the beard!
• Manipulative Bastard: He was at one point known as the "Master Manipulator." He seduced Vickie Guerrero, even married her, because of her power and ability to help him become World Heavyweight Champion, then when she quit he revealed this to her and demanded a divorce.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: His pseudo-vampire phase back when he was part of the Brood. Gangrel once roared in his face that his blood "flowed through Edge's veins", but nothing came of it until his return in 2020 when he started dipping back into his Brood past through the use of Gangrel's antics such as the ring of fire entrance, using the "Blood" theme and dumping black paint on his enemies. Is the blood of Gangrel indirectly influencing Edge or is Edge doing this of his own free will?
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Back in Edge's early days when he was in of The Ministry of Darkness as part of The Brood, he and Gangrel made the dangerous decision to defect from The Ministry because of The Undertaker's continual abuse of Christian after the latter failed a mission. In hindsight, becoming one of Taker's last great rivals may have already been destined.
• Motive Rant: Had his in a promo on his throne with Damian Priest on April 18, 2022, describing how he felt insulted by having to beg for an opponent at WrestleMania and having fans turn on him after begging him to come back for nine years due to his role as a part-timer and old-school wrestling style, until he finally decided to stop caring what anyone else thinks.
• Mr. Fanservice: Especially in his prime. (early-mid 2000s)
• Mythology Gag: Edge's Mountain of Omnipotence heel run has him reference his time in The Brood (and by extension The Ministry of Darkness, given that The Brood had aligned themselves with Taker), showing that he still has the supernatural powers after all these years.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: As part of his rampage against Christian Cage, Adam brutalized Nick Wayne with a con-chair-to on the 11/22/23 episode of Dynamite, much to the distress of Nick's mother, Shayna. This action wound up spurring Shayna to cost Adam his TNT Championship match against Christian on the 12/6/23 episode of ''Dynamite', subsequently aligning herself with Cage and his faction, The Patriarchy.
• Noodle Incident:
  • During his time in the Brood, it's always stated that there was some history between the three members (specifically Gangrel's role with the two boys' lives, and why Edge decided to go back to him if they had history). Even after all this time, it's never come to light.
  • Gangrel has said that they were never really let in on what was supposed to be going on with their characters.
• No Shirt, Long Jacket: And nobody is complaining.
• No True Scotsman: During his promo with Cena opening up the RAW following Unforgiven 2006, Edge managed to get the Montreal crowd to turn on him by saying that they weren't actually Canadian due to their being French-descended.
• Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Raw 8/7/2006, the crowd broke into a chant of "Edge is gay!" and JR's response was "I think Lita might disagree with that".
• Odd Couple:
  • For both of them being top-tier superstars, Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr. have been paired together in quite a few tag-team matches, and seem to execute them well, to the point of having their own specialized maneuvers. Which is a case of Older than You Think as Edge teamed with Rey Mysterio back in 2002 as part of the fabled Smackdown Six, having actually won the Tag titles on one occasion.
• Oh, Crap!: Had this reaction when Vickie informed him she had reinstated The Undertaker and booked Edge as his opponent at SummerSlam. The final icing on the cake was that it was a Hell in a Cell match.
• Only Sane Man:
  • His brief "destroy everything stupid in the WWE" pathology. Yes, he was both this and Ax-Crazy at the same time.
  • His post-retirement appearances.
• Our Vampires Are Different: As part of The Brood, although commentators often referred to them as "having a Gothic lifestyle" since this was based off of The Lost Boys. Edge himself described his time in The Brood as being a "pseudo vampire", which arguably applies to Christian too. In his return starting in 2020, Edge begins to incorporate more of these vampiric traits with blood imagery and Gangrel's Ring of Fire entrance.
• Perma-Stubble: Subverted when he returned from hell with a beard, guess he really was maintaining between shows?
• Power Stable
  • With La Familia, and The Ministry of Darkness.
  • Story gets interesting: the Brood were the only ones who defected from The Ministry before it merged with The Corporation to become The Corporate Ministry.
  • Judgement Day with Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley.
• Ramming Always Works: Played pretty straight with Edge; anyone that got hit with a Spear during the match usually didn't get up.
• Recognizable by Sound: One time during an Edge vs Matt Hardy feud, Hardy's entrance music played while Edge was in the ring, causing Edge to panic and the audience to erupt - but then Edge started laughing. Hardy wasn't there, it was just Edge trolling the audience.
• Red Baron: The "Rated R" Superstar and The Ultimate Opportunist.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Christian's blue.
• Refuge in Audacity: His "Live Sex Celebration" with Lita. Unsurprisingly, it was the highest rated Raw segment in years.
• Retcon: Ironically, the event that give him the biggest push of his career, his affair with Lita behind Matt Hardy's back, has been pushed into Canon Discontinuity with the much reviled Edge/Lita/Kane Love Triangle pushed out of discontinuity to take its place. This was mainly due to Matt's release and subsequent blackballing from the company, as his life went into a downward spiral of epic proportions. The only time the former storyline was even alluded to was during the week of Edge's retirement, and even then he only referenced Lita — Matt wasn't even mentioned once.
• Retired Badass: Let's be honest…scripted or not is there a single retired professional wrestler that anyone would be foolish enough to pick a fight with?
• The Rival: The Hardys and The Dudley Boys are this to him and Christian when they were a tag-team.
• Rogues Gallery: The Hardys and the Dudley Boys back when E&C was still together, with both Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy becoming two of his greatest enemies during his singles career. Other major enemies include Randy Orton, John Cena (arguably the greatest rival of his career), The Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Kane, Batista, Dolph Ziggler, and Alberto Del Rio (his final rival before his first retirement). His second run has seen Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, and especially Seth Rollins added to the list. CM Punk and him have also crossed paths a few times, with Edge costing Punk the ECW Championship and Punk getting his revenge by cashing in on Edge to win his first world title; regardless of alignment, the two characters have never gotten along ever since.
• Rule of Funny: Edge and Christian circa 2000 ran on this.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • In the weeks leading up to his Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker at SummerSlam 2008 (a match booked by Vickie Guerrero to punish him for hitting on cheating on her with their wedding planner), Edge started going crazy. He sent Mick Foley packing with a brutal assault, demolished every member of La Familia, and threatened to take The Undertaker, himself, and La Familia (including Vickie) down to Hell.
  Edge: You wanna put me in a Hell in a Cell with The Undertaker like it's some form of punishment?!
  • His final feud with Alberto Del Rio hinted at pushing him over the edge a bit... and ended at Wrestlemania XXVII with a victorious Edge (and assisted by Christian) destroying one of Del Rio's prized cars.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Actually pulled one during a match - a triple threat match between himself, John Cena, and The Big Show during WrestleMania 25. Edge had Show in a sleeper hold (which naturally didn't go well for Edge, who got sandwiched in between the turnbuckle and Big Show's full weight. Cena, on the ground, gets up and gets Big Show up on his shoulders with Edge still on Show's back. Edge realizes after about a split second how this is going to end (with Cena hitting the Attitude Adjustment on Show and Edge being on the bottom of the pile; keep in mind that Edge's only about half Big Show's weight) and bails immediately. Of course, John Cena hit him with the AA right after that, but at least Edge got to land on top of Big Show instead of the other way around.
  • Another during the 9/16/2011 episode of the Cutting Edge and being in the middle of a very volatile Randy Orton/Mark Henry conflict:
  Edge: (as he's exiting the ring) Ooo-kay. Okay. This is... this is the part of the show where I remind you that Teddy Long said during the Cutting Edge there is no physical contact. Remember...remember that part? This is also the part of the show where I tell you the Cutting Edge is now officially over.
• Serious Business:
  • Edge thinks wrestling is, well, serious business.
  • He sometimes did his WWE Magazine interviews in character, which is rare in the post-Kayfabe wrestling business.
• Shout-Out:
  • In 1998, the time of his debut, a vampire wrestler wearing a Badass Longcoat and Sinister Shades and going for the name of Edge would lead inevitably to the film Blade, which had hit cinemas the same year.
  • Adam's new nailbat, "Spike", that he intends to use on Christian Cage in their "I Quit" match is, per his words, inspired by "Barbie" (barbed wire bat) that belonged to "Mrs. Foley's baby boy" and "Janice" (spiked 2x4) who was wielded by another "sociopath".
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Vickie Guerrero.
• Signature Sound Effect: "You Think You Know Me?"
  • Rather than "You think you know me?" that Adam as Edge used previously, he uses a similar one, "You think you know him?" as part of his entrance in AEW.
• Simple, yet Awesome: One of his signature moves: the Edge-O-Matic. The "Simple" part: He just pulls the back of his opponent's head down with him. And the "Awesome" part: It's still impactful enough to be finisher-worthy (in fact, he used to do just that in some of his earlier days), and it immediately gives the attacker a great pinfall position.
• Slasher Smile: As a member of The Brood, emphasized by his sharp incisors.
• Smug Snake
• Tag Team
  • Suicide Blondes with Christian Cage (back when he was Sexton Hardcastle). They were also known as High Impact. Just Edge and Christian in WWF/E
  • Sex and Violence with Joe E. Legend (back when he was Sexton Hardcastle)
  • Rated RKO with Randy Orton in 2006-2007, 2008 and 2011.
  • His team with Rey Mysterio formed one-third of 2002's vaunted SmackDown Six.
• Take That!
  • A massive zinger leveled at Michael Cole: "I'd rather listen to a recording of JR than a live Michael Cole!" Many smarks feel/felt the same way.
  • Then later after he wins the Slammy for "Oh Snap" Meltdown of The Year, he levels him again:
  Edge: And I quote, "Michael Cole is still a massive tool."
  • After winning his King of the Ring match, he cuts a scathing promo about how he won't Billy Gunn it and that his first decree as king of the ring would be to totally annihilate Billy Bitchcakes... in front of Billy Gunn.
• Talk Show with Fists: "The Cutting Edge"
• Technician/Performer Team-Up: With Christian early in their careers, with Edge more of the charismatic "performer" (who'd go on to a much more successful singles career after, embracing the less-technical "main event style" popular in the WWE at the time) and Christian being the more technical "worker" in the ring (his eventual catchphrase even being "Out Work Everyone"), famous as one of the best at "putting over" other wrestlers in the ring. As their careers went along, each evolved to include some traits of the other archetype.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: The promo he cut on John Cena, wherein he channeled the spirits of Smarks worldwide, involved numerous variations of the phrase "I hate you".
• The Bus Came Back: After almost nine years away from the ring, Edge returned at the 2020 Royal Rumble to one of the loudest pops in recent memory.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The promo with Mick Foley, full stop. "From a ladder, with a chair, through the table, into Mick Foley's face..."
• Thing-O-Matic: His sitout rear mat slam, the "Edge-O-Matic"
• Threat Backfire: See also Sanity Slippage.
• Tough Love: How his match with Dominik Mysterio was portrayed after Dominik betrayed his father and Edge at Clash at the Castle. Edge didn't want to harm Dominik anymore than Dominik's father Rey Mysterio did, but unlike Rey, he was able to recognize that it was the only way Dominik was ever going to learn and understand there were consequences for his actions now that he was an official WWE Superstar. Since then he has refused to pull his punches with Dominik or distinguish him differently from any other member of the roster.
• Trash the Set:
  • Did this to the "RAW GM's" laptop one night on RAW. And it was hilarious, especially with the computer's slowly dawning Oh, Crap! reaction.
  "What are you doing, Edge? You're giving me the crazy eyes..."
  • His Last Man Standing match with Randy Orton at WrestleMania 36 quickly saw the two fight their way though the WWE Performance Center.
• Took a Level in Badass: From somewhat successful loner to tag team specialist and eventually to being a world champion on multiple occasions
• Took a Level in Jerkass: When he became that tag team specialist alongside Christian and again when he became a fixture in the world title picture. First by taunting the audience and later by, well he put Lita in match with John Cena to put off facing John himself.
• Traumatic Haircut: Averted. It almost happened at Judgment Day 2002. He was in a Hair vs Hair match against Kurt Angle and won - but Kurt attacked him from behind and tried to cut his hair. Edge got the upper hand and shaved Kurt's head bald. In the weeks leading up to the match, this did happen to him though Kurt only cut a couple of small chunks.
• True Companions: In Real Life with Christian & Rhyno.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gave an absolutely brutal one to Matt Hardy after the latter's disastrous 'car crash' promo. While Hardy's promo essentially killed off any chances of him getting a main event run, Edge's promo nailed the coffin shut and buried it under several tonnes of rock.
  • He completely shut down Miz on the February 8th, 2021 episode of RAW. After Miz laid out his MITB plans for Mania if Edge happened to win the championship of his choosing, Edge proceeded to not only point out the obvious flaw in Miz's plan, but the generation's worth of difference concerning their respective mindsets for Mania.
    Edge: Aheh...Miz, do you know who you're talking to? I'm the guy who put that MITB briefcase on the map ^note (John Morrison mouths "It's true" to Angel Garza). I know a thing or two about Money in the Bank. I know that at WrestleMania, as soon as I raise that championship over my head, I need eyes in the back of my head...but in case I forgot, you just reminded me (shakes his head in disbelief). I'm out here as the master manipulator, keeping three world champions on high alert and you just told me what you're going to do? You need to worry about the Chamber, you definitely need to worry about Damien Priest...hell, you need to worry about Bad Bunny. See, I'm out here playing high-stakes poker, you're playing Old Maid. There are fundamental differences with the way we think, I think at a different level than you. You're content with being awesome? I'm not, did that twenty years ago. You want to talk about being champion? Well, I need to see this story through, I NEED to be champion! Notice the difference? Think about it...(mic drop)
• The Unfair Sex: Inverted. Many were quick to forgive him for his affair with Amy "Lita" Dumas, who ended having to retire when the stress of the intense heat she was getting became too much. What made it worse is that Edge has been married twice (And was married at the time), while Lita has never been married.
• The Unfettered: Oh god yes. Especially as a heel.
• Unnecessary Roughness: Lots of times. One prime example happened in one of his last angles with Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero. After Edge speared Ziggler to win a tag-team match, Vickie banned the Spear from use in in-ring competition, effectively taking the move out of Edge's arsenal for his upcoming World Championship match with Ziggler. Edge looked like he was about to have a Heroic BSoD for about a half-second, then it hits him that Vickie didn't say anything about not using the Spear outside of a match. Dolph, out on the apron and trying to get to his feet, never sees Edge coming - spear. Dolph gets knocked to the ground, and it's at this point that Vickie realizes her failure to protect Ziggler by banning the spear outside of matches. She gets to watch as Edge brutally spears Dolph into the ground a third time and then comes back for another. By the time Edge walks off, Dolph is writhing on the ground, the victim of four consecutive Spears.
• Unrelated Brothers: Edge (Adam Copeland) and Christian (Jason Reso) were initially referred to as brothers when in WWE during the time they were part of the Brood; once their tag team had fully dissolved, this was dropped rather quickly. The fact that they are childhood best friends and have several photos together as kids surely helped a lot. The fact that their birthdays are exactly one month apart (Edge born October 30th and Christian on November 30th, both 1973) does not help as much.
• Unstoppable Rage: After being screwed by the unseen GM, Edge smashed his laptop.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His decision to host Seth Rollins on the "Cutting Edge Peep Show" resulted in his being captured by a desperate Rollins and used as a hostage to force John Cena to bring back The Authority. This resulted the following week in Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, and Erick Rowan being fired. And of course, the Authority is back in power and sure to make life difficult for the returning Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, and possibly even Randy Orton as well.
• Ur-Example: He's the first Money in the Bank Winner and later became the first to win said aforementioned accomplishment and the Royal Rumble.
• Villain Team-Up: With Randy Orton as 'Rated RKO' in 2006, due to their mutual hatred of D-Generation X.
  • With Chris Jericho in 2009, due to SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long giving them a tag title match to appease their egos. Averted following an injury putting Edge out of action for the rest of the year.
• Villainous Breakdown: After losing the World Heavyweight Title to CM Punk in the summer of 2008, Edge proceeded to have a very bad summer. He first broke up with Vickie, then they got back together. Then, during the wedding reception, Triple H revealed that Edge had cheated on Vickie. Vickie, understandably angry, was infuriated enough to reinstate The Undertaker and forced Edge into a Hell in a Cell match against him at SummerSlam. That was the last straw, Edge become extremely unhinged, before losing 'Taker and being sent to hell for three months.
• Vocal Dissonance: Many people have noted that considering most of his career, his height, lean frame, and long blond hair combined to give him something of a pretty boy look, his very deep, gravelly voice was pretty surprising. It was joked that he might have accidentally switched voices with Chris Benoit, who had the opposite problem (he was short, muscular and intimidating-looking but had a very high, soft voice).
• Wham Line:
  • April 11, 2011 episode of RAW: "I have to retire."
  • The 2020 Royal Rumble. The timer for the 21st entrant counts down and hits zero, the audience waits to hear who it will be. Then the theme starts: "You think you know me..."
  • 2023 at All Elite Wrestling WrestleDream: "You think you know him..."
• What the Hell, Hero?: Edge made a post-retirement appearance in 2012 to deliver an awesome one to his former in-ring nemesis John Cena, who was in a serious funk after losing to The Rock at Wrestlemania. Edge basically told him to stop feeling sorry for himself and move on with his career. It worked.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: After he was placed in a Hell in a Cell Match with The Undertaker in which he believed he would surely die. Resigned to the fact that he was going to Hell, he decided to make a living Hell for those who had double-crossed him or wouldn't help him before he went.
• Wrestling Family: Kayfabe, with "La Familia" during 2008, following his "marriage" to then-SmackDown GM Vickie Guerrero.
• Writing Around Trademarks: Whilst "Metalingus" being a Real Song Theme Tune meant that Copeland could easily take it with him over to AEW, the "You think you know me?" soundbite was taken from his older themes that were still owned by WWE. How did he get around this? By having his AEW entrance start with "You think you know him?"^note Recorded by his own wife, Beth Phoenix, no less
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Edge did this to John Cena and The Undertaker with Money in the Bank contracts. It was sort of melded into his gimmick, and it's a testament to how versatile and charismatic Edge was. He was a victim of it with CM Punk in 2008, and very likely would've also been in 2009 had he beaten Jeff Hardy the night Punk cashed in.

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"On the other side..."

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