Adam Copeland continues to entertain wrestling fans around the world at the sprightly age of 51.
The Canadian grappler is still main eventing, too, having featured in the finale of the recent Revolution pay-per-view for All Elite Wrestling, his current home.
In Tony Khan’s empire, the star is known as and wrestles under the name of Cope but, over the course of a wrestling career that began in 1992, is best remembered as WWE icon Edge.
While with what is arguably the world’s most famous wrestling company, Edge experienced it all and is a multi-time former world champion in addition to having the honour of being a Hall of Famer.
He’s even been through the unimaginable pain of having to retire from wrestling early after a serious neck injury forced him to relinquish the world title he held in 2011.
Incredibly, and in one of the finest comeback stories of any sporting era, movie saga or soap opera, Edge was able to return, a stunning entry into the 2020 Royal Rumble beginning a second, stellar stint as an active wrestler that continues to this very day.
As with any iconic career, however, Copeland had humble beginnings, long before Edge was invented and long before he was torturing rivals John Cena and Randy Orton among others in the ring.
The star penned an autobiography, On Edge, and detailed the formative beginnings of his journey to achieve his dream of wrestling for WWE, having sat in the crowd when WrestleMania 6 journeyed to Canada in 1990.
His first crack at impressing the boys in the big time came in 1996, two years before he first starred as Edge on screens when the Attitude Era would be in full flow.
It was far from fairytale stuff, though, as the prodigy was paired against grizzled veteran Bob Holly who, even at that stage in his WWE tenure, had been around the block a bit.
Copeland detailed: “I arrived at the building three hours before the show, not realising that for non-televised live events the guys show up about an hour before bell time.
“This gave me enough time to get good and nervous. Our match was scheduled first. The show started at 7:30pm. Bob, who showed up at 7pm, walked up to me and asked how long I had been working.
“I replied with the truth, three and a half years. I realised that honesty might have been the wrong approach when Bob rolled his eyes, grunted, and walked away.
“Knowing Bob the way I do now, l’d laugh. Back then, I said: ‘s***,’ but vowed to prove that I belonged in the ring with him.”
Quite the impression Copeland made on Holly isn’t clear, but the starlet himself noted he got hugely positive reactions from other wrestling luminaries.
Scott ‘Razor Ramon’ Hall, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and even The Ultimate Warrior were all waiting backstage to congratulate the then 22-year-old on his efforts, WWE even paying him $500 for his night’s work.
If he was on cloud nine after a favourable first impression, Copeland was soon brought back down to earth.
Within days, he was back touring the lesser cities and venues to ply his trade, revealing his work immediately after his night with WWE earned him just $75 per show (£58).
That landed him back home but, while bemoaning his fortune, he hailed the patience shown by his mother, adding: “Here I was, supposedly a man, but not being able to help out with the bills at all.
“I was twenty-two without two pennies to rub together, but bless her heart, my mom never doubted me. She’s definitely a special kind of lady to put up with me!”
It’s safe to say Copeland, as Edge and as Cope, stuck with it, lived the dream, suffered the nightmare and got to live the dream a second time – a journey with which few others can compare.
He went on to become a 12-time world champion in WWE in addition to being one of the most recognised tag team wrestlers ever. 18 years after watching WrestleMania from the crowd, he even achieved the ultimate full-circle moment by headlining Mania 24 in Orlando, Florida.
Edge would lose his world title to The Undertaker that night, but the glory of the gold was surely immaterial; he’d come a long way from sleeping on a mattress and wrestling for $75.
A Hall of Fame worthy career indeed.
