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Profile: Edge
Edge's journey to the top tier of WWE has been a slow yet eventful one.
After working on the independent circuit as Sexton Hardcastle, teaming with childhood friend Christian Cage, Edge signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1998. Following a series of promo videos hyping his character as a mysterious, unstable loner with emotional scarring and aggressive tendancies - introducing the phrase, "You think you know me" - he debuted on Raw on June 22, entering through the crowd to defeat Jose Estrada Jr by count-out when Estrada's neck was legitimately injured with a somersault senton over the ropes to the floor. During this early babyface period, he would briefly become Intercontinental Champion with an unplanned victory over Jeff Jarrett at a house show in Toronto, before losing it back the next night at Fully Loaded '99.
Edge also became the target of gothic character Gangrel, with a violent history hinted at between the two. Gangrel then introduced an apprentice, Christian, billed as Edge's brother. After feuding with his tormentors, Edge eventually joined the faction, known as The Brood, turning heel in the process. The trio were then absorbed into The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness after being abducted by the evil cult-like group, but later became the only members to defect from the Ministry.
The Brood went on to feud with The Hardy Boyz, which saw Gangrel turn on Edge and Christian and recruit their opponents into The New Brood, leaving Edge and Christian as babyfaces. During the feud, Gangrel would be removed from the picture, and the teams' first high profile match was for $100,000 and the managerial services of Terri Runnels. The bout was a ladder match at No Mercy 1999, and turned heads with its innovative content before a victory for Matt and Jeff.
The No Mercy contest set the bar for the two teams, who were joined by The Dudley Boyz at WrestleMania 2000 for a three-way ladder match won by Edge and Christian, earning their first WWF Tag Team Titles (now the WWE World Tag Team Titles). Falling out with the babyface Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian turned heel and began incorporating humor into their promos, introducing a five-second pose before their matches "for the benefit of those with flash photography." At SummerSlam 2000 and WrestleMania X-Seven, they would score further victories over the Hardy and Dudley duos in the first two TLC (Tables, Ladders and Chairs) matches.
After becoming the 2001 King of the Ring, Edge was turned on by his jealous brother and feuded with Christian over the Intercontinental Championship. As the WCW/ECW Invasion got into full swing that year, he relieved Kurt Angle of the WCW United States Title, and defeated Test at Survivor Series to unify it with the Intercontinental Title.
In the March 2002 Draft Lottery he became exclusive to SmackDown, and at Judgment Day shaved Kurt Angle's head after winning a Hair-vs-Hair match. During this feud, Edge was also responsible for starting the "you suck" chants during Angle's ring entrance. In July, he teamed with Hulk Hogan for his eighth World Tag Team Title reign, and in October, he and Rey Mysterio would become the second ever WWE Tag Team Champions by defeating Angle and Chris Benoit.
February 2003 however would see Edge suffering a neck injury that put him on the shelf for almost a year, and just as he was set to return in February '04, a hand injury extended his absence by another month. After WrestleMania XX, he was drafted to the Raw brand and returned to action, teaming with Chris Benoit to win his ninth World Tag Team Title reign, before taking the Intercontinental Championship from Randy Orton at Vengeance. During his time as champion, Edge began displaying heel characteristics, cheating to retain the title. When a groin injury briefly derailed his momentum, he was stripped of the gold, fuelling his heel turn upon his return. Insisting that he'd been held down and denied his rightful opportunities at the World Heavyweight Title, he only got angrier when fans voted for Shawn Michaels over him to receive a title shot at Taboo Tuesday. As a result of losing the poll, Edge and fellow contender Chris Benoit were awarded a shot at the World Tag Team Titles, but Edge walked out on his partner during the match and later cost Michaels his victory in the main event, solidifying his heel turn.
At WrestleMania 21 the following April, he won the first Money in the Bank ladder match, earning a title shot at the time and place of his choosing over the next twelve months. Meanwhile, news was made public on the Internet by Matt Hardy that his real-life girlfriend Lita had been cheating on him behind the scenes with a married Edge. While Matt was released by WWE for his online outburst, Edge entered a storyline that saw him steal Lita away from her on-screen husband, Kane. With a heel Lita by Edge's side, Matt was brought back for a worked shoot that saw him attack Edge and break kayfabe on the Kane storyline, explaining the real situation involving Lita. An aggressive feud ended with Edge winning a "Loser Leaves Raw" match, sending Hardy to the SmackDown brand.
After feuding with Ric Flair, Edge went on to cash in his Money in the Bank at New Year's Revolution 2006, quickly taking advantage of a battered John Cena following an Elimination Chamber match by hitting two spears and pinning the champion for his first WWE Title. The next night on Raw, he and Lita promised to mark the occasion with a "live sex celebration," earning the program its highest rating in over a year with their in-ring foreplay before Flair interrupted proceedings. After Edge struck the Nature Boy with a one-man con-chair-to on the announce table, John Cena made the save. Edge would lose the WWE Title back to Cena at the Royal Rumble, and feud with him on-and-off through the following months.
At One Night Stand in June, after spearing Mick Foley through a burning table to win a WrestleMania 22 hardcore match, Edge teamed with Foley to defeat Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer. Later in the night, he'd cost Cena the WWE Title against that year's Money in the Bank winner, Rob Van Dam, setting up the resurrection of the ECW World Title in the process. Shortly afterwards on the July 3rd edition of Raw, Edge pinned Van Dam in a Triple Threat match with Cena to gain his second WWE Championship, before losing the gold to Cena at Unforgiven in a TLC match.
In October that year, after Shawn Michaels and Triple H cost Edge his last chance at Cena's title, he joined forces with Randy Orton to feud with the babyface D-Generation X duo. Collectively known as Rated-RKO, Edge and Orton defeated DX at Cyber Sunday with the help of guest referee Eric Bischoff, and went on to relieve Ric Flair and Roddy Piper of the World Tag Team Titles for Edge's eleventh reign in November. Rated-RKO defended the belts against DX at New Year's Revolution 2007, where Triple H suffered his second quadriceps tear in his career, leaving a desperate Michaels to get the challengers disqualified with a steel chair. Teaming with John Cena, Michaels would eventually take Edge and Orton's titles from them before the month was out.
After a distinctly unsuccessful attempt to win the WrestleMania 23 Money in the Bank ladder match, where Jeff Hardy leapt off a ladder in the ring to smash him through another propped between the apron and security wall, Edge nonetheless found a way to claim the valued briefcase. At this time in reality, SmackDown's main event title scene was in turmoil, with World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker injured and now WWE's first choice of successor, Money in the Bank winner Mr Kennedy, also now injured. The situation was resolved by Edge goading Kennedy into putting his guaranteed title shot on the line on the May 7 edition of Monday Night Raw. After beating Kennedy down before the bell, all it took was a spear in the ring for Edge to be victorious. The very same week, after a cage match between The Undertaker and Batista, Edge showed up on SmackDown and mirrored his first cashing in of Money in the Bank, hitting an exhausted Undertaker with two spears to steal his way to the World Heavyweight Title, beginning a new era as top heel on the SmackDown brand.
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