Losing an Edge

Atlanta, Georgia, Aprill 3 2011, the stage is Wrestlemania 27, one of the most highly anticipated events in pro wrestling (or just entertainment as Vince Mcmahon would like you to believe), where the top stars (and Santino Marrella) perform in matches that 70,000 in the arena and people in over 200 countries are watching, basically put, you have to be a pretty big star to be on the show. The opening match of the night sees one of the wrestlers making his way down to ring, ready to defend his 11th world title, needless to say, this guy's made it pretty far. That was a week ago, yesterday on RAW it was said that this same man was to retire due to a deterioration in health, leaving behind a legacy that few in this business get to obtain, this man is the ultimate opertunist, the master manipulator, the Rated R superstar, Edge or as he's known to few, Adam Copeland. This man who accomplished more in 10 years than Koko B Ware did in a lifetime started off in humble beginings, the son of a single mother, not knowing who his father was, living in a small town miles from Toronto. He grew up like many of you Reading did, an avid wrestling fan who watched all the shows, bought all the magazines and was inspired by the Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior match to become a wrestler himself. After years of circling the indies, he finaly made it to the bigtime, the WWF (now E due to legal reasons), although after a bit of coverage as a singles wrestler, cutting dark vignetes of him roaming the street and entering through the crowd to catchy theme music, he ended being a lacky in the Undertakers Ministry of Darkness, then forming the Brood with Gangrel and long time friend Christian (who deserves as much recognition), but he truely stood out when he and Christian became a force to be reckoned with in tag team wrestling as two comedic jocks who'd talk about how awesome they were and did the classic "5 second pose", that were entertaining to watch and had the skills to back it up with many great tables, ladders and chairs matches with the Hardyz and the Dudlys. Afterwards Edge broke away, becoming a more serious singles wrestler, gathering titles and moving up the WWE caste system. Numerous injuries have gotten in Edge's path including a neck injury, torn pectorials and a torn achillis tendon, despite all this Edge has come back time and time again and wrestled at equal level to what he was before. In late 2004 Edge made an ultimate leap, adopting the character that we know and love, a deranged, sleaze who's obsesed with becoming the top dog and after a scandal involving Lita, became more sleazy, adopting the Rated R superstar moniker. In 2006, after years of hard work Edge had won the title from WWEs top star John Cena (even if it was by cashing in money in the bank and he never beat Cena cleanly from then on) cementing himself as a major player in WWE. Over the years Edge has provided us with many memorable moments: the live sex celebration, his relationship with Vickie Geurrero and many memorable matches with the likes of Undertaker, Cena and Chris Jericho. His ring work showcased a plethora of captivating moves with not so captivating names (Edgucation?) but still made for a good match, even if his pace slowed down in his later years. His Mic work put across his characters well, either if it's the arrogent joker or the deranged manipulator. Now on this day (a quote from his awesome theme music) the wrestling world looks back on a career that has spaned 19 years and produced an army of Edge-Heads, we can only feel sorrow that this young man from Orangeville shall never grace our screen again, that there'll never be another superstar like him and that he'll never hit that SPEAR SPEAR SPEAR...