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Edge & Christian

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Edge and Christian
Tag team
MembersEdge
Christian
Name(s)High Impact
Suicide Blondes
Hard Impact
Canadian Rockers
Christian and Edge
Edge and Christian
Los Conquistadores
Billed heights193 cm (6 ft 4 in) - Edge
185 cm (6 ft 2 in) - Christian
Combined
billed weight		217 kg (478 lbs)
HometownToronto, Ontario, Canada
Billed fromToronto, Ontario, Canada
Debut1998
Disbanded2001

Edge and Christian (E&C) is a former tag team of on-screen brothers made of real life best friends Adam Joseph Copeland (Edge) and Jason William Reso (Christian), who wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation. They were a highly successful tag team, winning the WWF World Tag Team Championship on seven occasions and were part of one of the most competitive tag team scenes in WWE history.


Early history

Formerly known as "High Impact" and later "The Suicide Blondes" while on the independent circuit, in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) the team was billed as Edge & Christian and re-imagined as brothers instead of just close friends. The duo held titles in numerous wrestling promotions before signing with the WWF.

The words "Edge" and "Christian" are often associated with one another through their use in Christianity. However, any part that may have actually played (outside of coincidence) in the origins of the two ring names still has not come to light. Adam "Edge" Copeland stated the following in an interview with Silvervision.co.uk when he was asked about any plans for a tag team name before they had settled with Edge & Christian:

"Well when I first came out they created Edge and Christian around the same time, Sexton Hardcastle went out of the window because it didn't fit. Vince Russo words were the modern day Jim Morrison you can understand why I didn't know I had no clue what that was but I came up with the name Edge and some other names like Rage and Riot, but I didn't really like them so I pitched Edge. So going with that Edge and Suicide Blonds doesn't really go together that well, so Christian wrestled as Christian Cage, so when they brought him in as my brother they just dropped the Cage off, so we became Edge and Christian. I would have liked a tag team name but Edge and Christian started rolling off everyone's tongue."

World Wrestling Federation

Edge made his WWF television debut on Raw on June 22, 1998, in a match against Jose Estrada, Jr.. He was a mysterious "loner" character, who would emerge from the crowd before his matches. Eventually he started a feud with Gangrel. At the In Your House: Breakdown event in 1998, during a match pitting Edge against Owen Hart, an unknown person, looking similar to Edge, came out to the ring distracting him enough to allow Hart to get the win. It was later revealed that this person was Christian, Edge's (kayfabe) brother, and he was aligned with Gangrel as his vampire follower. After some confrontations between the two brothers (both of whom appeared to be gothic and vampire-like), Edge was convinced to 'rejoin' with Christian & Gangrel, and the three of them formed a stable known as The Brood (the theory of Christianity word usage's involvement in Copeland and Reso's WWE ring names is somewhat supported by the fact that both men have been wearing cross necklaces on TV since this beginning of their WWE careers).

The Brood briefly joined The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness, but left after Christian was (kayfabe) thrown out of the group for revealing Stephanie McMahon's whereabouts to Ken Shamrock following an attack. Following a short feud with the Ministry, Gangrel turned on Edge and demanded that Christian do the same. He refused and both he and Edge broke with Gangrel turning them face. From there, the gothic storyline enjoyed limited success, beginning their eventual tag team feud with The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy).

After a run as faces, most notable for their tendency to enter the ring through the audience, similarly to Edge's pre-Brood gimmick, Edge and Christian redefined themselves as a heel duo of surfer/teen idols. The two engaged in various comedic antics including making fun of their opponents, using strange exclusive phrases, and dressing in outlandish costumes. Other trademarks of theirs included the "five-second pose" where, "for the benefit of those with flash photography", they would stand still in odd positions in the middle of the ring so fans could take pictures, and the "con-chair-to" simultaneous chair shot. At one time, they and the Hardyz even had a humorous tag team championship exchange in 2000 involving the masks of Los Conquistadores.

They eventually started to team with Kurt Angle, forming Team ECK, a group that was later joined by Rhyno when he came in from Extreme Championship Wrestling in early 2001 to make Team RECK. Edge and Christian repeatedly captured the WWF Tag Team Championship while feuding with other tag teams The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz. The Dudleyz, Hardyz, and E&C were an instrumental part of one of the most competitive tag team divisions in WWE history and, as a whole, helped innovate the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. In the WrestleMania X-Seven TLC match, each team had someone interfere on their behalf, but it was Rhyno who proved to be most effective, as Edge and Christian won that match.

Friction arose between the team (as well as the entire RECK faction) after Edge won the annual King of the Ring tournament (all four members had made it to the semi finals) in 2001. As a result, on the September 3 edition of RAW is WAR in their hometown of Toronto, Christian appeared to be jealous of his brother and insisted on carrying Edge's trophy to the ring. During the night his true colors were revealed when he assaulted Edge with a "One-Man Conchairto" and joining The Alliance. The former partners went on to feud over the Intercontinental Championship for several months, causing the team to split.

Post-split

In late 2004 and early 2005, Edge and Christian were playing heels in the company, many storylines brought the pair together on-screen and in the ring as Christian and Edge were loosely united as a tag team on several occasions, including as two of Eric Bischoff's crusaders against ECW during its return for One Night Stand. This on-and-off reunion also included a third member, in the form of Christian's "Problem Solver" Tyson Tomko.

Despite not having established any kind of alliance for that night, both Edge and Christian competed in purple tights and ended up being eliminated by eventual winner Batista in the 2005 Royal Rumble match.

They once again went their separate ways when Edge stayed on the RAW brand and Christian was drafted to SmackDown!. Shortly after the draft, Christian left WWE to pursue a career in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where he competes under his original ring name of Christian Cage.

On January 8, 2006 Edge defeated John Cena at WWE New Year's Revolution to win the WWE Championship, his first world title. Just over a month later, on February 12, Christian Cage won his first world title, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Jeff Jarrett at TNA Against All Odds. However, neither held gold at the same time, as Edge's first reign ended on January 29, 2006, Christian Cage's reign ended on June 18, 2006, and Edge's second reign began on July 3, 2006 and ended on September 17, 2006, 5 years and 2 weeks to the day of Christian's on-screen betrayal, in their hometown of Toronto, Canada. Christian Cage recently regained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA Final Resolution on January 14, 2007 in a match against then champion Abyss and Sting. In May, with Cage still the NWA Champion, On May 11 2007 Edge became a three time world champion by defeating The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship on SmackDown!. Thus, both men were finally simultaneous world champions.

Singles careers

Edge made his third heel turn since engaging in a brief feud with then babyface, Chris Jericho. This heel turn would later develop into Edge having anger problems centered around a world title obsession. He would engage in huge feuds against Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Kane, Matt Hardy, Ric Flair, John Cena, Mick Foley, Triple H, Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy, Carlito, Roddy Piper, Randy Orton, Jim Duggan, Mr. Kennedy the Undertaker, Batista, ect. He also became the first ever Mr. Money in the Bank, Lita's last and most controversial on-screen boyfriend (thanks to the real-life affair between the two that led to it), 2-time WWE Champion in 2006, and unofficial "co-holder of the Hardcore Title" with Mick Foley. In November 2006, he gained the World Tag Team Championship again with Randy Orton as Rated-RKO, recently losing them to WWE Champion John Cena and Shawn Michaels on the January 29, 2007 edition of Raw. Though recently more laid back, Edge is still a cocky heel who believes he should and will be Champion, and is still very vocal about it when he feels he's being shafted out of a title opportunity.

Christian Cage, who started out as a face in TNA, engaged in a feud against Jeff Jarrett, who he beat for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. After title defenses against Abyss and Monty Brown, he lost his title in controversial fashion back to Jarrett, growing friction with Sting in the process until he recently made his first TNA heel turn by turning on Sting. He would then engage in a fued with Rhino, after which he once again pursued the championship. His heel gimmick is a more serious and even more egocentric version of his WWE one, including Tomko as his enforcer once again in TNA. He was able to regain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title at Final Resolution 2007 against Abyss and Sting, following which he went on to lead a stable called the Christian Coalition, later to be known as Team Cage.

From May 8, 2007 to May 13, both men were world championships at the same time. Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship on the May 8 (aired May 11) edition of SmackDown!, meanwhile Christian Cage had held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship since TNA Final Resolution 2007, making them champions at the same time for five days, when Christian Cage was stripped from the title due to the termination of NWA-TNA relations thus becoming the last ever NWA Champion in TNA history. However he was awarded the brand new TNA World Heavyweight Championship in its stead thus becoming the first person to hold that title, only to later lose that title on that same night to Kurt Angle, in a triple threat match also involving Sting, at Sacrifice 2007. This would also make Edge and Christian both three time World Champions as Edge is a 2 time WWE Champion and a 1 time World Heavyweight Champion and Christian is a 2 time NWA Champion and a 1 time TNA Champion.

In wrestling

  • Double team maneuvers
  • Common associates
(tag team)
(separate)
  • Quotes
  • "For the benefit of those of you with flash photography..."
  • "Chumpstain!"
  • "Dude! We are so totally the fightingest tag team ever!"
  • "This totally reeks of awesomeness!"
  • "Sodas rule!"
  • "Reekazoid!"
  • "Streamers rule."
  • "It was totally chair-o-licious."
  • "We will once again be in the good graces of the Facgime."
  • "Gods of the TitanTron, roll the footage."
  • "We refer to the TLC match as Totally Lacking Coolness."
  • "You see, we're not moving from this spot, until we're served with a big bowl of justice soup."
  • "Get the Rhyno!"
  • Christian - "We won the match with grace...skill...and chutzpah"
    Edge - "Dude... chutzpah totally rules!"
  • Edge - "Kurt, don't worry about it, it's real simple. You take care of Triple H, kick the snot out of his never-ending nose, and then afterwards, we'll all have cake!"
    Christian - "Yeah, cake rocks the body that rocks the party"
  • "In case you haven't noticed, these people are saying that you suck!" -Edge (then heel) to then WWE star and then heel turning face Kurt Angle
  • "In case you can't hear 'em, they're saying that you suck!" -Christian Cage (then face) to then heel TNA wrestler Jeff Jarrett

E&C Lingo

Edge and Christian's cocky persona's included many comedic promos in which they utilized several "trademark" terms including:

  • reek of awesomeness
    • A small pun on the word "awesome", this was their line to describe something that they considered to be at the height of coolness.
  • totally rad
    • This was a line E&C used to describe something very good or very cool to them. This wasn't their original saying, it was taken from the early 90's so as to go into their surfer/teen idol image.
  • magnitutions/magnitutious
    • Edge and Christian coined each version of this word based on the word "magnitude", which means "importance". Whenever Edge and Christian used this word, they were describing something that was of great importance/very important.
  • stinktatude
    • This word, a portmanteau of the words "stink" and "attitude", was used by Edge and Christian to describe something that stinks, usually referring to opponents they considered far inferior to themselves or as having foul attitudes.
  • double gold
    • This phrase was used by Edge and Christian as the simple way to say two simultaneously-held (double) straps of championship gold, as they sought out opportunities to hold other championships along with their Tag Team Titles, in their quest for greatness.
  • big, crazy ass sunglasses
    • Edge and Christian used this phrase to describe something that they considered to be extremely cool or any pair of shades they considered the biggest, craziest sunglasses they've ever seen.
      • Most likely coined because of Christian's many pairs of goofy oversized sunglasses (an idea he actually got from a fan), though Edge also wore sunglasses to the ring and only recently excluded them from his entrance attire.
  • chumpstain
    • The word is obviously a superlative of the word "chump", adding "stain" to imply the person is worse than just a chump; they used this word as an insult to anyone they feuded with or considered a chump or a loser.
      • This word is most closely tied to Edge, who went on to use it numerous times following E&C's split as a team. Incidents of this include a vignette for the 2003 Royal Rumble, Smackdown vs. Raw Season Mode, an interview before his first round match in the Gold Rush tournament in 2005, an interview after beating D-Generation X at Cyber Sunday 2006, a promo about it the next night on Raw, and an interview before the 4/30/2007 episode of Raw.
  • fightingest
    • This phrase represented the fact that Edge and Christian were willing to compete and to defend their Tag Team titles whenever necessary. Most common context of this was "the fightingest tag team champions of all time".
      • This is in fact the only phrase from their tag team era that has been used by anyone else, as Brock Lesnar and several other world champions have gone on to describe themselves as the "fightingest champion of all time". However, neither Edge nor Christian Cage re-coined the phrase in their world title reigns.
  • ramapercussions
    • A portmanteau of the words "ramifications" and "repercussions," Edge and Christian used this to refer to the aftermath and/or consequences of an incident.

Championships and accomplishments

  • Insane Championship Wrestling
  • ICW Streetfight Tag Team Championship (2 times)
  • Southern States Wrestling
  • SSW Tag Team Championship

Records

  • Both men are multiple time WWE Intercontinental Champions, Edge five times and Christian three. Edge also won the WCW United States Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship with Rey Mysterio, and captured the World Tag Team Championship with Hulk Hogan, Chris Benoit (twice) and Randy Orton. Christian also won the World Tag Team Titles with Lance Storm and Chris Jericho as well as the now-defunct WWE European, Hardcore and Light Heavyweight championships. Because of this, there are only 2 titles in the WWE that neither man has ever held - Cruiserweight (however Christian has won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, which is equivalent to it as the two titles were unified following the Invasion. The last holder of the title was X-Pac) & obviously the Women's Championship, although both have been in on-screen relationships in which the girl has won the Women's Championship, (Lita for Edge, Trish Stratus for Christian).
    • Both Lita and Trish a) entered their aforementioned pairings with Edge and Christian respectively by betraying a man on-screen [and off-screen in the case of Lita], b) retired in Women's Championship matches in late 2006, and c) are the subjects of a heavy debate among fans as to who is the greatest woman wrestler of all time. In addition, Lita and Trish's career-long rivalry was rekindled during each of these pairings, one woman being part of the heel couple while the other was face during its time.
  • Both men won their first world titles in 2006, Edge becoming WWE Champion on January 9 and Christian becoming NWA World Heavyweight Champion on February 12. However, because of Edge losing the WWE Title before Christian won the NWA Title, they were never both World Heavyweight Champions at the same time until May 11th 2007, when on SmackDown!, Edge cashed in his newly won Money in the Bank contract & defeated The Undertaker to become World Heavyweight Champion. In TNA, Christian Cage was already the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. (Cage would lose the title two nights later at TNA Sacrifice 2007 in a triple threat match when Kurt Angle made Sting submit to the Ankle Lock).
    • Both men have acknowledged one another's first world title victories. Christian cited Edge as "[his] brother" at Final Resolution 2006, which took place a week after Edge's WWE Championship win, while Edge sent Christian a text message saying "congratulations" for winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after Against All Odds 2006.
    • In addition, with the Hardy Boyz holding the World Tag Team Championship of WWE and the Dudley Boyz (as Team 3D) holding the NWA World Tag Team Championship at the same time as Edge and Christian simultaneously held world championship belts, this means all three of the main tag teams from the WWF Attitude era have held championship belts at once.
  • The success that Edge & Christian have accomplished since their split adds to the legacy of their tag team, since it is very rare that both members of an accomplished tag team would start successful singles lives after the team's split. It is more common to see examples of teams where one partner's career skyrockets after their split while the other goes nowhere (such as The Hart Foundation or The Rockers), or where both men's post-split success is limited if any, which often leads to the team's revival (much like Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch or The World's Greatest Tag Team).
  • All of Edge's five partners in his 12 WWE Tag Team Title reigns have held world titles. In fact, the only tag team championship partner from either man's WWE days that did not hold a world title is Lance Storm, who won the World Tag Team Titles with Christian as the Un-Americans in 2002 by beating Edge and Hulk Hogan, then took the belts from SmackDown! to RAW.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edge_%26_Christian&oldid=141740018"