(Consider this my tribute to Edge’s non-appearance in Chicago tonight. I will finish up disks two and three in a couple weeks as next week I will hopefully have some sort of write-up on my AIW experience.)
Before we begin this review, it’s story time. In the spring of 2005, I was not watching professional wrestling. At a minimum, I would check out the websites just to see what was going on. One day, the story about Edge and Lita’s affair came out. So much intrigue. Edge cheating on his wife which led to steroid accusations. Matt Hardy was released by WWE, and this led to the words “Ring of Honor” being uttered on WWE television. It was an incredible time, and I wanted almost nothing to do with it. Edge is a guy who always had the tools, but it never came together. Even when I came back into liking wrestling, nothing Edge could do led me to think of him as anything but a tippy-top guy. Then in one match and on one night, Edge became THE guy for me, so much so that one of the primary reasons I decided to attend Wrestlemania 26 was the prospect of seeing Edge wrestle in a main event type match. But more on that later. For now, let’s dive into the life and times of Adam Copeland.
Beginning with the Steve Austin DVD a few months ago, WWE has heavily modified the way they do their documentaries. There’s a lot more depth and commentary from the actual person instead of a bunch of talking heads. There is a minimum amount of narration, and the video quality has also been significantly upgraded. The docs look a million times more professional and have all been top notch. Going into this one, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Afterward, I came away thinking this was an A level documentary that really showed who Edge was as a person and how he came to be such a success in WWE.
Unlike Austin and The Rock, I wasn’t as familiar with Edge’s story. I loved how the doc started on September 12, 2011: Edge Appreciation Day on Smackdown since they were in Toronto. It serves as a centerpiece, and we get to hear extended clips from an Edge interview he did with a local radio station. Almost from the start, Edge talks about not missing the spotlight. He never wanted to be a guy who hung on for too long and even mentions introducing himself as Adam Copeland to people as opposed to Edge. This is a consistent pattern. We see Edge using his real name quite often. Even on the screen, his real name is shown underneath his wrestling name. The same goes for Christian. Rhino, someone who became an acquaintance of Edge’s in wrestling, has his real name mentioned. Edge comes off as a real human being who’s content with his career. He lives in the mountains and walks his dogs. Surgery on his injured will be forthcoming, but he wants to put that off as long as possible. What made this documentary so special was I came away liking Edge so much more than I had before. Unlike the Steve Austin documentary, some controversial topics were addressed, and Edge makes no excuses for what he did. More on that later.
The story of Edge is the story of a lifelong professional wrestling fan turned wrestler. His passion comes across in the way he talks about driving all across Canada on the independent wrestling scene. He starved for five years and did everything in his power to become a WWE superstar. Interestingly, his love of wrestling started after the tragic death of his uncle. Though tragedy befell the Copeland family, young Adam turned a negative into a positive and turned into a determined young man.
Christian became Edge’s best friend early on. Edge started training first and is the one who really kicked Christian in the butt to get him started on his training. We get some great early stories as Edge deals with training in a boxing ring. His reaction to taking a bump for the first time should be required viewing for any new wrestler. Although Edge trained to be a wrestler, he did go to college as a means of forwarding an aspect of his career. There was no way Edge was going to be a broadcaster in radio, but it no doubt helped him talk in front of a microphone and in front of people. Edge toiled around the indies for five years (which he even admits isn’t as long as some other wrestlers) before signing a developmental contract with WWE.
In a rather dichotomous moment, Steve Austin and The Rock went into the attitude era guns blazing. They broke out and became two of the biggest stars of all-time. Edge did not have the same success as a loner who eventually teamed up with Christian and Gangrel to form the Brood. Edge does not come off as thrilled with the first couple years of his career, but he did his best to embrace the opportunity. Through these early days, Edge was able to develop chemistry with Christian. This led to an era of awesomeness and the last truly great time for tag team wrestling in WWE history.
We see extended clips of all the ladder and TLC matches involving Edge and Christian, the Hardyz, and the Dudleyz. Sadly, these matches are what eventually set Edge on the path toward a fused neck and ultimately retirement. Even taking the injuries into account, all six men were able to excel in this atmosphere. The tag team titles meant something, and much fun was had by all. Edge and Christian were no longer the silent assassins. The shackles were taken off. Out were blood baths and coming out of fire. In were five second poses, playing kazoos, and performing as fake Elvises. The fun and games did have to end eventually because Edge had a little bit more in mind than just tag team gold.
The Intercontiental championship and King of the Ring came to Edge in 2001. The Invasion is completely ignored. Instead, Edge talks about what the feuds with guys like Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero for him. All of these incredible matches took their toll on Edge’s neck to the point where surgery would have to be required. This meant sitting out for a year in the prime of his career. Even worse, he gets booed in his hometown shortly after returning. The real-life anger was ready to come out. Gone was goofy Edge. Gone was the Edge who would kiss Hulk Hogan’s butt. In was the new Edge. He came out victorious in the first ever Money in the Bank. And then he decided to cheat with Lita while she was still dating Matt Hardy.
Years of perspective may have tarnished this story. Matt Hardy has become a parody of himself. A whiny drug addict who killed his own career. Edge has lost 25 pounds, stopped eating red meat, and became healthier mentally, physically, and spiritually. Keeping all this in mind, there’s still no excuse for what Edge and Lita did. Thankfully, neither person attempts to justify their behavior. In an odd way, Edge was able to manufacture an even greater spot in WWE through this incident. His feud with Hardy brought out a dark side. Then there was the briefcase. Edge didn’t just simply cash it in a match with someone. He was booked to take it from John Cena after a grueling Hell in a Cell contest. WWE chose not to take advantage of the giant ratings Edge was drawing as a champion. Instead, Cena got the belt back and got to wrestle Triple H at Wrestlemania 22. Edge at least got to have a Wrestlemania moment of his own by wrestling Mick Foley in a hardcore match.
In WWE land, getting busted for drugs is even worse than cheating with another wrestler’s girlfriend. This is just one of the reasons Edge and Cena were able to resume their feud in the summer of 2006 after RVD screwed up his one chance at the top by getting caught with pot while in a car with Sabu. In the ensuing years, Edge would go onto feud with all the top WWE stars, including Cena, Batista, and Undertaker. Little did we all know, Edge was on borrowed time. Oddly, his torn Achilles injury is basically ignored. As is his Royal Rumble victory. What we do get is extended clips of what turned out to be Edge’s final match against Alberto Del Rio. Although he would have to go in for a second MRI the day after and be told his career was over, Edge still retained the title and got to retire as world heavyweight champion.
The plan was for Edge to retire after his contract was up, presumably this year as opposed to last. Nonetheless, Edge has a hall of fame career. He had a number of incredible matches. The ladder match was reinvented. Money in the Bank became important. Vickie Guerrero found a career. He had one of the best matches in WWE history as part of Undertaker’s streak. Wrestling was better for having Edge in it. Ditto for WWE. This documentary provided a tremendous look at what made Edge in WWE so great. Overall a very good effort from WWE and I’m really excited to see what is on disk two and three matchwise.
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