Adam's Story

Everyone has a boyhood dream about what they want to be when they grow up. They dream of being policeman, astronauts, baseball players and so on. For Adam, that dream was to become a professional wrestler. He would sit in his best friend Jason Reso's backyard and think about how cool it would be if the two of them were one day WWF Tag Team Champions. On April 2, 2000 that dream became a reality at WrestleMania 2000 when Edge and Christian defeated The Hardy Boyz and Tag Team champions The Dudley Boyz in the now infamous Ladder Match. They would go on to win the titles six more times over the course of the next two years, making their dreams of becoming WWF Superstars a reality.
The journey to that point began in 1990 when Adam won an essay contest in "The Toronto Sun" to train as a professional wrestler. He started his training under Ron Hutchison at "Sully's Gym" and almost immediately started to convince his friend Jason to start training with him. In 1993, Jason started his training. The two teamed together and traveled all over the world as " The Suicide Blondes". Eventually Adam caught the eye of WWF Canadian President Carl DeMarco. He asked Adam to work a few local shows. Adam went on to train briefly with Bret Hart and then was invited to participate in the first Funkin' Dojo, a training camp led by wrestling legend Dory Funk Jr.
Adam was a stand out in the camp almost instantaneously. Many people started to compare him to Shawn Michaels and he was automatically pegged as a future World Champion. He was the second Dojo graduate to debut on TV, behind Sean "Val Venis" Morley. The WWF started to show vignettes of a mysterious character named Edge. He was a gothic creature who looked like a tortured soul. He was shown wandering the streets of Toronto.
Edge made his debut on the June 22, 1998 edition of RAW when he wrestled and defeated Jose Estrada Jr. Then over the next few weeks, we'd see him standing in the crowd observing the action. Eventually, he'd stick to observing Gangrel's matches and it was revealed that the two had some sort of mysterious past with each other. A feud between the two ensued.
Don't think Adam forgot his good friend Jason. While this was going on, Jason, wrestling as Christian Cage, was building a name for himself on the Indy curcuit. Adam asked around the WWF if they were going to do a second Funkin' Dojo and suggested, if they were, they should sign his friend. They were and they did. Jason Reso trained with the second crop of trainees and made his televised debut at 1998's BREAKDOWN PPV when he interfered in Edge's match with the late Owen Hart. It was revealed that Edge and Christian were brothers, and Christian was for some reason aligned with Gangrel. Ahh...the plot thickens.
Christian didn't make his in-ring debut until the following month at JUDGEMENT DAY where he defeated Taka Michinoku for the Light Heavyweight title. Edge was still feuding with Christian and Gangrel, but then for some inexplicable reason joined then when the three attacked Kane in early 1999. Now known as The Brood, their big gimmick was to pour red fruit punch on wrestlers and call it a "bloodbath". This led to three things. One, a feud with The J.O.B. Squad where Christian lost his title to Gillberg. Two, they pissed off Kane who poured gasoline on them and tried setting them on fire. Three, they caught the attention of The Undertaker who was recruiting for his Ministry of Darkness.
However, The Brood didn't mesh with the rest of The Ministry and they quit the group shortly after they joined. They languished in midcard purgatory until a fateful interview with Dok Hendrix on the "debut" of Smackdown (it was the special in May of 1999 that led to the weekly show in the fall). Hendrix accused them of being nothing but a gimmick, which The Brood laughed at since Dok Hendrix was a gimmick in and of itself. They dumped the red juice on him and ousted him as Michael Hayes, the former leader of The Fabulous Freebirds. To get revenge, Hayes aligned himself with The Hardy Boyz.
The two teams met for the first time at the 1999 King of the Ring and it would be the first match in a feud that would last for most of the next two years. The Hardyz won that night and while they went on to capture the Tag titles, The Brood returned to purgatory, save for Edge's one day reign as Intercontinental Champion. There was even a point where Gangrel turned on Edge and when Christian sided with his brother Gangrel formed a new Brood with...The Hardy Boyz!
Then came The Terri Invitational Tournament and Edge and Christian's careers would never be the same again.
The storyline was that Terri wanted to manage the Tag Team Champions. So, she set up a Best of 5 series between the Hardyz and Edge and Christian. The matches took place on RAW and Smackdown. The Hardyz won two, Edge and Christian won two and the fifth match went to a Double Countout. The WWF decided that the finals would be at the 1999 NO MERCY PPV in a Double Ladder match! In the ring, the match told the story of two teams battling for Terri's services and $100,000. In "real life", the match told the story of four wrestlers giving everything they had to give because they knew that this was their shot to take things to the next level. The Hardyz won the match, but all four wrestlers won the respect of the fans and their colleagues. The audience even applauded the efforts of both teams. They didn't pop for a catch phrase or a sexual innuendo, they stood and put their hands together in appreciation for these four wrestlers...who after this match were bonafide WWF Superstars.
The next few months saw Edge and Christian wrestling occasional matches against The Hardyz and another up and coming WWF team The Dudley Boyz. In February 2000 and the NO WAY OUT PPV, The Dudleyz won the Tag titles from then champions, The New Age Outlaws and Edge and Christian beat arch-rivals The Hardy Boyz to be named #1 contenders for the titles. Their shot for The Dudley Boyz titles became a three-way with The Hardyz at WrestleMania 2000 in another Ladder match. Fans thought this match was so incredible that they voted it Best Match of the Year at WWF.com. For Edge and Christian, the match was incredible for an entirely different reason. When the match was over and four men layt twisted in a mess of splintered tables and mangled ladders, the two others who were sitting on top of this heap were Edge and Christian...the new WWF Tag Team Champions. One of their boyhood dreams had come true, but it wasn't until the next night on RAW when the two lifelong friends saw their careers take off in an entirely new direction.
They walked towards the ring (more like limped after the previous nights Ladder match) and did something that we rarely saw them do...cut a promo. Not only did they cut a promo but they sounded a little cockier than usual and a little more cheesy. Yes folks, it's the new comedy stylings of Edge and Christian, or E&C as they liked to call themselves. The new champs started to make up their own lingo like Reekazoid and Heinosity and were more concerned with making the cover of Tiger Beat rather than RAW magazine. It was also around this time that we saw the debut of Team ECK-Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle.
Their first title reign came to an end on May 29, 2000 when the late Joe C, rockstar Kid Rock's little buddy, interfered and caused Too Cool to capture the titles. They would regain the belts again a month later at The King of the Ring. The next night the duo started their pseudo-feud with the one man who could go toe-to-toe with them in the schtick department...the new WWF commissioner Mick Foley! The three wrestlers (with Angle as a regular fourth) produced the funniest segments that have ever been seen on WWF programming and Foley even mentioned in his HARD KNOCKS AND CHEAP POPS that the funniest was the one he wasn't involved in.
Around the time of Foley taking over the commissionary position, the WWF released a video called TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs. It featured the three teams who were involved at WrestleMania 2000's Ladder match and showcased some of the incredible matches they were in. To further market the tape the WWF announced the first ever TLC match at that years SUMMERSLAM. Edge and Christian had to face The Hardyz and The Dudleyz once again, only this time it was their Tag titles that were on the line. The result was the same as the match at WrestleMania 2000, splintered tables, mangled ladders and a victorious E & C.
For the next two monthe E & C would exchange the Tag titles with the Hardy Boyz twice. By mid-October, Edge and Christian were sans the belts. No need to fret though because while they were losing the titles, their buddy Kurt Angle was winning the WWF Heavyweight title. Now Edge and Christian were hanging out with the WWF Champ, associating with top stars Triple H and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and wrestling the super-popular Rock. Everything about E & C at this point improved tenfold. Their skits were funnier, their in-ring shenanigans were cheesier and their quality of opponents were better. It doesn't get much better than The Rock, who Christian even pinned in a handicap match.
All this new success didn't keep them away from the Tag titles. They captured the titles a total of six times going into WrestleMania X7 and the TLC2 match where Edge and Christian came out as the seven time WWF Tag Team Champions. They would lose the titles for the final time a few weeks later, against Kane and The Undertaker.
Eventually, all good things must come to an end. Edge and Christian did all they could as a tag team. It was time for them to break apart and try their luck as singles wrestlers. Edge started off by winning the 2001 King of the Ring. Christians jealousy started to show the next night on RAW and a breakup seemed imminent, but it was put on hold once the WCW Invasion started. Edge and Christian teamed once again at the INVASION PPV to defeat Lance Storm and Mike Awesome. The following month at SUMMERSLAM, Edge defeated Storm to capture the WWF Intercontinental title. Then came the breakup.
Christian's jealousy got out of control and after failing to defeat The Rock to capture the WCW title at a show on September 23, 2001 in front of a hometown crowd in Toronto, he snapped. During Edge's match, he ran out and gave him a one-man conchairto. Their first single's encounter was set for September's UNFORGIVEN PPV where Christian beat his brother for the Intercontinental title. Edge would regain the belt in a Ladder match at NO MERCY and retain it at a cage match in England.
His next singles feud was against fellow Canadian, Test. During the time between NO MERCY and the November PPV SURVIVOR SERIES Test would defeat Edge for the Intercontinental championship, Edge would defeat Kurt Angle for the WCW US title and Mick Foley would decide the two titles would be unified at the SURVIVOR SERIES in a Unification match-a match that Edge walked away from as the victor and a unified champion.
He is now feuding with William Regal. Regal has a nasty habit of using brass knuckles and his favorite victim is Edge. Regal and Edge met at THE ROYAL RUMBLE on January 20, 2002 where Edge lost the Intercontinental title thanks to a shot by the brass knuckles. The next night, Edge and Regal had a rematch. At the end of the match, Regal again attempted to utilize the brass knucks but dropped them. Edge saw them, picked them up and used them. He was a handfall from regaining the title when the referee saw the knuckles on his hand. Edge was disqualified and Regal remained the Intercontinental champion. Edge snapped and hit the referee with the knuckles then proceeded to spear and throw out 3 more referees. Edge was escorted from the arena by security guards.
Everyone has their childhood dreams, but for the most part their just that...dreams.Its unfortunate but most people give up on those dreams rather than live them out. Edge has not only lived out his dream, he's done so over a short period of time. No one ever knows what the future has in store, but I'd say its a safe bet that he will continue to grow into one of the most popular superstars that the WWF has ever seen.