WWE Legends Biography: Edge

WWE Nostagia Videos

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Transcript

00:00:00WWE superstars are part gypsy,

00:00:06part circus, part actor,

00:00:11part writer, part athlete.

00:00:18Wrestling is all of that thrown into one pot, mixed up and

00:00:23you burp out a wrestler, colorful outfits, high flying.

00:00:29Explosions, it's theater in the round, it's live.

00:00:36You have no net, you got a live microphone and a camera.

00:00:40You have no idea the pain that I've gone through.

00:00:44Those are your tools to tell your story.

00:00:46This is hell on earth.

00:00:47God's name, can a human being even move after that?

00:00:49No, no, it's unbelievable.

00:00:51That to me is just so fascinating.

00:00:55It's the best gig in the world.

00:00:56I mean, when he was a kid, he wanted to be a wrestler.

00:01:02He lived his whole life wanting to be a wrestler.

00:01:04Downward spiral from the ladder.

00:01:06The way that it happened and all the adversity that he's had to go through.

00:01:09Man, carnage.

00:01:11There was still the knock on edge that he wasn't tough.

00:01:14My God, man, with a 25 pounder.

00:01:16He was never the biggest, never the strongest, never the fastest.

00:01:20He forced himself and pushed himself and willed himself.

00:01:24He was someone that was willing to risk it all.

00:01:27To entertain the people who paid money to see him wrestle.

00:01:31Whatever he wants to get, he's going to manifest.

00:01:34I've been witness to wrestling all my life in this hall.

00:01:37When it comes to do or die situations, I thrive.

00:01:42I was shocked that he had to end his career before it's time.

00:01:50There's going to be uneasiness, but it's never going to go away.

00:01:54Edge has shocked the world.

00:01:56The impossible, he did the impossible.

00:01:58The ultimate opportunist.

00:02:00The Rated-R Superstar.

00:02:03Edge!

00:02:15Growing up in Orangeville, I was a shy kid,

00:02:18which seems counterintuitive to what I ended up doing for a living.

00:02:21But I was a pretty quiet kid and pretty well behaved.

00:02:25It was just me and my mom.

00:02:26And she worked multiple jobs to make sure that,

00:02:31you know, I had enough food because I ate a lot.

00:02:36She was a single parent.

00:02:37She was raising Adam and she had several jobs at once.

00:02:41And she would do whatever it took to raise Adam the right way, I guess.

00:02:47Orangeville is a pretty...

00:02:50It's not the funnest town, but it's a safe place.

00:02:53It's probably what you'd call a good place to raise family.

00:02:56Not a whole lot going on, usually.

00:02:59Here's another place where Adam and Judy lived.

00:03:04Adam and Judy, they moved around probably,

00:03:07boy, about half a dozen times at least over the years.

00:03:11They lived once downtown and they lived in the place I just showed you.

00:03:14There are a couple more places all around here.

00:03:17There was this back alley to the back of our apartment

00:03:20and it was these rickety old stairs.

00:03:22I would try and sneak down this back alley

00:03:25so no-one would see where I lived.

00:03:28Because I thought, ah, if there's anybody driving by,

00:03:30they'll go, what's Adam doing there? Does he live up there?

00:03:33You go through those times and those periods

00:03:35where you're self-conscious, you're shy.

00:03:38And some of that can be because of finances

00:03:41or you're the poor kid.

00:03:43I'm sure my mom probably sensed that,

00:03:46which probably was not an easy thing for her.

00:03:48But she did everything that she possibly could.

00:03:53Judy worked two jobs sometimes, you know, making ends meet.

00:03:56She was an amazing mother.

00:03:58She did a wonderful, wonderful job

00:04:01just to keep a roof over Adam's head.

00:04:03We kind of lived paycheck to paycheck

00:04:05and I remember there was this thing called the church.

00:04:08And we would go to church.

00:04:10We kind of lived paycheck to paycheck

00:04:12and I remember there was this thing called the baby bonus.

00:04:14I think it was like $35 a month.

00:04:16I'd go down the stairs and I'd always look in that mailbox

00:04:19to see if that envelope was there

00:04:21because I knew that $35 was really going to help.

00:04:24That was the difference between that final week

00:04:26being pretty lean or we're going to have a casserole.

00:04:31Definitely some stress, but you're a kid, right?

00:04:35So it kind of bounces off of you.

00:04:37And maybe on deeper layers, deeper levels,

00:04:40it is helping to form the person you're going to become.

00:04:43But you don't realize that at the time.

00:04:46She was everything to Adam and vice versa.

00:04:50Adam was her life, period.

00:04:52It kind of felt like her and I against the world.

00:04:55She just put her nose to the grindstone

00:04:57and what she taught me was work ethic.

00:05:01Nothing will come easy.

00:05:03If it's something that you want,

00:05:05if it's something that you truly want to attain,

00:05:07there's going to be work involved.

00:05:09And the reward will be worth it.

00:05:12I can look back now and I think her reward was my success.

00:05:19He got a lot of love.

00:05:21When you're a little kid and you don't have much,

00:05:23that means everything.

00:05:25He definitely had a lot of male presence in his life

00:05:27to kind of make up for the fact that his father wasn't around.

00:05:30But I'm sure he had doubts and thoughts

00:05:33and ran the gamut of emotions

00:05:35as to why his father wasn't in his life.

00:05:39My grandparents were there, all my uncles were there,

00:05:41my aunts were there.

00:05:43There was always someone

00:05:45and they all pitched in

00:05:47and they all lent their hands

00:05:49to making sure that

00:05:51if my mom had to work,

00:05:53there was going to be somebody there.

00:05:55Him and Gary were really close.

00:05:58He was the baby of the family.

00:06:00He was the closest to me in age.

00:06:02And because of that, he was my uncle,

00:06:04but it was more of a big brother feel.

00:06:09Because we could relate to a lot of the same things.

00:06:12He was into hockey, big time.

00:06:18While I may have annoyed my older uncles,

00:06:21I didn't annoy Gary

00:06:23because we were into similar things still.

00:06:27We would draw together

00:06:29and we'd sit there and compare our drawings of goalies

00:06:31and things like that.

00:06:33When he wasn't playing hockey with his friends,

00:06:35he was always without them.

00:06:37And then all of a sudden that was taken away from him.

00:06:47I was out west in Western Canada working

00:06:50and all I got was a phone call saying

00:06:52you better get home and you better get home now.

00:06:54Gary's been in an accident.

00:06:57My uncle Gary and a bunch of friends

00:06:59were driving home from a lacrosse game

00:07:01and lost control

00:07:03around a wet corner

00:07:06and yeah,

00:07:08he was in the backseat and didn't make it.

00:07:15It turned the entire family upside down.

00:07:20He was the baby.

00:07:22This is my best buddy.

00:07:25At that age,

00:07:27old people passed away.

00:07:29It didn't dawn on me

00:07:31that you could be 17.

00:07:34You know,

00:07:36Gary was kind of like the anchor

00:07:38and that anchor was taken away

00:07:40and kind of just drift, right?

00:07:42You can never replace that, ever.

00:07:46They say time heals all, but it doesn't.

00:07:48You just learn to live with the scars, you know?

00:07:50Just a big, big void.

00:07:54I know my grandparents never recovered

00:07:56and

00:07:58I truly don't think any of the

00:08:00brothers and sisters did either.

00:08:04And for me, I was young enough

00:08:06that I started looking

00:08:08and

00:08:10I found wrestling.

00:08:14It was all of those things

00:08:16that I'd gravitated to as a kid

00:08:18but now

00:08:20it was tangible.

00:08:22Now, wait, these guys

00:08:24and girls are going to be down at Maple Leaf Gardens

00:08:26or they may come to the Orangeville Arena?

00:08:28It became

00:08:30the friend that my uncle

00:08:32was and now that friend wasn't there.

00:08:36Wrestling became that thing for me.

00:08:54My Uncle Randy,

00:08:56my mom, my Aunt Sandy and I,

00:08:58we all went down

00:09:01to Maple Leaf Gardens. This was my first trip to Maple Leaf Gardens.

00:09:05I just remember the ring

00:09:07and the single light above it

00:09:09and

00:09:11this giant wooden ramp

00:09:13that came up from out of the dressing rooms

00:09:15and Maple Leaf Gardens was the only one that had

00:09:17this ramp.

00:09:19I just remember thinking,

00:09:21these people are humongous,

00:09:23bigger than life, brighter

00:09:25than life. It was

00:09:27mind-melting.

00:09:31I don't know

00:09:33what part of my brain

00:09:35fired that said,

00:09:37this is what you're going to do

00:09:39and I don't know why, but it did.

00:09:43This is the Orangeville District

00:09:45Secondary School.

00:09:47There's a lobby in there

00:09:49and that's where Adam and James

00:09:51used to practice their wrestling.

00:09:53There's a set of stairs that comes down.

00:09:55They used to pretend they were jumping off the top rope.

00:09:57I was 11 years old

00:09:59when I moved to Orangeville.

00:10:01I was a really shy kid.

00:10:03When my mom pulled up to the school,

00:10:05I refused to get out of the car.

00:10:07He was nervous and

00:10:09the teacher sent me out

00:10:11as one of the kids to try and

00:10:13ease him into this thing.

00:10:15You know, talk him into the school

00:10:17to tell him it's going to be okay.

00:10:19We started talking about wrestling

00:10:21and he was

00:10:23as avid about it as I was.

00:10:26We kind of had our own federations

00:10:28going on, so we'd always kind of update each other

00:10:30who was a champion with our action figures

00:10:32and all those sorts of things.

00:10:34My family took him in and he was with us

00:10:36a lot, you know, for dinners.

00:10:38He went on family trips with us.

00:10:40Him kind of becoming a part of my family.

00:10:42We just started talking about it

00:10:44and it wasn't like, if we do this,

00:10:46if we become wrestlers. It was like,

00:10:48when we do this, when we become a tag team,

00:10:50when we become tag team champions.

00:10:52We kind of manifested it at an early age

00:10:55and that was it.

00:10:57Like, all bets were off at that point.

00:10:59I took this

00:11:01very seriously and this

00:11:03was it. There was no plan B.

00:11:05Failure was not an option.

00:11:09We're 65,000 strong

00:11:11here in Toronto SkyDome

00:11:18So WrestleMania 6

00:11:20was coming to the SkyDome.

00:11:22It was

00:11:24everywhere. I thought, there's no way

00:11:26that I'm going to end up going.

00:11:28In the meantime, my mom

00:11:30and my grandparents were

00:11:32doing what they could

00:11:34to get me down there. We didn't have

00:11:36a credit card, so my mom

00:11:38used my grandparents' credit card

00:11:40and then paid them back

00:11:42in order to get me down there.

00:11:44And then we took the bus down

00:11:46and it was a voyage.

00:11:50When you step into SkyDome,

00:11:52when you feel the energy

00:11:54that's going to run wild throughout the arena,

00:11:56those are my people.

00:11:58That's my energy, brother.

00:12:00It was going to be

00:12:02Hulk Hogan against The Ultimate Warrior.

00:12:04Now, as a fan,

00:12:06in that time, you had

00:12:08a clear side.

00:12:10You were Hogan or you were Warrior.

00:12:12I was Hogan.

00:12:16I'll never forget.

00:12:18It still burned into my memory.

00:12:20It's almost motionless.

00:12:22Two! No!

00:12:24How far we were

00:12:26and the angle we were at

00:12:28and how cool it all

00:12:30was to me.

00:12:32Sure enough, there I am in my Hulk Reels tank top.

00:12:34Already about a head

00:12:36taller than everybody else in the audience.

00:12:38My mom down at my shoulder.

00:12:40The mullet. Stupid

00:12:42smile on my face.

00:12:44Like, I just

00:12:46won the Super Bowl.

00:12:50Tino Bravo.

00:12:56Toronto was maybe the hottest market

00:12:58in the world for wrestling.

00:13:02Just growing up in that environment

00:13:04had a big say in Adam's

00:13:06whole development as a wrestler.

00:13:08In Toronto, wrestling

00:13:10becomes so popular. Sports editors

00:13:12have those favors.

00:13:14They say, you know what? When we run anything

00:13:16about wrestling, our paid number

00:13:18for that day goes up.

00:13:20What about a weekly wrestling column?

00:13:24One weekend

00:13:26in the column at the very tail end

00:13:28of it. Want to be a wrestler?

00:13:30Right in, there's going to be

00:13:32an essay contest. The winner of this essay contest

00:13:34will receive free wrestling training

00:13:36from Sweet Daddy Siki

00:13:38and Ron Hutchison.

00:13:40Okay, I know these

00:13:42names. I know these guys.

00:13:44This is legit. I'm right in it.

00:13:46I wrote it,

00:13:48longhand sent it. That was the only

00:13:50copy. I've never seen it to this day.

00:13:52And this is

00:13:54the letter. This is the original letter.

00:13:56Let's open it up

00:13:58here. Part of me is dreading

00:14:00what I might have written,

00:14:02but whatever I wrote worked

00:14:04because we're sitting here now

00:14:06and a lot of it starts with that essay.

00:14:08Dear

00:14:10Mr. Sullivan, I am writing

00:14:12in response to Norm Bacosta's column.

00:14:14I feel I could possibly

00:14:16be a good choice.

00:14:18I've been a wrestling fanatic since I was

00:14:20about eight years old.

00:14:22I stand six foot four,

00:14:24224 pounds, and I'm

00:14:2618 years old. Sincerely,

00:14:28Adam Copeland.

00:14:30It changed

00:14:32everything for me, but

00:14:34I also knew because they were taking

00:14:36this chance on me that I wanted to do

00:14:38right by that chance. If I didn't

00:14:40see it to as far as I

00:14:42could see it and work as hard as I could

00:14:44toward it, the chance they gave

00:14:46me, I'm just f***ing on it.

00:14:48And I'm not going to do that.

00:14:50He didn't have a car

00:14:52at the time, so I actually borrowed my mom's

00:14:54car and drove him to his first wrestling class.

00:14:56And I would do that quite often on

00:14:58weekends until he got a car.

00:15:00I loved every inch of that place.

00:15:02Finally, after

00:15:04about six or seven months of falling

00:15:06on the floor,

00:15:08I was given the nod to get the ring

00:15:10and finally getting

00:15:12in there and being in there

00:15:14and landing in there for the first time

00:15:16was a real eye-opener.

00:15:18I don't know why I thought

00:15:20that might be easy.

00:15:22And I was really,

00:15:24really f***ing wrong.

00:15:26Luckily,

00:15:28my brain was okay with that.

00:15:30I don't know why.

00:15:32I don't have the answer

00:15:34as to why.

00:15:40All right.

00:15:44What we're about

00:15:46to watch here

00:15:48is my very first

00:15:50experience

00:15:52wrestling in front of an audience.

00:15:54First, from Holmesville,

00:15:56Ontario, he stands 6'5",

00:15:58he weighs

00:16:00218 pounds.

00:16:02This is Adam Coughlin.

00:16:04Yeah!

00:16:06Look at that young fella

00:16:08over there in the corner

00:16:10in the Oakland Raiders Zubaz.

00:16:12Lightning bolts all over the place.

00:16:14Fantabulous mullet

00:16:16on full display.

00:16:18Monarch Park, Toronto.

00:16:20July 1st, Canada Day,

00:16:22Ron Hutchinson, Sweet Daddy CKR

00:16:24trainers ran a wrestling show

00:16:26for free in the park

00:16:28to get us some reps

00:16:30in front of an audience.

00:16:32Yeah!

00:16:34I just remember

00:16:36getting chopped

00:16:38a lot, which is kind of

00:16:40a rite of passage for the newbie.

00:16:42So I'm like,

00:16:44I don't care if I'm a rookie,

00:16:46I'm gonna chop you back.

00:16:48Yeah, that's right, Frankie, that.

00:16:50Now I'm just chopping everybody.

00:16:52I just had a bit of an attitude,

00:16:54I guess.

00:16:56I just remember thinking,

00:16:58yep, this is exactly

00:17:00where I need to be.

00:17:02This is the right spot.

00:17:06So this went a long way

00:17:08to making me realize that,

00:17:10okay, I'm on the right track,

00:17:12at least.

00:17:14There was no safety net,

00:17:16there was no fail safe.

00:17:18It was this and nothing else.

00:17:20You gotta bet on yourself,

00:17:22and you gotta believe you can do it.

00:17:24I've been training

00:17:26for about a year,

00:17:28year and a half.

00:17:30The Dini Petty Show in Canada.

00:17:32It was a talk show,

00:17:34and I wanted to be a guest.

00:17:36Ladies and gentlemen,

00:17:38please welcome Canada's own

00:17:40Bret the Hitman Hart!

00:17:42So I said, I gotta get there.

00:17:44I gotta get in that audience.

00:17:46I'm gonna ask them a question.

00:17:48I got two guys here

00:17:50who look to me like they might be

00:17:52wrestlers in training here,

00:17:54by the sheer size of you two.

00:17:56You wanna be a wrestler?

00:17:58We're just wondering how we should go about it.

00:18:00We work out at Tiki's gym,

00:18:02but when you wanna get in,

00:18:04do you have to go and audition for them?

00:18:06How did you get in?

00:18:08You have to have some experience,

00:18:10which is very hard to get nowadays.

00:18:12They can get you on television

00:18:14and give you a tryout,

00:18:16but that's about it.

00:18:18In those days,

00:18:20it was hard to get someone

00:18:22to help open a door for you.

00:18:24Here I was.

00:18:26I was world champion at the time.

00:18:28I was like, how can I open a door

00:18:30at his age where he is and at his level?

00:18:36After the show,

00:18:38I'm coming out of the bathroom

00:18:40and Bret sees me and comes walking down the hall.

00:18:42He said, listen, man,

00:18:44I wish I had more to tell you.

00:18:46I wish I had better advice.

00:18:48Just stick with it.

00:18:54Bret Hart

00:18:56just told me to stick with it.

00:18:58Damn right I'm sticking with it.

00:19:02I had already been going to

00:19:04Humber College for a year

00:19:06and Adam decided to do

00:19:08a radio broadcasting course

00:19:10to have something to fall back on

00:19:12if wrestling doesn't pan out.

00:19:14I wanted to take something in college

00:19:16while I was just getting sporadic bookings.

00:19:20I decided maybe radio broadcasting

00:19:22would help to have to perform verbally.

00:19:24Tune in to CBC

00:19:26this Sunday at 8.

00:19:28I'm Adam Jericho with your Char News update.

00:19:30I had a great couple of years

00:19:32and I was still wrestling.

00:19:34I wasn't making any money,

00:19:36but I was making enough to get by.

00:19:38I just had a discussion.

00:19:40He's like, hey man,

00:19:42you keep saying you're going to do this.

00:19:44Are you going to do it or what?

00:19:46I was like, yeah, I am.

00:19:48I was broke, flat broke,

00:19:50but I had a student loan from college.

00:19:52He took part of his student loan

00:19:54and it was slowly but surely

00:19:56starting to break into these

00:19:58different pockets of the independent scene.

00:20:10I had done

00:20:12a tiny show in Ajax, Ontario

00:20:14and no matter what,

00:20:16we always tried to put on the best match

00:20:18we possibly could, which meant

00:20:20I'm going to be out there for half an hour

00:20:22and I'm going to use every second

00:20:24of this time to either get

00:20:26somebody to notice or just improve.

00:20:32There's probably 100 people there.

00:20:34Do a tag team match.

00:20:36This guy called Marco,

00:20:38who at that point is Bret Hart's manager,

00:20:40says, hey, you guys got something.

00:20:42Get me a tape.

00:20:44I wanted to build him

00:20:46similar to what we did

00:20:48with Bret.

00:20:50I talked to Adam and I said,

00:20:52I see you going down the exact same footsteps.

00:20:58I said, Adam, you've got to trust me.

00:21:00You're not there yet,

00:21:02but you're close.

00:21:04I want you to do some more independent shows

00:21:06to hone your craft.

00:21:08We're going to keep in touch.

00:21:12So they came to

00:21:14Winnipeg and from there

00:21:16we went through the Norton tours.

00:21:18There's a lot of tours where

00:21:20man, you drive across these lakes

00:21:22and they wouldn't be all the way frozen.

00:21:24Some of the guys on those type of trips,

00:21:26they break out. They start crying

00:21:28because they figure they're going to die.

00:21:30You know, they've never been crossing lakes

00:21:32and driving, right?

00:21:34And sometimes the water breaks

00:21:36and they figure they're dead.

00:21:38It's a video camera.

00:21:40It's the IW on water tour.

00:21:42The on water tour.

00:21:44The hell or high water tour.

00:21:46They were on a lake somewhere.

00:21:48That was why they started being called

00:21:50death tours.

00:21:52You find yourself in these conditions

00:21:54like we got up to Oxford House

00:21:56and they said it's minus 72 out.

00:21:58You've got to run

00:22:00inside because you don't

00:22:02want to be exposed for this long

00:22:04or it's frostbite.

00:22:06And I just

00:22:08remember getting out of that van

00:22:10and my nostrils freezing together.

00:22:12We would get

00:22:14wherever we could to try and wrestle

00:22:16new people. So Jay and I

00:22:18took this trip and I still blame him for this.

00:22:20It's all his fault. He had

00:22:22gotten contact with this promoter from Tennessee

00:22:24and this promoter promised us

00:22:2630 shows in 30 days.

00:22:30So we get to Tennessee

00:22:32and we realize there's no shows.

00:22:34And we've used all

00:22:36of our money to get this far.

00:22:38We'd just try to walk onto

00:22:40shows and we ended up walking onto all these different

00:22:42shows. We did a couple

00:22:44shows in a barn in front of like 8 people.

00:22:46Fans sitting on hay bales.

00:22:48That was one of

00:22:50the instances where I had to

00:22:52call home and say

00:22:54can you wire me

00:22:56enough money for a bus ticket home?

00:22:58I knew she didn't have it

00:23:00because at this point we're living in a one room apartment.

00:23:02My mattress is on the floor

00:23:04in this corner, her mattress is over there.

00:23:06I don't know if she asked

00:23:08my grandparents or just

00:23:10draped it together but it got there.

00:23:12And that's what got me home.

00:23:16Yeah, you're not making any money

00:23:18and yeah, maybe 75 bucks

00:23:20a show hopefully.

00:23:22But you're still

00:23:24out there doing it.

00:23:26My mom never questioned that.

00:23:28She never said to me, what do you think?

00:23:30Is it time to call it a day? Maybe move on

00:23:32to something else? She never said

00:23:34it once and I never said it.

00:23:36I'd be working in the car seat factory and I'd go

00:23:38okay, I'm doing this that I can afford tights

00:23:40so I can afford those boots

00:23:42so I can afford the first payment

00:23:44of car insurance. Because I thought if I keep

00:23:46putting into this thing, eventually

00:23:48eventually it'll pay off.

00:23:50We had tunnel vision. We were going to make it regardless

00:23:52and he had the same mindset and I had the same mindset

00:23:54and we pushed each other.

00:23:56Carl calls me

00:23:58and said you should get out to Brett.

00:24:00Brett Hart who is the WWE champion

00:24:02at that point.

00:24:04Every now and then I finally would

00:24:06step in the ring and I'd go okay, I'm going to

00:24:08wrestle at him.

00:24:10Try to teach him everything I could

00:24:12in as short a way

00:24:14and quick a way as possible

00:24:16and basically give him the experience of working with

00:24:18the best wrestler in the world right now.

00:24:22So I just get in and do my thing.

00:24:24At the end of that, Brett goes

00:24:26we gotta get you going.

00:24:28I think you're ready.

00:24:30You've gone as far as you can go to this point.

00:24:32Come off the top.

00:24:34Yes!

00:24:36It's not very often that I give a big send up

00:24:38to a guy like Adam but it was easy for me to do.

00:24:40That's huge.

00:24:42I don't know what else to say to that but like

00:24:44my stomach's doing every flop

00:24:46and flip you can imagine.

00:24:48But I got a tour in Manitoba

00:24:50for Tony Candelo and it's

00:24:52not a northern death tour this time

00:24:54because it's during the summer.

00:24:56So I go to Winnipeg. We're landing pontoon planes

00:24:58on the lakes to get to the shows

00:25:00and we're in Cat Lake.

00:25:02I remember Tony coming to find me

00:25:04and there's one phone

00:25:06on the res and he said

00:25:08listen we gotta go to the cop shop

00:25:10and it's double wide.

00:25:12So I walk in there, pick up the phone

00:25:14it's Carl DiMarco.

00:25:16Hey Carl

00:25:18what's going on?

00:25:20And he goes you got a contract

00:25:22and it's waiting for you.

00:25:32And it's waiting for you

00:25:34down in Stanford, Connecticut.

00:25:36It almost feels like

00:25:38the second half of my life

00:25:40started there.

00:25:42The first half was to get to that phone call

00:25:44and then that phone call happened

00:25:46and it all changed.

00:25:52I can look back at it now

00:25:54and realize how pivotal it was

00:25:56and I knew it was at the time

00:25:58and I knew it was going to be

00:26:00how pivotal it was and I knew it was at the time

00:26:02but looking in that rear view you realize

00:26:04wow

00:26:06that single phone call

00:26:08changed

00:26:10the entire path.

00:26:12It was the path I wanted

00:26:14it was the path I expected

00:26:16but that phone call is what

00:26:18actually did it.

00:26:22You think you know me

00:26:26but you will never know me.

00:26:28You are lost

00:26:32and scared.

00:26:34I don't think WWE had an idea

00:26:36what to do with Adam Copeland.

00:26:38The only trait

00:26:40that Edge and Adam shared was

00:26:42confusion. Adam had

00:26:44no idea what Edge was

00:26:46and therefore Edge was very confused.

00:26:50So I didn't understand

00:26:52that there was going to be departments.

00:26:54You'd have people whose job it was

00:26:56to try and come up with this stuff.

00:26:58That's great

00:27:00but

00:27:02I just

00:27:04don't want to do that myself.

00:27:06It's my kid's light board.

00:27:08It's Lyric's

00:27:10Crayola light board

00:27:12and so I'll just put something

00:27:14on there and go okay there's an idea

00:27:16that's a good size and then I'll just go

00:27:18okay well I can trace it now that

00:27:20I have the original drawing.

00:27:22So that's kind of my process

00:27:24I get some sharpies and I start doodling.

00:27:26I don't know why

00:27:28it's always been this process.

00:27:30I really enjoy it. I think that's also part of the reason

00:27:32because of that. Because it does

00:27:34take me back to when I was a

00:27:36kid and then a teenager

00:27:38and then an adult

00:27:40and now being a

00:27:4240 something middle aged man

00:27:44still doing it.

00:27:46What could have happened to this man

00:27:48that made him do these things?

00:27:50A lot of guys

00:27:52have really shot themselves in the foot

00:27:54right out of the gate because

00:27:56they don't like their character

00:27:58and that doesn't sit well sometimes

00:28:00with the higher ups.

00:28:06I got some of these creative drawings

00:28:08and I looked like a BG

00:28:10taking rave drugs.

00:28:12What is that?

00:28:14Nothing was really fleshed out.

00:28:16Nothing was told to me.

00:28:18Didn't know what Edge was.

00:28:20The story of Edge didn't have a backstory.

00:28:22None of that.

00:28:26I was really floundering.

00:28:30Saying no to that stuff might not have been

00:28:32the best idea, but I did.

00:28:34There was a period where

00:28:36people had been in the business

00:28:38for a while and looked at anybody

00:28:40new, hey you haven't paid your dues yet.

00:28:42There's a really fine line

00:28:44there of

00:28:46standing up for yourself and what

00:28:48your vision is and doing

00:28:50what it is that they want.

00:28:52Now you've kind of got this stigma

00:28:54like okay, this guy's hard to work with.

00:28:56That could be career suicide.

00:29:00So then I'd design my stuff

00:29:02and I would draw it.

00:29:06I gotta have my hands in it

00:29:08in making this thing work, but

00:29:10that's just not really the way it always works.

00:29:12He couldn't wrap his brain around it

00:29:14because I don't think he understood it.

00:29:16To Adam's credit, he's always

00:29:18stood up for what he believed in.

00:29:20That is some of the things

00:29:22you have to deal with politically,

00:29:24both at the office and also in the

00:29:26dress room. Any time that a new

00:29:28talent comes in that

00:29:30doesn't have the

00:29:32pedigree, if you will,

00:29:34to come in and

00:29:36go right into a spot,

00:29:38I think there's a lot of jealousy.

00:29:40He wasn't

00:29:42a seasoned talent per se.

00:29:44A guy's been in the business for a cup of

00:29:46coffee and comes in

00:29:48and he's being hyped in a big way.

00:29:50Anybody that's on

00:29:52top, and trust me on this,

00:29:54is always looking over their shoulder

00:29:56to see who's going to take their place.

00:29:58I won't mention names.

00:30:00Certain other talent who had long hair,

00:30:02similar to Adam, they were taking him as a threat.

00:30:06There was a lot of political behind the scenes

00:30:08pushing, I think you should get a haircut.

00:30:10Do anything you can to sabotage

00:30:12this look and image, etc.

00:30:14There was talk that I would be deaf

00:30:16with an inability to speak

00:30:18at one point, which is the

00:30:20kiss of death. Because as

00:30:22a wrestler, a microphone is

00:30:24one of your tools. And

00:30:26I thought, man, that's

00:30:28being floated around for me?

00:30:30I got nothing if they take

00:30:32that away. I'm like, what?

00:30:34That was the dumbest idea

00:30:36I've ever freaking heard.

00:30:38And I knew there would be a career killer before

00:30:40he started. I mean, he really

00:30:42would have been dead in the water if he

00:30:44had to try to get over without being able to talk.

00:30:52I didn't know.

00:30:54They just said, he's a tortured soul.

00:30:56What does that mean?

00:30:58When in doubt, I just scream.

00:31:02I just scream,

00:31:04and look up the ceiling and scream.

00:31:06That's what I've heard. The same as you, Jair. This guy's supposed to be

00:31:08tormented. I mean, every time I've seen him,

00:31:10he seems to be in some sort of a rage.

00:31:14We are about to see the debut

00:31:16of Edge, and Edge on his way to the ring.

00:31:20I just remember thinking, okay, how do I try

00:31:22and make an impression?

00:31:24How do I try and get noticed?

00:31:30The match was going fine,

00:31:32until it wasn't.

00:31:38Over the top.

00:31:40And Jose Estrada's not moving very much

00:31:42here, King. I think Jose is out.

00:31:46I decided to try this move called the

00:31:48helo, which is a front flip over the top rope

00:31:50to the floor.

00:31:52I knocked Jose out.

00:31:54Out.

00:31:56In my debut match.

00:31:58I roll in the ring.

00:32:00Tim White is the referee.

00:32:02He goes, he's out, kid.

00:32:04And I just felt the world

00:32:06fall out from underneath me.

00:32:10I'd never injured someone.

00:32:12I'd never hurt someone.

00:32:14So, not only am I

00:32:16smashing that glass,

00:32:18but I'm doing it

00:32:20my first match

00:32:22on television for the company

00:32:24I've always wanted to work for.

00:32:26And I know how the locker room works.

00:32:28I know people see that, and the whispers start.

00:32:30Kid's not safe.

00:32:32Kid's not safe. Kid's not safe.

00:32:34That's all going through my mind

00:32:36while I'm on TV in my debut match.

00:32:40And that's all of it.

00:32:42Edge will win his first match.

00:32:44I'm sure not the way he wanted.

00:32:46He's a winner, needless to say.

00:32:48He's over the edge.

00:32:52Yeah.

00:32:54Look at it two ways.

00:32:56Nowhere to go but up.

00:32:58Or I just

00:33:00f*** the bed.

00:33:02And

00:33:04this could be it.

00:33:12I've often said this is kind of my

00:33:14field of dreams.

00:33:18Some people have football fields.

00:33:20Some people have ice rinks.

00:33:22Now, if you had told 16-year-old Adam

00:33:24that one day

00:33:26there'd be one of these

00:33:28at his beck and call,

00:33:30he would not have believed that.

00:33:32This is

00:33:34kind of a collection of stuff that

00:33:36was never going to see the light of day,

00:33:38but we got a wrestling ring. That's ridiculous

00:33:40enough. This is when

00:33:42I did a series of Slim Jim commercials.

00:33:44They had Edge

00:33:46skateboarding like the Grand Canyon

00:33:48is a half pipe,

00:33:50ascending at Everest,

00:33:52and attacking a school teacher,

00:33:54it seems, with a Slim Jim.

00:33:56Once you eat a Slim Jim,

00:33:58anything is possible.

00:34:02Right here. Easy, chief.

00:34:04One step at a time.

00:34:06Now eat it and beat it.

00:34:08This poster over here,

00:34:10this was the first wrestling show I ever

00:34:12went to.

00:34:14For whatever reason, I still had it

00:34:16all these years later, so it felt

00:34:18like that needed to live here.

00:34:20We set up the chairs for the show,

00:34:22Jay and myself,

00:34:24and they promised

00:34:26that if we papered the town,

00:34:28if we posted the town with these posters

00:34:30and set up chairs,

00:34:32they'd give us two minutes in the ring.

00:34:34And that was our, we didn't get paid,

00:34:36that was our pay, was just let us in the ring.

00:34:38That was our calling.

00:34:40Even still boggles my mind

00:34:42that two kids from a small town

00:34:44like Orangeville both had the same dream,

00:34:46met each other,

00:34:48and both chased the dream

00:34:50to the furthest that you could chase it

00:34:52and did it.

00:34:54That still doesn't really

00:34:56register or make complete sense

00:34:58to me.

00:35:02I started on TV

00:35:04June of 98.

00:35:06I want to say it was like

00:35:08six months after that Jay started

00:35:10up, and I was told he was going to be brought

00:35:12in as my brother. And then

00:35:14they brought in Gangbrel, Dave Heath,

00:35:16and they put us together as a group called The Brood.

00:35:18Matt was the first instance where I was like,

00:35:20ooh, there's an element of character here.

00:35:22There's one word to describe

00:35:24this trio,

00:35:26and that's unique.

00:35:28And Gangbrel in the middle,

00:35:30he appears to be the leader.

00:35:32Edge on his right.

00:35:34We're supposed to be like,

00:35:36are we vampires? Are we goth?

00:35:38What is this thing? But it was something.

00:35:40The power lies within us.

00:35:42I remember the first time he spoke,

00:35:44it was like,

00:35:46I remember the first time he spoke,

00:35:48which was in New Haven, and said the freaks

00:35:50only come out at night. Because the freaks

00:35:52come out

00:35:54at night.

00:35:56And the girls screamed.

00:35:58I don't know.

00:36:00He said, I want to go. He's going to get there.

00:36:02I just

00:36:04pictured this group of really cool vampires,

00:36:06whether they had fangs or not, just really cool

00:36:08guys. It didn't matter if you got your butt kicked

00:36:10every night as long as you looked cool doing it.

00:36:12Whoa! The Brood,

00:36:14just do what? Let this thing go!

00:36:16Look out now.

00:36:18Anything he did was

00:36:20going to work.

00:36:22They told me that that's the guy that they're going to

00:36:24strap a rocket to.

00:36:26They knew he was their future superstar.

00:36:28The combined weight

00:36:30of 455 pounds,

00:36:32Christian and

00:36:34Edge!

00:36:36When we teamed up, it's like, well,

00:36:38we've been doing this since the sixth grade.

00:36:40We know what we do.

00:36:42Now we get to show everybody

00:36:44what we can do.

00:36:46I think there was a realization

00:36:48that Adam and Jay need to be injected

00:36:50into this. It can't just be

00:36:52Edge and Christian, because what is that?

00:36:54We don't know. But

00:36:56if we can inject some of our humor

00:36:58and some of our

00:37:00idiocy into this,

00:37:02maybe, just maybe, they'll start

00:37:04giving us some microphone time. Hey, listen to this.

00:37:06I'm going to play our music.

00:37:08You think you know me. You think you know me.

00:37:10All right. Get out.

00:37:12We'd added the last element

00:37:14that we needed to go from

00:37:16just kind of being wrestlers

00:37:18to being entertainers

00:37:20and understanding that there is

00:37:22a difference between the two.

00:37:24What I really like are those five-second

00:37:26poses. For the next five seconds,

00:37:28we will very generously

00:37:30pose for all of you

00:37:32with the benefit of flash photography.

00:37:34Christian and I have been reversing

00:37:36some new poses. This one we just simply

00:37:38did. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

00:37:40You have to be an entertainer

00:37:42if you really want this thing to work and you really want

00:37:44to get to the upper echelons of what

00:37:46this thing is.

00:37:48I'll turn this light on over here.

00:37:52There's always going to be a ladder

00:37:54present when I'm around, it seems.

00:37:56I try to avoid them at all costs.

00:37:58Yeah, so you have to, like,

00:38:00practice with... I mean, do you practice

00:38:02with the ladder? You don't practice with ladders.

00:38:04You just don't touch a ladder

00:38:06until it's match time.

00:38:08That's just for changing light bulbs.

00:38:10I truly, I don't go

00:38:12anywhere near that thing

00:38:14unless I absolutely have to.

00:38:20When most people see ladders,

00:38:22I think the reaction is, oh, there's a ladder.

00:38:24The pit of my stomach starts

00:38:26to feel a little queasy when I see a ladder

00:38:28because I know what happens if you fall

00:38:30off of them because it was my job.

00:38:32There's a saying that

00:38:34every single day of your career is

00:38:36one day less of your career.

00:38:38I think that in some of these

00:38:40matches, there's

00:38:42not just one day less,

00:38:44there's probably, you take about 20, 30,

00:38:4640 days off of career

00:38:48in every high-risk match that you have.

00:38:50Matt and Jeff Hardy

00:38:52against Edge and Christian.

00:38:54This is the first

00:38:56tag team ladder match

00:38:58in history. The match only can end

00:39:00when one team has

00:39:02secured the $100,000 that's hanging

00:39:04high above the ring.

00:39:08For Edge and Christian,

00:39:10it was that first ladder match in Cleveland.

00:39:12They changed

00:39:14the whole landscape on a ladder

00:39:16match in one match.

00:39:18You know, we caught lightning

00:39:20in a bottle that night, and that took us from

00:39:22being WWE wrestlers to WWE superstars

00:39:24overnight.

00:39:26We all

00:39:28realized being as young and

00:39:30dumb and hungry as we were

00:39:32that if we got an opportunity,

00:39:34we gotta swing for the fences.

00:39:36Our goal was to tear

00:39:38that arena down.

00:39:42So we started to look at

00:39:44how can we build things

00:39:46with these ladders that we can

00:39:48then fall on, or that we can

00:39:50use as a teeter-totter and slam

00:39:52up into somebody's face.

00:39:55What the heck?

00:39:57Just trying to

00:39:59think of violent,

00:40:01creative ways

00:40:03to create things people hadn't

00:40:05seen before.

00:40:10And we did.

00:40:16And then to get to the back and get the

00:40:18congratulations from your peers,

00:40:20from people who were already at the top of the

00:40:22show, went out of their way to tell us,

00:40:24like, damn, guys,

00:40:26I don't know what you just

00:40:28did, but you did it.

00:40:31I made sure that I was the first

00:40:33guy they saw when they walked through the curtain.

00:40:35I looked at all four of them, and I said,

00:40:37you guys just became stars.

00:40:42That was their big stamp of approval.

00:40:44Like, these guys are for real.

00:40:46These guys are here, and

00:40:48you really have to appreciate that.

00:40:50They all had chemistry,

00:40:52and they worked beautifully together.

00:40:54In any combination,

00:40:56they defined what those

00:40:58matches would be for the future

00:41:00of our business.

00:41:02The reaction was unlike anything I'd ever experienced

00:41:04up until that point in time. I'd never experienced

00:41:06standing ovations or anything like that.

00:41:08And the next night on Raw,

00:41:10it happened again. It was, like, just goosebumps

00:41:12when I was out there, like, just taking

00:41:14it all in, because I just couldn't believe

00:41:16or even comprehend or understand

00:41:18at that point what that meant.

00:41:20Every single night,

00:41:22you go in front of a live audience.

00:41:24You want to improve.

00:41:26You want to do better. And the audience

00:41:28now has an expectation.

00:41:30As a performer,

00:41:32you can meet that expectation,

00:41:34or you can exceed it.

00:41:36And you always want to exceed it.

00:41:38It just...

00:41:40We kept having to top ourselves.

00:41:42And that's a kind of

00:41:44fun place to be, if I'm being perfectly

00:41:46honest.

00:42:12I'm standing on top of this

00:42:14table,

00:42:16wobbling like crazy.

00:42:20I've just pushed Matt Hardy off of the thing.

00:42:22He's flipped and landed directly on his tailbone

00:42:24through a table.

00:42:26Looks so ugly, so I'm double-checking

00:42:28to make sure, okay, he's moving.

00:42:30That's a good sign.

00:42:32Now I have to figure out how to stand

00:42:34up on this wobbly table

00:42:36that's about to pitch over.

00:42:38I just remember the reaction when we were reaching for the

00:42:40titles, and

00:42:42I said to Adam, I was like,

00:42:44I'm going to fall. He said, I'll get them.

00:42:46So he grabbed both of them. And if I had stood up,

00:42:48that celebration would have looked a lot different.

00:42:58If you look at it on paper,

00:43:00the chances of it happening

00:43:02are stupid.

00:43:04Two kids

00:43:06from a small town in southern Ontario

00:43:08with no inroads to the wrestling industry

00:43:10ever are going to find themselves

00:43:12standing on a table on top of

00:43:14two ladders in the pond

00:43:16in Anaheim after doing a match

00:43:18that has never, ever happened

00:43:20before in the history of wrestling that they've helped

00:43:22create.

00:43:24If everything ended after this,

00:43:26in terms of our team and all of those things,

00:43:28man, we did it.

00:43:30We did what we said we were going to do.

00:43:32Winning the tag team

00:43:34titles is great. An amazing feeling.

00:43:36We're the kings and the top of the heap

00:43:38in the tag team world.

00:43:42I definitely think tag team titles

00:43:44are a stepping stone to get to that next step.

00:43:46You're almost there. You've grabbed

00:43:48that ring. Now it's time to go for the next one.

00:43:58Reeking of awesomeness the way we do

00:44:00and being so totally cool,

00:44:02I'm here at MTV on TRL

00:44:04to show them just exactly what Edge

00:44:06movie star is all about.

00:44:08Hey, you totally ruined it.

00:44:10See, she knows what she's talking about.

00:44:12Being one half of Edge and Christian, the most photogenic tag team

00:44:14ever, and being on the real pulse

00:44:16of what the teens want to see,

00:44:18you know, you can understand why MTV

00:44:20would come to us.

00:44:26Edge was a big-time player star

00:44:28and if he'd have stayed with that tag team,

00:44:30you know, his career

00:44:32probably would not have lasted.

00:44:34That's just the way it is.

00:44:40You can only do the same thing for so long

00:44:42before it gets repetitive

00:44:44and I think we both wanted to break up

00:44:46before people were like, okay, I've seen the act.

00:44:50Once we split,

00:44:52I don't know if either one of us understood

00:44:54how hard it was going to be.

00:44:56You want to know if you can make it on that

00:44:58stage as a single.

00:45:00When your time comes,

00:45:02when they're ready to push you

00:45:04as a big single, you have to do it

00:45:06because

00:45:08if you don't strive

00:45:10to be the best,

00:45:12you're really spinning your wheels.

00:45:24Because we'd been with the company,

00:45:26we'd found success with the company

00:45:28and assumed

00:45:30it would be an easy enough transition

00:45:32into this next stage

00:45:34of our career and it was anything but.

00:45:38The challenges

00:45:40that Edge found out

00:45:42was the place was popping

00:45:44and you had so many

00:45:46great talents that knew

00:45:48the business, knew their game

00:45:50and I think he could feel pressure

00:45:52from those that were

00:45:54above them that didn't want them to

00:45:56supersede the top guys.

00:45:58As crazy as it sounds,

00:46:00given the danger involved

00:46:02in the ladders matches and later

00:46:04the tables, ladders and chairs matches,

00:46:06there was still the knock on edge

00:46:08that he wasn't tough.

00:46:10Well, look at him.

00:46:12Does he look tough?

00:46:14You know, come on. Adam's in there.

00:46:16He's a young kid, all tan and

00:46:18pretty. Adam was pretty.

00:46:20He looked like a surfer.

00:46:22He did not look like your stereotypical

00:46:24tough guy. He didn't look the part

00:46:26but he was the part.

00:46:28Because he's a handsome man

00:46:30with a great physique and he's a young man

00:46:32with the long hair, there are gonna

00:46:34be those who don't think he has

00:46:36what we refer to as

00:46:38intestinal fortitude.

00:46:40Those that would say that

00:46:42Adam didn't have the intestinal fortitude

00:46:44had never gotten in the ring with him.

00:46:46Edge as the performer

00:46:48was willing to do anything

00:46:50that he had to do.

00:46:52I thought there was a good chance

00:46:54he could be held back and not

00:46:56climb to the heights that he would

00:46:58be able to. I was treading

00:47:00water and just kind of

00:47:02keeping my nose above that water line.

00:47:06And then Paul Heyman called me

00:47:08and he said, we want a team you

00:47:10and Hulk Hogan. What do you think?

00:47:12And

00:47:14I went, I think that is

00:47:16a stupendous idea. We will have

00:47:18a blast.

00:47:24You know, I'm not a tag team

00:47:26guy so I don't have that psychology.

00:47:28It was just totally out of my wheelhouse

00:47:30you know. So I said, just whatever

00:47:32you want to do brother.

00:47:34You tell me that, well

00:47:36it's gonna be a lot then.

00:47:40It was just such a crazy

00:47:42night because I'd never been

00:47:44a tag team champion before.

00:47:46And all of a sudden here I'm in the ring

00:47:48with some guy that's watched

00:47:50Hulkamania ever since he was a kid

00:47:52and I was like his

00:47:54wrestling hero growing up

00:47:56and to be in the ring with him

00:47:58and know how cool this was, it was almost like

00:48:00I had my son with me or something.

00:48:22Hulk Hogan

00:48:24and Edge.

00:48:26What's your next step?

00:48:28Next step for Edge

00:48:30probably not tag teaming

00:48:32probably go back off and

00:48:34continue what I was doing before with the singles thing.

00:48:38Did you hear that?

00:48:40I started

00:48:42experiencing just headache

00:48:44just pain

00:48:46and my left arm started to

00:48:48atrophy and I noticed it in my hands

00:48:50like the meat here

00:48:52was disappearing.

00:49:00When you're young and hungry like that

00:49:02you're gonna do whatever you can to make it.

00:49:04He was sucking it up just kind of

00:49:06gritting his teeth and fighting

00:49:08through it until he just couldn't do it anymore.

00:49:10I was starting to see

00:49:12little divots in my forearm

00:49:14and I was like oh that's weird

00:49:16and then my rear delt just left

00:49:18one day. It was gone.

00:49:20It looked like someone had golfed off of it.

00:49:22And that's when I finally

00:49:24gave in and said

00:49:26I think something's going on.

00:49:32I went to Steve Austin's spine doctor

00:49:34because he had had a spinal fusion at this point.

00:49:36He said you gotta come down to San Antonio

00:49:38see Dr. Youngblood.

00:49:40This is disc material and bone spurs right here

00:49:42and it should be a nice

00:49:44symmetrical oval.

00:49:46So I went down

00:49:48and ended up getting a double fusion

00:49:50from C5

00:49:52to C7.

00:49:54And basically what they did is

00:49:56they took a chunk from my hip

00:49:58and they put it in my neck

00:50:00and replaced the ruptured discs.

00:50:06And they put a plate and six screws

00:50:08into the back.

00:50:10And I just remember

00:50:12having to sleep sitting up in that neck collar

00:50:14for about three months.

00:50:16You'd get a couple hours here and there

00:50:18and if I woke up

00:50:20I'd just turn on the TV

00:50:22and just kind of mindlessly watch something

00:50:24and try not to fall down the well

00:50:26of depression that every injury

00:50:28has and every athlete has encountered.

00:50:32I had to

00:50:34calibrate my brain

00:50:36to the aspect of psychological toll

00:50:38that takes.

00:50:40When you're used to going 120

00:50:42with no hint of putting your foot

00:50:44on the brakes to

00:50:46you're in reverse and you're going

00:50:48in reverse fast.

00:50:50That takes some

00:50:52mental

00:50:54gymnastics.

00:50:56I had always

00:50:58hoped one day it'll be my choice

00:51:00to walk away

00:51:02and this

00:51:04wasn't my choice. I think that's the hardest part.

00:51:06Four

00:51:08days after I had the surgery I thought it'd be

00:51:10a good idea to go in and just, right I'm going

00:51:12to the gym. And I got in there and I

00:51:14sat down and I tried to lift a weight

00:51:16and it was

00:51:18seven pounds

00:51:20and my arms were just shaking like that.

00:51:22And I

00:51:24put the weight down. I feel

00:51:26like crying is what I felt like doing.

00:51:28I got up and I walked out of the gym.

00:51:32You have this thought and you can't

00:51:34help it. Am I going to get another

00:51:36opportunity when I get healthy

00:51:38to come back and do this?

00:51:40Am I going to be healthy enough to come back

00:51:42and do it at the level?

00:51:44Your mind plays horrible

00:51:46horrible tricks on you.

00:51:48I talked to Michael Hayes and he said

00:51:50worst case scenario if you can't come back

00:51:52you've lived your dream.

00:51:54And I thought well I've lived it but I haven't

00:51:56fulfilled my final dream.

00:51:58That's to win either the WWE

00:52:00or the World Heavyweight Championship.

00:52:04Ladies and gentlemen

00:52:06This has been my trip of just

00:52:08Oh my God! Who's that?

00:52:10Is that Triple H? Wait a minute.

00:52:12I wish you didn't say Test.

00:52:16I had gone down to see him at his place

00:52:18in Florida when he was recovering.

00:52:20It was funny because he

00:52:22looked relieved to sort of be

00:52:24on a break. I think the first couple

00:52:26of years were a whirlwind.

00:52:30Maybe a blessing in disguise

00:52:32to sort of take

00:52:34a deep breath and be back at home.

00:52:38You're interrupting my morning coffee.

00:52:40Thank you very much.

00:52:42This is my humble abode.

00:52:44Where should we head to? Books.

00:52:46I read all the time. That's pretty much

00:52:48one thing I do on my own

00:52:50which I wrote by the way.

00:52:52Apple mango tango.

00:52:54Aha! See that right there?

00:52:56That right there

00:52:58is an ass crack

00:53:00that is implanted in my couch

00:53:02and when I have my neck surgery I just sleep there

00:53:04sitting up just like this.

00:53:06So my ass crack is permanently embedded in this spot.

00:53:08I think

00:53:10it's the motivation.

00:53:12It's setback, yes, but I know

00:53:14where I can go and I know

00:53:16what the company feels about me

00:53:18so I'm going to work harder

00:53:20to prove that they were right

00:53:22in spite of having this happen.

00:53:26And making his way to the ring

00:53:28he is the extra

00:53:30intercontinental champion

00:53:32and Toronto's own

00:53:34Edge!

00:53:36I thought, man

00:53:38I've been off. I haven't been back in Toronto

00:53:40I think it was two years at that point.

00:53:42I'm coming back. I'm the intercontinental champion.

00:53:44Had spinal fusion surgery.

00:53:46This has got to be a hero's welcome, right?

00:53:52I came out and they booed me.

00:54:01You could see it on Edge's face.

00:54:03Like, why don't you love me?

00:54:05I'm Edge.

00:54:07You're my hometown audience.

00:54:09Don't you love me?

00:54:11What our vision is,

00:54:13you know, Edge is this heroic character

00:54:15and fighting through the odds

00:54:17and yada yada yada.

00:54:19They're not buying it because it's the same thing I was doing

00:54:21before I left. They were buying it then

00:54:23but for whatever reason this break

00:54:25has caused them to not buy it anymore.

00:54:27Instead of asking

00:54:29why do you hate me?

00:54:31Make them hate you more.

00:54:33And turn it around

00:54:35to take all of the things

00:54:37that you do

00:54:39being a nice guy

00:54:41and just put a twist on it.

00:54:43And just put a little bit of an attitude on it.

00:54:45And that will help

00:54:47the audience confirm

00:54:49their belief.

00:54:51You're an ass. I don't like you.

00:54:59That's it.

00:55:03Now they want something different.

00:55:05They're telling us.

00:55:07So let's give them something different.

00:55:09When you're kind of pegged to be

00:55:11a future superstar, you're gonna

00:55:13maybe even get some more opportunities

00:55:15that others wouldn't get.

00:55:17And I felt like maybe he thought his chances were running out.

00:55:19The following contest

00:55:21is the Money in the Bank

00:55:23Ladder Match.

00:55:25The first

00:55:27individual to climb the ladder

00:55:29and retrieve the briefcase

00:55:31will win a contract for a

00:55:33World Heavyweight Champion.

00:55:43It can be extremely difficult

00:55:45for a guy to go

00:55:47from being a babyface to a heel.

00:55:49And normally it is a

00:55:51recipe for disaster.

00:55:53But man, as a heel,

00:55:55I think he is just so

00:55:57much better.

00:56:01That then became this

00:56:03character who was just

00:56:05maniacally obsessed with being

00:56:07the World Champion.

00:56:09Because that was the last thing

00:56:11that needed to be

00:56:13done on my checklist of things.

00:56:15And that's Adam

00:56:17sitting back and going, right, what else?

00:56:19He got that. Did that. Cool.

00:56:21Did that. Did that. Did that.

00:56:23Gotta do that, though. I mean, this can't end

00:56:25until that happens.

00:56:27With that neck injury, it made me realize

00:56:29I'm gonna have to make it happen

00:56:31sooner than later.

00:56:33Nobody goes anywhere!

00:56:35This night is not over.

00:56:37First of all,

00:56:39I'd like to congratulate

00:56:41John Cena in retaining

00:56:43the WWE Championship.

00:56:45There's one more match

00:56:47happening here tonight.

00:56:49John Cena is cashing in

00:56:51his money and the bank privilege

00:56:53that he earned at WrestleMania.

00:56:55The WWE Championship

00:56:57match will

00:56:59take place right here,

00:57:01right now.

00:57:03John Cena defends against

00:57:05Edge!

00:57:07I'd like to think because

00:57:09Adam is so focused

00:57:11on all things WWE that that

00:57:13truly is the pinnacle achievement.

00:57:15He's definitely proving himself.

00:57:17For a lot of wrestlers, that's a tough

00:57:19mountain to climb.

00:57:21Everybody wants to be the champion.

00:57:23Edge!

00:57:25Edge!

00:57:27Edge!

00:57:29Edge!

00:57:31Edge!

00:57:33Edge!

00:57:35Edge has shocked the world!

00:57:37This was indeed a historical night!

00:57:39Edge is the new

00:57:41WWE Champion!

00:57:43They told me the plan.

00:57:45You're gonna have this thing for three weeks,

00:57:47then you're gonna drop it back to John,

00:57:49and then John's gonna wrestle Triple H

00:57:51at WrestleMania.

00:58:05That one put a big chip

00:58:07on my shoulder. I found out

00:58:09after the fact that there was a lot of

00:58:11very vocal, I wasn't ready for it.

00:58:13Don't know if I'll ever be ready for it.

00:58:15It was the locker room

00:58:17where that was the feeling.

00:58:19All of that was ammunition for me.

00:58:23There's always somebody in the dressing

00:58:25room that's like,

00:58:27him? I don't get it, but they

00:58:29don't appreciate what he was doing.

00:58:31I think from my perspective, he got to

00:58:33win the championship.

00:58:35And it's all about

00:58:37what is my perception going forward and how can I

00:58:39take what's happened

00:58:41and continue a compelling narrative.

00:58:45Ratings go up, the hits

00:58:47on the website go up, okay, merchandise

00:58:49is selling, this is a good thing. We're gonna go

00:58:51with this. No we're not.

00:58:53That pissed me off. So

00:58:55I got Mick.

00:58:57Right. Now

00:58:59we can show everybody.

00:59:07Mick Foley from my career

00:59:09was

00:59:11absolutely what Edge needed

00:59:13to finally kind of cement

00:59:15where I, Adam, thought

00:59:17Edge belonged.

00:59:21He was a guy, and still is

00:59:23to this day, a guy who

00:59:25likes to prove people wrong.

00:59:33There's only so much a human body can take.

00:59:39Oh my God!

00:59:45There it is!

00:59:47There's Bobby!

00:59:49One of the things I never really thought

00:59:51about was how

00:59:53barbed wire would feel when it's wrapped around a baseball

00:59:55bat and it's hitting you in the stomach.

00:59:59Those thoughts crossed my mind as

01:00:01they were about to happen, like a nanosecond

01:00:03before.

01:00:05Ha, ow.

01:00:07Oh.

01:00:09That sucks.

01:00:11Ah, that

01:00:13really, wow, okay.

01:00:15That's barbed wire.

01:00:17That doesn't do good. Your skin's

01:00:19not meant for that.

01:00:23The thumbtacks, I mean the look on my face

01:00:25pretty much sums it up.

01:00:27It's kind of

01:00:29like being on the high diving board

01:00:31and just back flopping

01:00:33into a pool.

01:00:35But I'm talking one of the high diving boards

01:00:37from the Olympics.

01:00:39That kind of smack

01:00:41where it might knock you out.

01:00:43Take your breath away.

01:00:47In the midst of this

01:00:49violent theater of the absurd,

01:00:51you're getting a real

01:00:53emotion in the eyes there.

01:00:55Oral surgery being performed

01:00:57by the Dr. Mick Foley!

01:01:01Oh my God, here we go!

01:01:05We had an idea in our head.

01:01:07I was borrowing from a couple of

01:01:09scenes I had witnessed,

01:01:11but I just felt like doing it on the

01:01:13grandest stage of them all

01:01:15makes it our moment.

01:01:17Oh my God, here we go!

01:01:19Oh my God, what's going to happen?

01:01:21Look out!

01:01:23Oh my God!

01:01:25Oh my God!

01:01:27And I'm crawling over,

01:01:29I roll him over, I said, I love you, Mick.

01:01:31Stay up to the table, cover!

01:01:33One, two, three!

01:01:39The last thing that you think someone

01:01:41would say in that instance.

01:01:43And he said the same thing.

01:01:55Mick, you did what you wanted to do.

01:01:57Thanks, man.

01:01:59I don't need one.

01:02:01I don't need one.

01:02:03No, I'm good, I'm good.

01:02:05There's a smell of forearm hair

01:02:07burning, a little bit of skin as well.

01:02:09Let me take a look at it now.

01:02:11It's sealed, no stitches.

01:02:13As stupid as it sounds, you've survived

01:02:15something like that together,

01:02:17and you create this story

01:02:19together, and that feels really,

01:02:21really good. You feel horrible,

01:02:23but you feel elated.

01:02:25And after that, I started to see

01:02:27respect in the ring.

01:02:31He is the Rated-R

01:02:33Superstar, and the

01:02:35WWE Champion,

01:02:37Edge!

01:02:41Man, it's been a

01:02:43really great deal.

01:02:45He's just got that slime,

01:02:47and he enjoys it.

01:02:49It's funny, because the people

01:02:51that are really, genuinely

01:02:53true, nice guys,

01:02:55oftentimes are better

01:02:57at being a heel and being

01:02:59that nasty, despicable

01:03:01character.

01:03:03I thought there could be money

01:03:05to be made if you're that guy.

01:03:11A lot of those characters are big.

01:03:13Large, large men.

01:03:15Undertaker,

01:03:17John Cena, Batista, Kane,

01:03:19Big Show. A lot of their

01:03:21character involves throwing that bad guy

01:03:23around.

01:03:25I was that bad guy.

01:03:31I want you all to know that I'll be a champion

01:03:33that you can be proud of.

01:03:35A champion that will take on

01:03:37any and all comers.

01:03:43Oh my God!

01:03:45Bodies and ladders are broken!

01:03:47I didn't fully grasp how bad

01:03:49I felt.

01:03:53I just thought it was, well yeah,

01:03:55I got a double fusion

01:03:57in my neck, of course. That's how I

01:03:59feel. I was one of the few people

01:04:01that knew how much pain he was in,

01:04:03what he was dealing with. He was trying to

01:04:05keep it as quiet as he could until after

01:04:07WrestleMania. Obviously, it

01:04:09wasn't a good situation.

01:04:11Finally, in the lead

01:04:13up to WrestleMania 27,

01:04:15I got hit in the back with a chair.

01:04:19Live.

01:04:21Man, he's going to be going into

01:04:23WrestleMania a little bit more banged up than I thought.

01:04:25I think this was the first time

01:04:27that cameras caught

01:04:29the extent

01:04:31of what my body did

01:04:33when stuff

01:04:35like this would happen.

01:04:37Alberto was grabbing me by the shirt

01:04:39and just flailing me around and I couldn't

01:04:41do anything.

01:04:43I was just like a limp noodle.

01:04:45The trainers came running

01:04:47out once we were dark, once the show

01:04:49went off the air. What's going on?

01:04:51I'm good.

01:04:55What exactly is going on?

01:04:57I just lost my arms for a bit. That's all.

01:05:13I do a bunch of strength tests the day

01:05:15of WrestleMania, passing everything.

01:05:17We make the decision,

01:05:19let's get through WrestleMania.

01:05:33After

01:05:35WrestleMania,

01:05:37they wanted me to go get

01:05:39the MRIs. I got the MRIs.

01:05:41I drove up to Charlotte, did a

01:05:43spear on this guy.

01:05:47I lost my arms again.

01:05:49He injured the disc

01:05:51above the level of his

01:05:53previous fusion. It was

01:05:55literally impinging

01:05:57on the spinal cord and also

01:05:59the nerves to his arms at the time.

01:06:03There's no way he could have continued

01:06:05to wrestle with the injury

01:06:07that he had.

01:06:09The risks would have simply

01:06:11been unjustifiable.

01:06:13So, I then get a call

01:06:15two days later from Vince.

01:06:17Those calls are pretty rare.

01:06:23He said,

01:06:25this is the toughest call I've ever

01:06:27had to make, but

01:06:29you've got to retire.

01:06:39I think I might have been the first person that he called.

01:06:41He was choked up, and I

01:06:43think even though he knew he was closer to the end

01:06:45than he was to the start,

01:06:47not being able to close the book

01:06:49on his own terms was hard to swallow.

01:06:51It was a big shock.

01:06:53He was

01:06:55rolling. He had no other choice

01:06:57than to walk away if he wanted

01:06:59to be healthy.

01:07:01It was tough. It was tough to watch.

01:07:05I knew I was getting closer to the end.

01:07:07I didn't know

01:07:09that was my last match.

01:07:11That can't be my last match.

01:07:13I didn't know.

01:07:15I would have treated it differently.

01:07:17I would have come into it differently.

01:07:19I would have approached it differently.

01:07:21I don't know how, but I would have.

01:07:23Rumors have been swirling

01:07:25all day long about what

01:07:27Edge is about to tell us.

01:07:29I hope it's not true.

01:07:31I went to RAW,

01:07:33and I

01:07:35basically just went out and talked

01:07:37as Adam.

01:07:39There was no

01:07:41Edge.

01:07:43Last little while, I've been

01:07:45in a lot of pain.

01:07:47It was

01:07:49Adam

01:07:51ending what he'd

01:07:53always wanted to do, and

01:07:55that's it. The WWE wanted

01:07:57me to go get more tests, and

01:07:59thankfully I did, because

01:08:01the MRI showed that

01:08:03I have to

01:08:05retire.

01:08:07I mean,

01:08:09trust me, it's not my choice.

01:08:11The doctors have told me that

01:08:13I got no choice. I'm gonna miss

01:08:15all of this. All of it.

01:08:17No matter what, I came out here, and I

01:08:19tried to give you guys as much as

01:08:21I had every single night.

01:08:23And in turn,

01:08:25you guys gave it right back to me.

01:08:31Thank you, guys.

01:08:37Thank you, Edge!

01:08:39Thank you, Edge!

01:08:41Thank you, Edge!

01:08:43Thank you, Edge!

01:08:45It was just, like, shocking

01:08:47to me.

01:08:49I felt bad for him,

01:08:51and I know he felt like

01:08:53a good part of his life was being

01:08:55ripped off. I cried.

01:08:57I cried

01:08:59because I felt

01:09:01for Adam Copeland, the human being.

01:09:03It's sad

01:09:05when a talent

01:09:07has to lose

01:09:09what they love, and what they

01:09:11have a passion for, and what they've

01:09:13dreamt of doing their whole life,

01:09:15and it's taken away from you in an instant.

01:09:21There's gonna be

01:09:23some uneasiness

01:09:25in his soul

01:09:27that is never going to go away.

01:09:29That's what we live with if we don't have closure

01:09:31on our careers.

01:09:33I have to figure out how

01:09:35to wrap my mind around this,

01:09:37because this is all

01:09:39I know. This is what I've done with my entire

01:09:41adult life. This is all I've wanted to do since I

01:09:43was a kid.

01:09:45If I don't figure this out,

01:09:47emotionally, this is...

01:09:49This could be bad.

01:09:51This could cause a wormhole of

01:09:53I don't know what,

01:09:55but I need to put on my big boy pants

01:09:57and just go, right, what is life now?

01:09:59Here we go.

01:10:01There you go.

01:10:09Being a dad now,

01:10:11having not necessarily

01:10:13a template to draw

01:10:15ideas from on how to do

01:10:17this dad thing,

01:10:19I really just came to my own conclusions

01:10:21is that all you gotta do

01:10:23is love your kids

01:10:25and support them

01:10:27Is there any ice cream in there,

01:10:29or is it just candy?

01:10:31I put ice cream in there.

01:10:33It sounds delicious with gummy frogs

01:10:35and marshmallows and chocolate.

01:10:37Beth and I were on the roster

01:10:39at the same time, but very just

01:10:41hey, Beth,

01:10:43and never called me Adam.

01:10:45It was always Edger. Hey, Edger.

01:10:47I could totally have him wrapped around my little pinky

01:10:49finger, too.

01:10:51And I retired,

01:10:53and then we started talking.

01:10:55And talking and talking and talking.

01:10:57And it just kind of

01:10:59blossomed from there,

01:11:01and we started dating seriously,

01:11:03and then started talking about the idea,

01:11:05okay, well, we're gonna have kids, right?

01:11:07What?

01:11:09Take a bite.

01:11:11Being a dad is easily,

01:11:13hands down,

01:11:15no competition whatsoever,

01:11:17the best thing I've ever done with my life.

01:11:19I tell him this a lot,

01:11:21but I said, Adam, you've become the dad

01:11:23that you always deserved

01:11:25growing up, that will get on the floor

01:11:27with the kids and be silly

01:11:29and let them paint his toenails.

01:11:31He's just all in on being a dad.

01:11:33It was a life away from wrestling.

01:11:35It really was. We didn't watch.

01:11:37We moved away from it

01:11:39and into what everyday life

01:11:41was now.

01:11:43But if wrestling's not on the table,

01:11:45I still need to do something creative,

01:11:47whatever that is.

01:11:49You had no business here.

01:11:51This is Haven.

01:11:53Making things disappear is my business.

01:11:55I'm gonna go act

01:11:57on a TV show.

01:11:59I don't really know how to do that,

01:12:01but, I mean, I guess I'll figure it out.

01:12:03Action!

01:12:05I had four scenes in the first episode

01:12:07that I was in, and halfway through

01:12:09the second scene, they pulled me aside

01:12:11and said, can you do more episodes?

01:12:13I mean, I got nothing else to do now.

01:12:15Sounds good.

01:12:17So that first episode, it turned into four

01:12:19and turned into 41 all told.

01:12:21And I realized, in that time,

01:12:23how much I loved acting.

01:12:27After all,

01:12:29I am a Viking.

01:12:31None of this is possible without Beth.

01:12:33She has been my support.

01:12:35She has been my everything.

01:12:37The mother of my children,

01:12:39my partner, my best friend.

01:12:41She

01:12:43almost took on,

01:12:45and I think on purpose,

01:12:47what my mom would have done.

01:12:49I think that was

01:12:51probably part of a pact

01:12:53they made,

01:12:55and I don't know if they officially did,

01:12:57but I know they did.

01:13:01He really wanted his mom,

01:13:03Judy, to be here with us in Asheville.

01:13:07And we were working on our immigration papers,

01:13:09and right around that time,

01:13:11she was diagnosed with cancer.

01:13:13It was a really hectic time,

01:13:15just because I had already signed on

01:13:17to do Vikings.

01:13:19I found myself doing this triangle

01:13:21of travel

01:13:23for about two and a half years,

01:13:25where it'd be Asheville,

01:13:27dad, husband,

01:13:29try and be

01:13:31all of those things.

01:13:33Got to get up to Toronto, check on my mom,

01:13:35see how she is.

01:13:37I got to go back to Dublin,

01:13:39got some scenes coming up,

01:13:41back to Asheville, then Toronto,

01:13:43Dublin, then maybe back to Toronto,

01:13:45and it was pretty exhausting.

01:13:49And the emotional aspect

01:13:51of watching my mom go through

01:13:53chemo and

01:13:55just battle through this thing.

01:14:01Yeah, I was with her the last five months.

01:14:03It was gut-wrenching.

01:14:05I just said to Adam, I texted him,

01:14:07I said, you better get back home soon,

01:14:09and he was like, yeah.

01:14:21I think she finally felt like

01:14:23she could rest

01:14:25because I had Beth,

01:14:27and she knew, like,

01:14:29I had a partner

01:14:31that truly has my back.

01:14:33Losing his mom,

01:14:35like, that tore that

01:14:37constant in his life.

01:14:41It really hit him hard.

01:14:43And I don't know how much

01:14:45he dealt with that grief for a long time.

01:14:53The weird thing about depression,

01:14:55I think, is sometimes you don't necessarily know you are

01:14:57because it becomes

01:14:59just mundane

01:15:01and you just...

01:15:03I don't know.

01:15:07It's a weird funk.

01:15:09Like, you're just kind of stuck in the mud, right?

01:15:13I don't know if I really

01:15:15fully grasped that I was

01:15:17until I pulled myself out of it.

01:15:19And that,

01:15:21I can attribute to the girls.

01:15:25Howdy, girls.

01:15:27And realizing, like, whoa, hold on a second.

01:15:29Snap out of it.

01:15:33They became kind of the

01:15:35starting point for everything.

01:15:37I don't think

01:15:39it's the wrestling that makes him happy.

01:15:41I think it's the challenge.

01:15:43Whatever the toughest route is,

01:15:45whatever the road least traveled is,

01:15:47that's what makes him feel alive.

01:15:49I remember

01:15:51once or twice it was ever said, like,

01:15:53I wonder if I could have one more match.

01:15:55And I would shut that down

01:15:57real quick.

01:15:59When that man

01:16:01comes up with an idea,

01:16:03there ain't no stopping him.

01:16:05If he wants something,

01:16:07he manifests it.

01:16:11How's it going?

01:16:13I'm Seamus AK, the Celtic Warrior,

01:16:15here with the Rated-R Superstar Edge.

01:16:17We are going in the mountains, fella,

01:16:19and we are not coming back.

01:16:22That was a good one.

01:16:24They came flying up,

01:16:26and my brother-in-law, Eric,

01:16:28was behind me with the GoPro,

01:16:30and he's like, whoa, dude, are you okay?

01:16:32I was like, yeah, actually.

01:16:34As long as you're all right,

01:16:36that's the important thing.

01:16:38Yeah, that was my first, like, good one.

01:16:40People see that and go, why can't he wrestle?

01:16:42I feel great.

01:16:44Like, I feel alive.

01:16:46I feel like that's all that was running through my head.

01:16:48Oh, s***.

01:16:50Yeah, there we go.

01:16:54I feel like I was a big roadblock

01:16:56for the return.

01:17:00I retired from wrestling in 2012.

01:17:02It was 6 or 7 days later,

01:17:04Adam had neck surgery.

01:17:08We don't talk about it a lot anymore,

01:17:10but he was having very bad symptoms

01:17:12at the time of his retirement.

01:17:14He was dropping things.

01:17:16He had atrophy. He had nerve damage.

01:17:18And so what I was told when he had that neck surgery

01:17:20was, like, if he gets rear-ended,

01:17:22you know, in a car accident or something,

01:17:24like, he could die.

01:17:26She'll tell me, you know,

01:17:28we would be out for two hours running errands,

01:17:30and then you'd have to go get flat

01:17:32because your head would just be...

01:17:34pounding.

01:17:36And I've washed that out of the memory banks

01:17:38a little bit.

01:17:40I said, listen,

01:17:42for this to happen, there's two things.

01:17:44I gotta hear it from the best in the world

01:17:46that it's okay,

01:17:48because for a long time, I've been told

01:17:50this will end badly.

01:17:52And number two is I gotta see it with my own eyes.

01:17:54I gotta see this,

01:17:56and I gotta make sure you're okay.

01:18:00Ugh.

01:18:02Is that good? Is that enough?

01:18:10Ah! Ah!

01:18:12How many winds

01:18:14can you do that?

01:18:26Come on, kid!

01:18:28Come on!

01:18:30Once he took that first bump

01:18:32and I looked down at him

01:18:34and he looked up at me, and we were just like,

01:18:36is everything okay?

01:18:38And I was just, like, holding my breath,

01:18:40and he's like, I think I'm okay.

01:18:44So, went up,

01:18:46met with the doctors.

01:18:48We had a long, detailed discussion,

01:18:50and we thought that, yes,

01:18:52there was minimal risk.

01:18:54There's risk any time you do

01:18:56these kinds of things, but

01:18:58we ended up feeling that

01:19:00it was safe.

01:19:02I still don't, can't fully explain it.

01:19:04Just worked really hard, you know,

01:19:06to strengthen everything.

01:19:08You know, there's still parameters, don't get me wrong.

01:19:10I'm not gonna try and land on my head,

01:19:12but I got that final

01:19:14clearance, and then it

01:19:16really became real.

01:19:18Welcome to the

01:19:2033rd Royal Rumble!

01:19:22If someone took away

01:19:24the thing that at that point in your life

01:19:26you loved most,

01:19:28and after that, you landed on your feet,

01:19:30you started a beautiful family, you did all of these

01:19:32things, but

01:19:34someone dangles that carrot

01:19:36of doing it again and

01:19:38ending it the way you want to,

01:19:40how many people are gonna say no?

01:19:42When I found out he was gonna come back,

01:19:44I thought it was the most amazing,

01:19:46coolest thing that I've

01:19:48seen happen in this business, maybe

01:19:50of all time. I was excited for him

01:19:52because he was gonna have

01:19:54an opportunity to go out the way

01:19:56that he wanted to go out

01:19:58and finish what he started, really.

01:20:00About to blow up.

01:20:02Yeah.

01:20:04Let's just

01:20:06cut to the chase, shall we?

01:20:08He looks

01:20:10amazing, doesn't he?

01:20:14I think that's

01:20:16when it really became real

01:20:18for Beth, for the company,

01:20:20for everyone to really start,

01:20:22oh, this thing is

01:20:24not only can it happen, it's now

01:20:26going to happen.

01:20:28And in 10 seconds, entry number

01:20:3021.

01:20:3210,

01:20:349,

01:20:368,

01:20:387,

01:20:406,

01:20:425,

01:20:444,

01:20:463,

01:20:482,

01:20:501.

01:20:52People are always looking for those surprises.

01:20:54I dare say

01:20:56Edge was a huge

01:20:58surprise and

01:21:00unbelievable

01:21:02live response.

01:21:04It's been

01:21:06nine long years.

01:21:22Edge!

01:21:24With a spear!

01:21:26Now this is a Royal Rumble

01:21:28moment.

01:21:30Oh!

01:21:32A spear fest at the

01:21:34Rumble!

01:21:46It's still surreal,

01:21:48you know, and it really

01:21:50kind of felt like a dream sequence out there.

01:21:52It felt really good to hear them react

01:21:54the way I thought they would.

01:21:56That's...

01:21:58You can't...

01:22:00You can't beat that.

01:22:02I know there's not

01:22:04many of these left for me,

01:22:06so I have to

01:22:08truly soak it all in.

01:22:10The Rated-R Superstar!

01:22:12Edge!

01:22:14Edge wins!

01:22:16Edge wins!

01:22:18Edge wins!

01:22:20Edge going to WrestleMania!

01:22:22If you wrote this

01:22:24as a script for Hollywood, they'd say

01:22:26it's impossible.

01:22:28It can never happen, it's unrealistic.

01:22:30Yet, here we are.

01:22:34Adam's comeback has been special.

01:22:36First of all, it was never supposed to happen,

01:22:38so anytime you hear something like that,

01:22:40that's excellent.

01:22:42Second of all, it's the best he's ever looked.

01:22:44I've been waiting for the moment

01:22:46for someone to step up

01:22:48to face me at WrestleMania.

01:22:50The ultimate opportunist

01:22:52strikes again!

01:22:54The Rated-R Superstar battering

01:22:56the Phenomenal One!

01:22:58Spear in midair!

01:23:00What makes him a legend is the fact

01:23:02that it's in his blood.

01:23:04I mean, when he was a kid, he wanted to be a wrestler.

01:23:06He lived his whole life wanting to be a wrestler.

01:23:08And he left a mark that you can't erase

01:23:10on this business.

01:23:12The Rated-R

01:23:14Superstar!

01:23:18The Edge.

01:23:20There's no man.

01:23:22You think you know me.

01:23:30There's few wrestlers that have had the journey

01:23:32that Adam Copeland has had.

01:23:34You think you know me.

01:23:36To have it gone for nine years.

01:23:40Nine years is long enough that you think

01:23:42this thing has sailed.

01:23:44That ship is gone.

01:23:46And it's not even on the horizon.

01:23:48Edge is out of it!

01:23:50Oh my God!

01:23:52Oh my God!

01:23:54So I...

01:23:56I had to come to terms with that.

01:23:58Bodies and ladders are broken!

01:24:00And now suddenly, wait, hold on a second.

01:24:02This is doable.

01:24:04And I got it back now.

01:24:06Even if it's for this limited time frame,

01:24:08I'm going to make sure

01:24:10that I soak in every

01:24:12single part of it.

01:24:16So in a strange way, I'm almost thankful

01:24:18for the nine years.

01:24:20I love you.

01:24:22Because in that nine years,

01:24:24Beth and I become a couple.

01:24:26We have kids.

01:24:28The extra special thing, he's a great husband,

01:24:30a great dad. He's got a lot more

01:24:32things to balance.

01:24:34So I respect the hell out of him for what he's done.

01:24:36It's made me appreciate all of this

01:24:38so much more and not look

01:24:40past it and really understand

01:24:42that you have to live

01:24:44in every single moment as it's happening.

01:24:48He's not a wrestler that stands out for a particular time

01:24:50or the end of his career

01:24:52where he was great. He's a guy that was

01:24:54great throughout his whole career.

01:24:56I'll consider Edge one of the all-time

01:24:58greats.

01:25:00He's a legend.

01:25:02He's the guy.

01:25:04He's quietly carved out one of the greatest careers

01:25:06in the history of the sport.

01:25:08From the get-go,

01:25:10Edge had something

01:25:12and you saw it. I'm just proud

01:25:14of the man he's become.

01:25:16I'll be able to know

01:25:18when the end is.

01:25:20And be able

01:25:22to walk away from it.

01:25:26And know that I'm walking away from it.

01:25:30That's gonna be huge.

01:25:32This time it's gonna be my choice.

01:25:34And

01:25:36in a strange way, I'm looking forward

01:25:38to that too.

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