Living on the Edge: The career of Adam Copeland

His first major bout came at SummerSlam in 1998, when he was revealed as Sable's mystery partner in her bout against Marc Mero & Jacqueline. However, Edge didn't truly take off until he became associated with his old friend Christian and Gangrel. A gruesome vampire who entered the arena through a ring of fire, Gangrel had recruited Christian to help him in his battle against Edge, but eventually the three formed an alliance known as The Brood. The gothic trio soon linked up with The Undertaker and his Ministry and had a hand in some dirty dealings in the spring of 1999, but the group’s dark charisma made them too entertaining to jeer.

Their popularity led to a split with The Deadman, which gave Edge the opportunity to experience his first major success when he defeated Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Title in the Toronto SkyDome — the very place he watched WrestleMania VI nine years prior. Edge’s reign would only last for a single day, but it didn't matter. Just knowing that he held the same championship as his boyhood idols like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels meant everything to him.

It was a huge moment, but Edge’s amazing singles career did not truly begin there. First, he would redefine tag team wrestling with Christian and two daredevils from North Carolina called The Hardy Boyz.

Four lifelong fans of WWE, Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy knew they had to do something special if they wanted to stand out from megastars like The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. They got their opportunity at No Mercy in October of 1999, when they met in the first-ever Tag Team Ladder Match. Fast-paced, hard-hitting and completely unique, the bout wowed the fans in Cleveland’s Gund Arena to the point that they gave the four young competitors a standing ovation when it was all over. Clearly, they had struck a nerve.

That match would by no means be a peak; in fact, it was only the beginning. Soon, the rough-and-tumble Dudley Boyz were added to the mix with the three teams battling in a Triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania 2000. The stakes were even higher in this contest with the World Tag Team Championships on the line, and the six talented Superstars left it all in the ring. Again, the match was a show stealer with an unforgettable ending. After years of dreaming about it in their small Ontario town, Edge & Christian won the bout and captured the tag titles together.

As a duo, the tandem would win those championships a total of seven times over the next decade. Edge, himself, held the World Tag Team Titles twelve times in his career — a WWE record. But in 2000, they were just getting started. Confident after their WrestleMania victory, Edge & Christian began showing a little personality. No longer were they stoic goth kids. Instead, they became sarcastic punks — the kind of guys who exclaimed things like “Sodas rule!” and did five-second ring poses before matches “for the benefit of those with flash photography.” They were obnoxious, irritating ... and entertaining as hell.

In August of that year, The Dudleys, The Hardys and Edge & Christian would meet again in the bout that came to define all of their careers — a contest that shortly became known as the Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match. Somehow, the three teams managed to raise the bar again, pushing each other to do things that had never been seen in a WWE ring before. They flung each other off the tops of 20-foot ladders, smashed their bodies through solid tables. What's truly amazing about this contest, though, is that they topped themselves at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001 when they did it all over again. By all accounts, the second match was even better than the first, with Edge & Christian winning their seventh tag titles. It was their final reign, but a record-setting accomplishment. No other team ever won those championships as many times.