| Edge and Christian | |
|---|---|
Edge (left) and Christian (right) |
|
| Tag team | |
| Members | Edge Christian |
| Name(s) | High Impact Suicide Blondes Revolution X Hard Impact Canadian Rockers Christian and Edge Edge and Christian Team E&C / Team EC Los Conquistadores The Brood |
| Heights | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) – Edge 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) – Christian |
| Combined weight |
216 kg (480 lb) |
| Hometown | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Billed from | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Debut | 1998 |
| Disbanded | April 15,2011 |
| Promotions | ICW SSW WWF/E |
| Trainer | Ron Hutchinson[1] |
Edge and Christian (E&C) was a tag team made of real life best friends Edge (Adam Copeland) and Christian (William Reso, who normally uses his middle name of Jason), who performed in WWE and the Canadian independent circuit.[1] They won the WWF Tag Team Championship on seven occasions.[2] Initially, the two were portrayed as on-screen brothers, but the aspect was de-emphasized in the mid-2000s, and in 2010, the team was officially retconned as childhood friends.[1][3] In 2011 they reunited briefly on the SmackDown brand. Edge, however, announced his retirement from professional wrestling due to injury on the April 11th episode of Monday Night Raw, which would ultimately end their final run together. The team's popularity propelled Edge and Christian to singles success, with both men becoming multiple-time world champions in their own right.
Contents |
Copeland and Reso formed a tag team in the Canadian independent circuit after completing their training with Ron Hutchinson, primarily using the ring names of Sexton Hardcastle and Christian Cage respectively. Their tag team wrestled under several team names, such as "High Impact", "Suicide Blondes", "Revolution X", "Hard Impact" and "Canadian Rockers".[1] They were part of a faction dubbed "Thug LiFe" in 1997.[1][4] The stable consisted of Cage, Hardcastle, Joe E. Legend, Rhino Richards, Bloody Bill Skullion, Big Daddy Adams and Martin Kane.[4] In 1998, Sexton and Christian began teaming up in independent promotions such as Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) and Southern States Wrestling (SSW).
The duo won the ICW Streetfight Tag Team Championship twice and SSW Tag Team Championship once during their time in the independent circuit.
On the June 22, 1998 episode of Raw is War, "Edge" (Copeland) debuted in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) against Jose Estrada, Jr.. He was a mysterious "loner" character, who would emerge from the crowd before his matches.[5] Eventually, he started a feud with Gangrel.[1] At In Your House: Breakdown, 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.[6] It was later revealed that this person was "Christian" (Reso), Edge's storyline brother, and he was aligned with Gangrel as his vampire follower. After some confrontations between the two gothic brothers, Edge was convinced to 'come home' with Christian and Gangrel, and the three of them formed a stable known as "The Brood".[1][7]
(A small theory exists that Christianity may have had a hand in deciding Copeland and Reso's WWF/E ring names, as "Edge" is a term often used in Christian project names. This is somewhat supported by the fact that both men had frequently worn cross necklaces on TV for some time since beginning their WWF careers. However, this is complete coincidence - "Edge" was one of several names Copeland thought of and the one he saw fit to pitch for the character, and "Christian" was shorthand for Reso's indy name "Christian Cage".)
At In Your House: Rock Bottom, the Brood defeated J.O.B. Squad (Al Snow, Bob Holly and Scorpio).[1][7][8] The Brood briefly joined The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness faction, but left after Christian was kayfabe thrown out of the group for revealing Stephanie McMahon's whereabouts to Ken Shamrock following an attack.[7][9] Following a short feud with the Ministry, Gangrel turned on Edge and demanded that Christian do the same.[1][7] He refused and both he and Edge broke with Gangrel turning them into fan favorites. From there, the gothic storyline enjoyed limited success, beginning their eventual tag team feud with The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy), who also briefly formed a new Brood with Gangrel before turning on him as well.[1][7] At this point, the duo had rehashed Edge's pre-Brood gimmick as borderline gothic fan favorites most notable for a tendency to enter the ring through the audience.
The tag team feud with the Hardy Boyz intensified as Gangrel became Matt and Jeff's new manager, combining to form "The New Brood", in the summer of 1999. However, both teams were more interested in acquiring the managerial services of Terri Runnels for which (along with $100,000) they would compete in a best-of-five series of matches known as the Terri Invitational Tournament. Edge and Christian won the first two matches, putting the Hardyz in sudden jeopardy. The Hardyz went on to win the next two matches, however, leading to a rubber match at No Mercy to determine which team would earn the services of Runnels.[1][9][10] The rubber match would be a ladder match, in which Gangrel tried to interfere, only to get ejected. Matt and Jeff Hardy went on to win the match and the Terri Invitational Tournament.[1][11]
At this point, Gangrel was completely out of the picture, and the Hardyz inevitably turned face. So in order to keep up and continue their own progression as a tag team (as well as the feud in a natural course), Edge and Christian redefined themselves as a villainous duo of surfer/teen idols. The two engaged in various comedic antics including making fun of their opponents, using strange exclusive phrases (the most notable being "reek of awesomeness"), 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. These poses usually involved making fun of either their opponents or aspects of town pride (for instance, making fun of Elvis Presley during a show in Memphis, Tennessee or imitating Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series at an event in Boston) to generate a negative reaction from the crowd.
Edge and Christian were involved in several tag team matches with Hardy Boyz at Survivor Series and No Way Out.[1][12][13] At WrestleMania 2000, they defeated the tag champs, Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Hardy Boyz in a Triangle ladder match for their first WWF Tag Team Championship.[1][14][15] At Backlash, the duo retained their titles against D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg).[1][16] They began a feud with Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty, Brian Christopher and Rikishi). On May 29, 2000 edition of Raw is War, they dropped the titles to Scotty and Christopher.[17] At the King of the Ring pay-per-view, the duo defeated Too Cool, Hardy Boyz and T & A (Test and Albert) in a Four Corners elimination match to win their second WWF Tag Team Championship.[1][18][19]
At SummerSlam, they defended their titles successfully against Dudleyz and Hardyz in the first-ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match (TLC match).[1][20] Edge and Christian stated that instead of doing the "time-honored tradition" of shaking the hands of their opponents, they would instead do the time-honored tradition of mocking their opponents, and had four little people show up dressed as the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz, with toy ladders and tables, with a "37 second pose" when the fake Hardys and Dudleys bowed to Edge and Christian, who stood on the table. In addition, they also became known for using the "con-chair-to" (simultaneous chair shot).[21]
After Edge and Christian lost the tag team championship to the Hardy Boyz at Unforgiven, they had a rematch on the September 25 edition of Raw is War in a ladder match which they lost. According to the pre-match stipulation, they could never again challenge for the tag team championship as long as the Hardy Boyz held them. Thus, they began competing under the masks of Los Conquistadores.[17] On the October 16 edition of Raw Is War, they defeated Dudley Boyz,[17] and on the October 19 edition of SmackDown!, they won a tag team battle royal to earn themselves a tag team title shot.[22] They went on to defeat the Hardy Boyz at No Mercy to once again become the tag team champions .[1][23][24]
Soon after, another team began competing as Los Conquistadores as well, and they soon challenged Edge and Christian for their tag team championship on the October 23 episode of Raw is War. "Los Conquistadores" defeated Edge and Christian before ripping off their masks and revealing themselves as the Hardy Boyz.[17]
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".
At Armageddon, Edge and Christian competed in a Four Corners match which included the champions, Right to Censor (Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather), Dudley Boyz and the makeshift team of Road Dogg and K-Kwik. Edge and Christian went on to win the match and their fourth WWF Tag Team Championship.[1][25][26] A week later, they lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Undertaker and The Rock but eventually regained them.[17][22][27]
At the Royal Rumble, they lost the titles to the Dudley Boyz.[28] They aided the Hardy Boyz in defeating the Dudley Boyz for the titles on March 5, 2001 edition of Raw is War and then two weeks later,[29] they defeated the Hardy Boyz themselves for their sixth WWF Tag Team Championship.[30] Later that night, they dropped the titles to the Dudley Boyz.[31] At WrestleMania X-Seven, they defeated the then-champions the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz in the second TLC match for their seventh and final WWF Tag Team Championship, but with help from their teammate Rhyno.[1][32][33] On the April 19 episode of SmackDown!, they lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker and Kane).[34]
Friction arose between the team (as well as the entire RECK faction) at King of the Ring when Edge won the 2001 King of the Ring tournament (all four members had made it to the semi finals).[1][35] 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, he assaulted Edge with a "one-man con-chair-to" turning into a major heel and joined The Alliance. The former partners went on to feud over the WWF Intercontinental Championship for several months, causing the team to split.[1][36]
Edge and Christian had a one-night reunion at a SmackDown! live event on October 13, 2002 when they defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo).[1][37] They reunited again on November 15, 2004 edition of Raw but ended up losing to Chris Benoit and Shelton Benjamin.[1][38] From there, they would become loosely united through Christian facing Edge's storyline rivals, leading to three more reunion tag team matches in 2005.[1][39][40][41] These reunions, officially or otherwise, also included a brand new third party in the form of Christian's acting problem solver at the time, Tyson Tomko.
Christian left WWE on November 13, 2005. He debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) at its Genesis pay-per-view under the ring name Christian Cage, which he used in Canadian independent circuit.[42] Christian experienced immediate success in TNA, where he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship twice.[43] Edge also achieved greater success in WWE after Christian's departure. He went on to win the first-ever Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at New Year's Revolution and won the WWE Championship, his first of eleven world championship reigns.[44][45]
In 2009, Christian returned to WWE, and at Backlash, won the ECW Championship, his first world championship in WWE. Following his title win, and prior to Edge's ninth world title win that same night, the duo interacted on television for the first time since Christian's return, with Christian criticizing Edge for not being "fun" anymore. On the first SmackDown following the 2010 WWE Draft, Christian and Edge came face-to-face following Edge's goodbye speech, in which they referred to themselves simply as childhood friends rather than brothers. Christian would force Edge to reveal that he had manipulated the fans, challenging Edge to a match. Edge refused, leading to a brawl between the two, in which Christian got the upper hand.[3] On Raw May 17, in their hometown of Toronto, Edge was scheduled for a "Pick Your Poison" match and his opponent turned out to be Christian. Edge eventually won the match with a spear, however moments later Randy Orton revealed that The Undertaker was in fact his real opponent. Though Edge got himself intentionally counted out, Christian got the last laugh by throwing Edge back into the ring to get chokeslammed by the Undertaker.
They reunited once again at the 2010 Slammy Awards, with Edge as a face again and on better terms. They presented the award for meltdown of the year, which was ironically won by Edge for destroying the laptop where the Raw brand General Manager sends his messages to. At the 2011 Royal Rumble, Edge paid homage to Christian when he applied a Killswitch to Dolph Ziggler and retained the World Heavyweight title. Christian returned at Elimination Chamber and came to the aid of Edge when he was being attacked by Alberto Del Rio right after his match. At the March 4th tapings of SmackDown, Christian saved Edge from Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez. The following week, Christian once again saved Edge from Alberto Del Rio and his WWE NXT rookie, Brodus Clay. The duo were beaten down however, which resulted in Teddy Long setting up a tag team match as the main event. Later that night, Edge and Christian officially reunited when they defeated Alberto Del Rio and Brodus Clay. A week later, Edge defeated Brodus Clay in a one on one match. Alberto attacked Edge afterwards but was stopped by Christian. The duo brawled until Teddy Long announced a steel cage match as the main event. Christian defeated Alberto. Afterwards, Edge attempted to destroy Alberto's Bentley. He was stopped though and given a con-chair-to. The following week, Teddy Long announced that if Edge or Alberto touched each other before WrestleMania XXVII, they would both be banned from it. The main event saw Christian face Del Rio once again. Christian won but Edge, who had accompanied him, nearly hit Alberto with a chair. Christian stopped him though and hit Alberto himself. On next week's episode of Raw, the duo once again faced Del Rio and Clay. They defeated them but afterwards Del Rio applied the cross armbreaker to Christian. Edge chased him off but was then attacked from behind by Del Rio.
At WrestleMania, Edge defeated Alberto. Afterwards, with Christian's help he destroyed Alberto's car. On the following Smackdown, Alberto expressed his anger towards Edge and Christian and promised to make them pay. Edge came out with the car he destroyed at WrestleMania to taunt him. Alberto demanded a rematch but Edge said others deserved it more, like Christian who exited the towing truck. Before any fight erupted, Teddy scheduled a match between Christian and Del Rio to the determine the number-one contender that would face Edge in a ladder match for the title at the 2011 Extreme Rules. Del Rio defeated Christian after he got distracted by Edge spearing Brodus Clay.
On the April 15, 2011 edition of Raw, Edge announced his retirement from professional wrestling due to injury, vacating the World Heavyweight Championship in the process. Upon his retirement, Christian would gain a championship match for the vacated World Heavyweight Championship against Del Rio after winning a 20-Man Battle Royal. At Extreme Rules, after a distraction by Edge reversed the effects of interference from Clay, Christian defeated Del Rio for the vacated title. Edge and Christian celebrated the win and embraced in the ring one final time.
At Summerslam, Christian revealed that Edge would be at ringside for his match against Randy Orton. However, Edge berated Christian for his recent actions and left him to fight in a losing effort to Orton. On the September 16, 2011 edition of Smackdown, entitled 'Edge Appreciation Night', the duo once again came face to face backstage. They made up but argued again after Christian tried asking Edge to get him for another title shot. After the tapings, a tribute for Edge aired and the two did a five second pose in front of their hometown.