WWF's Edge leaves mark in Highlander movie

By Alex Marvez / By ; South Florida Sun-Sentinel

To borrow from his cache of catchphrases, the World Wrestling Federation career of Adam "Edge" Copeland absolutely reeks of awesomeness.

Copeland not only holds the WWF tag-team titles with lifelong friend Jay "Christian" Reso, but he also has a small role in the recently released movie Highlander: Endgame. As the character Lachlan, Copeland gets into an altercation with the star of the movie, Christopher Lambert.

The scene ends with a sword fight, a skill Copeland spent two days learning last December after arriving in Romania for filming.

"It's more awkward than anything," said Copeland, who spent eight days overseas filming his part. "It's not bad at all. But once you're standing in the middle of a Romanian forest in December, you get a little cold after a while.

"It's amazing how much you do and how much they chop out. You don't know how long it takes to film one scene. Over there, it can take three days (at) 14 hours a day filming what might end up as something that's just two minutes long."

Although a career in Hollywood is appealing, Copeland is happy sticking with his in-ring exploits. Long respected as quality in-ring workers, Edge and Christian's careers began skyrocketing in May when the duo was allowed to drop their gothic gimmick for new roles best described as a geeky, cowardly cross between Bill and Ted and Beavis and Butthead.

"It's a little more us than before," said Copeland, 26. "We're kind of goofy. We get to be more close to our real personalities.

"For two years, we've been saying we want to talk. Finally, (the WWF) give us a chance. So far, so good."

A childhood grappling fan growing up outside of Toronto in Canadian city of Orangeville, Copeland won free wrestling lessons when he was 17 after winning an essay contest in a Toronto newspaper. Trained by Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchinson, Edge wrestled throughout Canada and in Japan before entering the WWF in 1997 (Reso joined the WWF eight months later).

Edge and Christian will defend their WWF tag-team titles against the Hardy Boyz on Sept. 24 at the Unforgiven pay-per-view show. Although the match should be excellent, E&C will be hard-pressed to top their earlier bouts against the Hardys and Dudley Boyz.

The three-way matches between those teams at Wrestlemania 2000 and Summer Slam, which featured the creative and dangerous use of tables, ladders and chairs as weapons, are considered two of the best in the U.S. this year.

"To do them on two of the biggest shows of the year, all six of us are real proud," said Copeland, whose team won both bouts. "I'd say the (Summer Slam) match I enjoyed better than the Wrestlemania one. I think we condensed it and made it more exciting. We filled in the gaps in the action. I think it worked better.

"We have the ladders down to a science where we'll say, 'Let's try this and this and this,' into a formula that works."