All language subtitles for Biography WWE Legends S02 E07 (Biography.Wwe.Legends.S02e07.720P.Web.H264-Bae.m4v) (ENGLISH)

WWE Superstars are part gypsy, part circus,
part actor, part writer, part athlete.

Wrestling is all of that thrown into one
pot, mixed up, and you burp out a wrestler.

Colorful outfits.

High flying.

Explosions.

It's theater on the round.

It's live.

You have no net.

You got a live
microphone and a camera.

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

Those are your
tools to tell your story.

This is hell on earth.

In God's name, can a human
being even move after that?

No, no, it's unbelievable.

That, to me, is
just so fascinating.

It's the best gig in the world.

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

He lived his whole life
wanting to be a wrestler.

Downward spiral from the ladder.

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

Man, it's carnage.

There was still the knock
on edge that he wasn't top.

Oh my God!

He was never the biggest, never
the strongest, never the fastest.

He forced himself and pushed
himself and willed himself.

He was someone that
was willing to risk it all.

Oh my God!

To entertain the people who
paid money to see him wrestle.

Whatever he wants to
get, he's going to manifest.

I've ever witnessed a
WrestleMania moment like this one.

When it comes to do
or die situations, I thrive.

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

There's going to be uneasiness
that is never going to go away.

Edge had shocked the world.

The impossible.

He did the impossible.

The ultimate opportunist.

The rated R superstar.

Edge!

Growing up in Orangeville, I
was a shy kid, which seems

counterintuitive to what I
ended up doing for a living.

But I was a pretty quiet
kid and pretty well behaved.

It was just me and my mom.

And she worked
multiple jobs to make sure

that I had enough
food, because I ate a lot.

She was a single parent.

She was raising Adam and
she had several jobs at once.

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

Orangeville's a pretty...

It's not the funnest
town, but it's a safe place.

It's probably what you'd call
a good place to raise family.

Not a whole lot
going on, usually.

Here's another place
where Adam and Judy lived.

Adam and Judy, they
moved around probably, boy,

about half a dozen times
at least, over the years.

They lived once downtown and they
lived in the place I just showed you.

There are a couple more
places all around here.

There was this back
alley to the back of our

apartment, and it was
these rickety old stairs.

I would try and sneak down this back
alley so no one would see where I lived.

Because I thought,
ah, if there's anybody

driving by, they'll go,
what's Adam doing there?

Does he live up there?

You go through those times and those
periods where you're self-conscious,

you're shy, and some of that can be
because of finances, or you're the poor

kid, or you're the kid that's got to
wear the same shoes for a while.

I'm sure my mom probably sensed that,
which probably was not an easy thing for

her, but she did everything
that she possibly could.

Judy worked two jobs sometimes,
you know, making ends meet.

She was an amazing mother.

She did a wonderful, wonderful job,
just to keep a roof over Adam's head.

We kind of lived paycheck
to paycheck, and I

remember there was this
thing called the baby bonus.

I think it was like
35 bucks a month.

I'd go down the stairs and I'd always look
in that mailbox to see if that envelope

was there, because I knew that
35 bucks was really going to help.

That was the difference
between that final week

being pretty lean or we're
going to have a casserole.

Definitely some stress,
but you're a kid, right?

So it kind of
bounces off of you.

And maybe on deeper layers, deeper levels,
it is helping to form the person you're

going to become, but you
don't realize that at the time.

She was everything to
Adam, and vice versa.

Adam was her life, period.

It kind of felt like her
and I against the world.

She just put her nose to the grindstone,
and what she taught me was work ethic.

Nothing will come easy.

If it's something that you want, if
it's something that you truly want to

attain, there's going to be work
involved, and the reward will be worth it.

I can look back now, and I
think her reward was my success.

You got a lot of love,
and when you're a little

kid and you don't have
much, that means everything.

He definitely had a lot of male presence
in his life to kind of make up for the

fact that his father wasn't around, but
I'm sure he had doubts and thoughts,

and ran the gamut of emotions as
to why his father wasn't in his life.

My grandparents were there, all my
uncles were there, my aunts were there.

There was always someone, and they all
pitched in, and they all lent their hands

to making sure that,
you know, if my mom had

to work, there was going
to be somebody there.

Him and Gary were really close.

He was the baby of the family.

He was the closest to me in age,
and because of that, he was my uncle,

but it was more of a big
brother feel, you know,

because we could relate
to a lot of the same things.

He was into hockey, big time.

While I may have annoyed
my older uncles, I didn't

annoy Gary, because we
were into similar things still.

We would draw together,
and we'd sit there and compare,

like, our drawings of
goalies and things like that.

When he wasn't playing hockey with
his friends, he was always without them.

Always.

And then all of a sudden,
that was taken away from him.

I was out west, in western Canada,
working, and all I got was a phone call

saying, you better get home,
and you better get home now.

Gary's been in an accident.

My uncle Gary and a bunch of friends
were driving home from a lacrosse game,

and lost control
around a wet corner.

And yeah, yeah, he was in
the backseat and didn't make it.

It turned the entire
family upside down.

He was the baby.

This is my best buddy.

At that age, old
people passed away.

It didn't dawn on me
that you could be 17.

You know, Gary was
kind of like the anchor.

And that anchor was taken away.

It kind of just drift, right?

You can never replace that.

Ever.

Say time heals
all, but it doesn't.

You just learn to live
with the scars, you know?

Just a big, big void.

I know my grandparents
never recovered.

And I truly don't think any of
the brothers and sisters did either.

And for me, I was young
enough that I started looking.

And I found wrestling.

It was all of those things
that I'd gravitated to as a kid.

But now it was tangible.

Now, wait, these guys and girls are
going to be down at Maple Leaf Gardens?

Or they may come to
the Orangeville Arena?

It became the friend
that my uncle was.

And now that
friend wasn't there.

Wrestling became
that thing for me.

Jam-packed crowd here in Toronto's Maple
Leaf Gardens for this fantastic event.

Introducing first, the number
one Frenchman, René Doullet.

My Uncle Randy, my mom, my Aunt Sandy and
I, we all went down to Maple Leaf Gardens.

This was my first trip
to Maple Leaf Gardens.

I just remember the ring
and this single light above it.

And this giant wooden ramp that
came up from out of the dressing rooms.

And Maple Leaf Gardens was
the only one that had this ramp.

I just remember thinking,
these people are humongous.

Bigger than life,
brighter than life.

It was mind-melting.

Cannonball off the top,
turnbuckle down for the cover.

He got it!

I don't know what part of my brain, fired
that said, this is what you're going to do.

And I don't know
why, but it did.

This is Orangeville
District Secondary School.

There's a lobby in there.

And that's where Adam and Jay
used to practice their wrestling.

There's a set of stairs
that comes down.

Used to pretend they were
jumping off the top rope.

I was 11 years old when
I moved to Orangeville.

I was a really shy kid.

When my mom pulled up to the
school, I refused to get out of the car.

He was nervous.

And the teacher sent me out as one of the
kids to try and ease him into this thing.

You know, talk him into the school,
to tell him it's going to be okay.

We started talking
about wrestling.

And he was as avid
about it as I was.

We kind of had our
own federations going on,

so we'd always kind
of update each other.

He was a champion with our action
figures and all those sorts of things.

My family took him in,
and he was with us a lot.

You know, for dinners.

He went on family trips with us.

Him kind of becoming
a part of my family.

We just started
talking about it.

It wasn't like, if we do
this, if we become wrestlers.

It was like, when we
do this, when we become

a tag team, when we
become tag team champions.

We kind of manifested
it at an early age

that this was something
we were going to do.

And that was it.

Like, all bets were
off at that point.

I took this very seriously.

And this was it.

There was no plan B.

Failure was not an option.

So WrestleMania VI was
coming to the Sky Dome.

It was everywhere.

I thought, there's no way
that I'm going to end up going.

In the meantime, my
mom and my grandparents

were doing what they
could to get me down there.

We didn't have a credit card.

So my mom used my
grandparents' credit card and

then paid them back in
order to get me down there.

And then we took the bus down.

And it was a voyage.

When you step in the Sky Dome,
when you feel the energy that's going to

run wild throughout the
arena, those are my people.

That's my energy, brother.

It was going to be Hulk Hogan
against the Ultimate Warrior.

Now, as a fan in that
time, you had a clear side.

You were Hogan
or you were Warrior.

I was Hogan.

I'll never forget.

Like, it still burned
into my memory.

Hulkster!

It's almost motionless!

Two!

No!

Like, how far we were and the angle
we were at and how cool it all was to me.

Sure enough, there I am
in my Hulk rules tank top.

Already about a head taller than
everybody else in the audience.

My mom down at my shoulder.

The mullet.

Stupid smile on my face.

Like, I just won the Super Bowl.

I'm not at the top of the
top line, but I can do it.

I've got a little extra
style on my legs.

I'm not like a massive Aussie.

I'm just super-?,
super-big on my shoulder.

And I have a big,
big head there.

All right.

I'm so excited.

Really excited.

And I would say I've had
a lot of fun with my family.

I got the lasagna.

I've had a lot
of fun in my life.

I mean, I've had a lot of fun.

One weekend, in the column at the
very tail end of it, want to be a wrestler?

Right in, there's going
to be an essay contest.

The winner of this essay
contest will receive free

wrestling training from Sweet
Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchison.

Okay, I know these names.

I know these guys.

This is legit.

I'm writing it.

I wrote it longhand, sent it.

That was the only copy.

I've never seen it to this day.

And this is the letter.

This is the original letter.

Let's open it up here.

Part of me is dreading
what I might have written.

But whatever I wrote worked,
because we're sitting here now.

And a lot of it starts
with that essay.

Dear Mr. Sullivan, I am writing in
response to Norm DaCosta's column.

I feel I could possibly
be a good choice.

I've been a wrestling fanatic
since I was about eight years old.

I stand 6'4", 224 pounds,
and I'm 18 years old.

Sincerely, Adam Copeland.

It changed everything for me.

But I also knew because
they were taking this chance

on me that I wanted to
do right by that chance.

If I didn't see it to as far as I could
see it and work as hard as I could toward

it, the chance they
gave me, I'm just on it.

And I'm not going to do that.

He didn't have
a car at the time.

So I actually borrowed my mom's car
and drove him to his first wrestling class.

And I would do that quite often
on weekends until he got a car.

I loved every
inch of that place.

Finally after, you know, about six or
seven months of falling on the floor,

I was given the
nod to get in the ring.

And finally getting in
there and being in there and

landing in there for the first
time was a real eye-opener.

I don't know why I
thought that might be easy.

And I was really, really wrong.

Luckily, my brain
was okay with that.

I don't know why.

I don't have the
answer as to why.

All right.

What we're about to
watch here is my very first

experience wrestling
in front of an audience.

Look at that young fella over there in
the corner in the Oakland Raiders Zubaz.

Lightning bolts
all over the place.

Fantabulous mullet
on full display.

Monarch Park, Toronto.

July 1st, Canada Day.

Ron Hutchison, Sweet Daddy CKR trainers,
ran a wrestling show for free in the park

to get us some reps
in front of an audience.

I just remember getting
chopped a lot, which

is kind of a rite of
passage for the newbie.

So I'm like, eh, I don't
care if I'm a rookie.

I'm gonna chop you back.

Yeah, that's right,
Frank, eat that.

Now I'm just chopping everybody.

I just had a bit of
an attitude, I guess.

I just remember thinking, yep,
this is exactly where I need to be.

This is the right spot.

So this went a long
way to making me realize

that, okay, I'm on
the right track, at least.

There was no safety net.

There was no fail-safe.

It was this and nothing else.

You gotta bet on yourself and
you gotta believe you can do it.

I've been training for about
a year, year and a half.

The Deanie Petty Show in Canada.

It was a talk show and it
was really big in Canada.

Bret was gonna be a guest.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome
Canada's own Bret the Hitman Hart!

So I said, I gotta get there.

I gotta get in that audience.

I'm gonna ask him a question.

We got two guys here
who look to me like they

might be wrestlers
in training here, huh?

By the sheer size of you two.

You wanna be a wrestler?

We're just wondering, like,
how we should go about it.

We work out at Tiki's Gym, so if you ever
wanna stop by, there's a little plug there.

When you wanna get in, do you have to
go and audition for them and meet them?

I mean, how did you get in?

You have to have
some experience.

And then, uh... Which is
very hard to get nowadays.

And they can get you on television and give
you sort of a tryout, but that's about it.

In those days, it was hard to get
someone to help open a door for you.

And here I was.

I think I was world
champion at the time.

And I was like, how
can I open a door for a

guy at his age, where
he is, and at his level?

After the show, I'm
coming out of the bathroom,

and Bret sees me and
comes walking down the hall.

And he said, listen, man, I
wish I had more to tell you.

I wish I had better advice.

Just stick with it.

Bret Hart just told
me to stick with it.

Damn right I'm sticking with it.

I had already been going to
Humber College for a year.

And Adam decided to do a radio
broadcasting course to kind of have

something to fall back on if, you
know, wrestling doesn't pan out.

I wanted to take something in college
while I was just getting sporadic bookings.

I, uh, decided maybe
radio broadcasting would

help to have to kind
of perform verbally.

Tune in to CBC this Sunday at 8.

I'm Adam Jericho with
your Char News Update.

I had a great couple years.

And I was still wrestling.

And it was, you know, wasn't making any
money, but it was making enough to get by.

We just had a discussion.

He's like, hey, man, you keep
saying you're gonna do this.

Are you gonna do it or what?

And I was like, yeah, I am.

And, uh, so I was broke, flat broke,
but I had a student loan from college.

So he took part of his student
loan and put it toward training.

So now we're training
at the same school.

And then slowly but
surely starting to break into

these different pockets
of the independent scene.

He's got a six-foot wall.

A standing.

Two but five.

Length 227 pounds.

Rebel Orangeville, Ontario.

Bring him over.

I had done a tiny
show in Ajax, Ontario.

And no matter what, we always tried to
put on the best match we possibly could.

Which meant I'm gonna be out there for
half an hour because I'm gonna use every

second of this time to either get
somebody to notice or just improve.

Sexton Hardcastle coming up.

There's probably
100 people there.

Adam's got to be there,
do a tag team match.

They seem to be playing
a good mind game.

This guy, Carl DeMarco,
who at that point is Bret

Hart's manager, says,
Hey, you guys got something.

Get me a take.

I wanted to build him similar
to what we did with Bret.

And I talked to Adam, and I said, I see
you going down those exact same footsteps.

Bret Hart gets the victory.

Look at this, Hart can't go
with the power of his arm.

I said, Adam, you've
got to trust me.

You're not there
yet, but you're close.

I want you to do some more
independent shows to hone your craft.

We're going to keep in touch.

So they came to Winnipeg, and from
there we went through the Norton tours.

There's a lot of tours
where, man, you drive across

these lakes, and they
wouldn't be all the way frozen.

Some of the guys on those
type of trips, they break out.

They start crying because
they figure they're going to die.

You know, they've never been
crossing lakes or driving, right?

And sometimes the water breaks,
and they figure that they're dead.

It's a video camera.

It's the IWA On Water Tour.

The On Water Tour.

The Heller High Water Tour.

See if we're on a
lake somewhere.

That was why they started
being called Death Tours.

You find yourself
in these conditions.

Like, we got up to Oxford House,
and they said, it's minus 72 out.

You've got to run inside, because you
don't want to be exposed for this long.

Or it's frostbite.

And I just remember getting out of that
van, and my nostrils freezing together.

We would get wherever we
could to try and wrestle new people.

So Jay and I took this trip,
and I still blame him for this.

It's all his fault.

He had gotten contact with
this promoter from Tennessee.

And this promoter promised
us 30 shows in 30 days.

So we get to Tennessee, and
we realize there's no shows.

And we've used all of
our money to get this far.

We'd just try to
walk on to shows.

And we ended up walking
on to all these different shows.

We did a couple shows in a
barn in front of like eight people.

Fans sitting on hay bales.

That was one of the instances
where I had to call home and

say, Can you wire me enough
money for a bus ticket home?

I knew she didn't have it.

Because at this point, we're
living in a one-room apartment.

You know, my mattress is
on the floor in this corner.

Her mattress is over there.

I don't know if she
asked my grandparents or

if we scraped it
together, but it got there.

And that's what got me home.

Yeah, you're not
making any money.

And yeah, maybe 75
bucks a show, hopefully.

But you're still
out there doing it.

My mom never questioned that.

She never said to
me, What do you think?

Is it time to call it a day?

Maybe move on to something else?

She never said it once.

And I never said it.

You know, I'd be working in the car seat
factory, and I'd go, OK, I'm doing this so

that I can afford tights,
so I can afford those boots,

so I can afford the first
payment of car insurance.

Because I thought if
I keep putting into this

thing, eventually,
eventually it'll pay off.

We had tunnel vision.

We were going to
make it regardless.

And he had the same mindset, and I had
the same mindset, and we pushed each other.

Carl calls me.

I said, You should
get out to Bret.

Bret Hart, who is the
WWE champion at that point.

Every now and then, I
finally would step in the

ring, and I'd go, OK, I'm
going to wrestle Adam.

And I would try to teach him everything I
could in as short a way and quick a way as

possible, and basically
give him the experience of

working with the best
wrestler in the world right now.

So I just get in
and do my thing.

At the end of that, Bret goes,
Ooh, we've got to get you going.

You know, I think you're ready.

You've gone as far as
you can go to this point.

Come off the top.

I can't believe this.

It's not very often that
I give a big send-up.

to a guy like Adam, but
it was easy for me to do.

That's huge.

I don't know what else
to say to that, but my

stomach's doing every
flop and flip you can imagine.

But I got a tour in Manitoba for Tony
Candelo, and it's not a northern death

tour this time because
it's during the summer.

So I go to Winnipeg.

We're landing pontoon planes
on the lakes to get to the shows.

And we're in Cat Lake.

I remember Tony coming to find
me, and there's one phone on the res.

And he said, Listen, we
got to go to the cop shop.

And it's a double wide.

So I walk in there,
pick up the phone.

It's Carl DeMarco.

Hey, Carl, what's going on?

And he goes, You got a contract.

And it's waiting for you.

And it's waiting for you
down in Stanford, Connecticut.

It almost feels like the second
half of my life started there.

The first half was to
get to that phone call.

And then that phone call
happened, and it all changed.

I can look back at it now
and realize how pitiful it was.

And I knew it was at the time.

But looking in that rear
view, you realize, wow,

that single phone call
changed the entire path.

It was the path I wanted.

It was the path I expected.

But that phone call is
what... actually did it.

You think you know me.

But you will never know me.

You are lost.

And scared.

I don't think WWE had an idea
what to do with Adam Copeland.

The only trait that Edge and
Adam shared was confusion.

Adam had no idea what Edge was.

And therefore, Edge
was very confused.

So I didn't understand that there
was going to be departments.

You'd have people whose job it
was to try and come up with this stuff.

That's great.

But...

I just don't want
to do that myself.

You know, it's my
kid's light board.

It's Lyric's
Crayola light board.

And so I'll just put
something on there.

Okay, there's an idea.

That's a good size.

And then I'll just go,
okay, well, I can trace it.

Now that I have
the original drawing.

So that's kind of my process.

I get a pencil and some
Sharpies and I start doodling.

I don't know why it's
always been this process.

I really enjoy it.

I think that's also
part of the reason.

Because of that.

Because it does take me
back to when I was a kid.

And then a teenager.

And then an adult.

And now being a
40-something middle-aged man.

Still doing it.

What could have happened to this
man that made him do these things?

A lot of guys have really shot themselves
in the foot right out of the gate.

Because they don't
like their character.

And that doesn't sit well
sometimes with the higher-ups.

I got some of these creative drawings
and I looked like a BG taking rave drugs.

What is that?

Nothing was really fleshed out.

Nothing was told to me.

Didn't know what Edge was.

Didn't know the story of Edge.

Didn't have a backstory.

None of that.

I was really floundering.

Saying no to that stuff might
not have been the best idea.

But I did.

There was a period where
people had been in the

business for a while and
looked at anybody new.

Hey, you haven't
paid your dues yet.

There's a really fine
line there of standing

up for yourself and
what your vision is.

And doing what it
is that they want.

Now you've kind
of got this stigma.

Like, okay, this guy's
hard to work with.

That could be career suicide.

So then I'd design my stuff.

And I would draw it.

I gotta have my hands in it.

In making this thing work.

But that's just not really
the way it always works.

He couldn't wrap his brain around it
because I don't think he understood it.

How he would
portray this character.

To Adam's credit, he's always
stood up for what he believed in.

That is some of the things
you have to think about.

You have to deal with politically both at
the office and also in the dressing room.

Any time that a new talent comes in that
doesn't have the pedigree, if you will,

to come in and go right into a
spot, I think there's a lot of jealousy.

He wasn't a seasoned
talent, per se.

Guy's been in the
business for a cup of coffee

and comes in and he's
being hyped in a big way.

Anybody that's on top.

And trust me on this.

It's always looking over their shoulder
to see who's going to take their place.

I won't mention names.

Certain other talents who
had long hair, similar to Adam.

They were taking
him as a threat.

There was a lot of political
behind the scenes pushing.

I think you should
get a haircut.

Do anything you can to sabotage
this look and image, et cetera.

There was talk that I would be deaf
with an inability to speak at one point.

Which is the kiss of death.

Because as a wrestler.

A microphone is
one of your tools.

And I thought, man.

That's being floated
around for me.

I got nothing if
they take that away.

I'm like, what?

That was the dumbest
idea I've ever freaking heard.

And I knew there would be a
career killer before he started.

I mean, he really would
have been dead in the water if

he had to try to get over
without being able to talk.

I need him saying these words.

I need him not himself.

I didn't know.

They just said
he's a tortured soul.

What does that mean?

When in doubt, I just scream.

I go, ah!

And just scream.

And look up the
ceiling and scream.

Well, that's what I've heard
the same as you, Jared.

This guy's supposed
to be tormented.

I mean, every time I've seen him,
he seems to be in some sort of a rage.

We are about to see
the debut of Edge.

And Edge on his way to the ring.

I just remember thinking, okay.

How do I try and
make an impression?

How do I try and get noticed?

Seemingly on the edge
of exploding at any time.

The match was going fine.

Until it wasn't.

And look at this great move.

Big service all over the top.

And Jose Estrada is not
moving very much here, King.

I think Jose is out.

I decided to try this
move called the Hilo, which

is a front flip over the
top rope to the floor.

I knocked Jose out.

Out.

In my debut match.

I roll in the ring.

Tim White is the referee.

He goes, he's out, kid.

And I just felt the world
drop out from underneath me.

I'd never injured someone.

I'd never hurt someone.

So not only am I
smashing that glass.

But I'm doing it my
first match on television

for the company I've
always wanted to work for.

And I know how the
locker room works.

I know people see that
and the whispers start.

Kid's not safe.

Kid's not safe.

Kid's not safe.

Now you got people that
don't want to work you.

That's all going
through my mind.

While I'm on TV
in my debut match.

And that's all of it.

Edge will win his first match.

I'm sure not the way he wanted.

But he's a winner
needless to say.

He's over the edge.

Wow.

Yeah.

Look at it two ways.

Nowhere to go but up.

Or I just **** the bed.

And this could be it.

I've often said this is
kind of my field of dreams.

Some people
have football fields.

Some people have ice rinks.

Now if you had told 16-year-old Adam
that one day there'd be one of these.

At his beck and call.

He would not have believed that.

This is kind of a collection of stuff that
was never going to see the light of day.

But we got a wrestling ring.

That's ridiculous enough.

This is when I did a series
of Slim Jim commercials.

They had Edge skateboarding
like the Grand Canyon is a half pipe.

Ascending Everest.

And attacking a school
teacher it seems with a Slim Jim.

Once you eat a Slim Jim.

Anything is possible.

Right here.

Easy chief.

One step at a time.

Now eat it and beat it.

This poster over here.

This was the first wrestling
show I ever went to.

For whatever reason I still
had it all these years later.

So it felt like that
needed to live here.

We set up the
chairs for the show.

Jay and myself.

And they promised that
if we papered the town.

If we posted the town
with these posters.

And set up chairs.

They'd give us two
minutes in the ring.

And that was our.

We didn't get paid.

That was our pay.

Just let us in the ring.

That was our calling.

Even still boggles my mind that two
kids from a small town like Orangeville.

Both had the same dream.

Met each other.

And both chased the dream.

To the furthest that
you could chase it.

And did it.

That still doesn't really register
or make complete sense to me.

I started on TV June of 98.

I want to say it was like six
months after that Jay started up.

And I was told he was going
to be brought in as my brother.

And then they
brought in Gangrel.

Dave Heath.

And they put us together
as a group called The Brood.

That was the first instance
where I was like ooh.

There's an element
of character here.

There's one word
to describe this trio.

And that's unique.

And Gangrel in the middle.

He appears to be the leader.

Edge on his right.

We're supposed to be
like are we vampires?

Are we goth?

What is this thing?

But it was something.

The power lies within us.

I remember the first time he
spoke which was in New Haven.

And said the freaks
only come out at night.

Because the freaks
come out at night.

And the girls screamed.

I don't know.

He said I want to go.

He's going to get there.

I just pictured this group
of like really cool kids.

Really cool vampires.

Whether they had fangs or not.

Just really cool guys.

It didn't matter if you
got your butt kicked.

Every night.

As long as you
look cool doing it.

Whoa.

The Brood not up.

Just do up.

Anything he did
was going to work.

They told me that that's the guy that
they were going to strap a rocket to.

They knew he was
their future superstar.

The combined
weight of 455 pounds.

Christian and Edge.

When we teamed up it's like well we've
been doing this since the sixth grade.

We know what we do.

Now we get to show
everybody what we can do.

I think there was a realization that
Adam and Jay need to be injected into this.

It can't just be Edge and
Christian because what is that?

We don't know.

But if we can inject some of our
humor and some of our idiocy into this.

Maybe, just maybe, they'll start
giving us some microphone time.

Hey listen to this.

I'm going to play our music.

You think you know me.

You think you know me.

All right.

Get out.

We'd added the last element
that we needed to go from

just kind of being wrestlers
to being entertainers.

And understanding that there
is a difference between the two.

What I really like are
those five second poses.

For the next five seconds
we will very generously pose

for all of you with the
benefit of flash photography.

Christian and I have been
rehearsing some new poses.

This one we just
simply call, uh oh.

You have to be an entertainer if
you really want this thing to work.

And you really want to get to the
upper echelons of what this thing is.

I'll turn this light
on over here.

There's always going to be a ladder
present when I'm around it seems.

I try to avoid
them at all costs.

Yeah, so you have to like practice with,
I mean do you practice with the ladder?

You don't practice with ladders.

You just don't touch a
ladder until it's match time.

That's just for
change of light bulbs.

I truly, I don't go
anywhere near that.

Unless I absolutely have to.

When most people see ladders, I
think the reaction is, oh there's a ladder.

The pit of my stomach starts to feel
a little queasy when I see a ladder.

Because I know what
happens if you fall off of them.

Because it was my job.

There's a saying that every single day of
your career is one day less of your career.

I think that in some of these
matches, there's not just one day less.

There's probably, you
take about 20 minutes.

20, 30, 40 days off of a career in
every high risk match that you have.

Matt and Jeff Hardy
against Edge and Christian.

This is the first tag team
ladder match in history.

The match only can end
when one team has secured

the $100,000 that's
hanging high above the ring.

For Edge and Christian, it was
that first ladder match in Cleveland.

They changed the whole
landscape on a ladder match.

In one match.

You know, we caught
lightning in the bottle that night.

And that took us from being WWE
wrestlers to WWE superstars overnight.

We all realized being as young
and dumb and hungry as we were.

That if we got an opportunity,
we got to swing for the fences.

Our goal was to
tear that arena down.

So we started to look at how can
we build things with these ladders.

That we can then fall on.

Or that we can use as a teeter-totter
and slam up into somebody's face.

Just trying to think of
violent, creative ways

to create things people
hadn't seen before.

And we did.

How in God's name can a
human being even move after that?

I don't know, it's unbelievable.

And then to get to the back.

And get the congratulations
from your peers.

From people who were
already at the top of the show.

Went out of their way to
tell us, like, damn guys.

I don't know what you
just did, but you did it.

I made sure that I was the first guy they
saw when they walked through the curtain.

I looked at all four of them and I
said, you guys just became stars.

That was their big
stamp of approval.

Like, these guys are for real.

These guys are here.

And you really have
to appreciate that.

They all had chemistry.

And they worked beautifully
together in any combination.

They defined what those matches
would be for the future of our business.

The reaction was unlike anything I'd ever
experienced up until that point in time.

I never experienced standing
ovations or anything like that.

And the next night on
Raw, it happened again.

It was, like, just goosebumps when I
was out there, like, just taking it all in.

Because I just couldn't
believe or even comprehend

or understand at that
point what that meant.

Every single night, you go
in front of a live audience.

You want to improve.

You want to do better.

And the audience
now has an expectation.

As a performer, you can meet
that expectation or you can exceed it.

And you always
want to exceed it.

It just...

We kept having to top ourselves.

And that's a kind of fun place to
be, if I'm being perfectly honest.

Well, there you see it,
ladies and gentlemen.

Over the tag team title belts
hanging about 20 feet above the ring.

It's starting.

Hands are pushing now.

Here we go.

Uh-oh.

Oh, no.

Ready?

Go!

To the redeem!

Go, Tom!

Game on.

Oh, my God!

He did!

Double suplex from
the top of the ladder!

Oh!

Smart time!

Go!

Top of the ladder!

To the floor!

To the table!

I'm standing on top of this
table, wobbling like crazy.

Matt Hardy!

It's all... Oh, no!

I've just pushed Matt
Hardy off of the thing.

He's flipped and landed directly
on his tailbone through a table.

Looks so ugly, so I'm double checking
to make sure, okay, he's moving.

That's a good sign.

Now I have to figure
out how to stand up on

this wobbly table that's
about to pitch over.

I just remember the reaction
when we were reaching for the titles.

And I said to Adam, I
was like, I'm gonna fall.

He's like, I'll get them.

So he grabbed both of them.

And if I had stood up, that celebration
would have looked a lot different.

If you look at it on paper, the
chances of it happening, stupid.

Two kids from a small town in southern
Ontario with no inroads to the wrestling

industry whatsoever are gonna find
themselves standing on a table on top of

two ladders in the pond in Anaheim
after doing a match that has never, ever

happened before in the history of
wrestling that they've helped create.

If everything ended
after this in terms of our

team, and all of those
things, man, we did it.

We did what we said
we were gonna do.

Winning the tag
team titles is great.

An amazing feeling.

We're the kings and the top of
the heap in the tag team world.

I definitely think tag team titles is a
stepping stone to get to that next step.

You're almost there.

You've grabbed that ring.

Now it's time to
go for the next one.

Please welcome my man, The H!

Reeking of awesomeness the way we do,
and being so totally cool, I'm here at MTV

on TRL to show them just exactly
what Edge, movie star, is all about.

How you doing?

See, she knows what
she's talking about.

Being one half of Edge and Christian,
the most photogenic tag team ever,

and being on the real pulse
of what the teens want to see,

you know, you can understand
why MTV would come to us.

Edge on Edge 10.

Edge was a big time player star.

And if he'd have stayed
with the tag team, you

know, his career probably
would not have lasted.

I mean, that's
just the way it is.

Hey, wait a minute.

Here comes Edge's brother,
Christian, with a steel chair of his own.

You can only do the same thing
for so long before it gets repetitive.

And I think we both
wanted to break up before

people were like,
OK, I've seen the act.

Once we split, I don't
know if either one of

us understood how
hard it was going to be.

You want to know if you can
make it on that stage as a single.

When your time comes,
when they're ready to

push you as a big
single, you have to do it.

Because if you don't strive to be the
best, you're really spinning your wheels.

Because we'd been with the company,
we'd found success with the company,

and assumed it would
be an easy enough

transition into this
next stage of our career.

And it was anything but.

The challenge is that Edge, found
out, was the place was popping.

And you had so many great talents
that knew the business, knew their game.

And I think he could feel
pressure from those that were

above them that didn't want
them to supersede the top guys.

As crazy as it sounds, given the danger
involved in the ladders matches and later

the tables, ladders and
chairs matches, there

was still the knock on
Edge that he wasn't tough.

Well, look at it.

Does he look tough?

You know, come on.

Adam's in there.

He's a young kid,
all tan and pretty.

Adam was pretty.

He looked like a surfer.

He did not look like your
stereotypical tough guy.

He didn't look the part,
but he was the part.

Because he's a handsome man with a great
physique and he's a young man with the

long hair, there are going
to be those who don't

think he has what we refer
to as intestinal fortitude.

Those that would say that
Adam didn't have the intestinal

fortitude had never
gotten in the ring with him.

Edge as the performer was willing
to do anything that he had to do.

I thought there was a good
chance he could be held back

and not climb to the heights
that he would be able to.

I was treading water and just kind of
keeping my nose above that water line.

And then Paul Heyman called me and he
said, we want to team you and Hulk Hogan.

What do you think?

And I went, I think that
is a stupendous idea.

We will have a blast.

You

know, I'm not a tag team guy,
so I don't have that psychology.

It was just totally out of
my wheelhouse, you know?

So I said, just whatever
you want to do, brother.

You tell me that.

Well, it's going
to be a lot then.

It was just such a crazy night because I'd
never been the tag team champion before.

And all of a sudden, here I am.

I'm in the ring with some guy that's
watched Hulkamania ever since he was a kid.

And I was like his
wrestling hero growing up.

And to be in the ring with
him and know how cool this

was, it was almost like I had
my son with me or something.

What's your next step?

Next step for Edge?

Probably not tag teaming.

Probably go back off
and, you know, continue

what I was doing before
with the singles thing.

Did you hear that?

Edge is out, man.

I started experiencing,
like, just headache.

Like, just pain.

And my left arm
started to atrophy.

And I noticed it in my hands.

Like, the meat here
was disappearing.

When you're young and
hungry like that, you're

going to do whatever
you can to make it.

He was sucking it
up, just kind of, you

know, gritting his
teeth and fighting for it.

He just threw it until he
just couldn't do it anymore.

I was starting to see
little divots in my forearm.

I was like, oh, that's weird.

And then my rear
delt just left one day.

It was just gone.

It looked like someone
had golfed off of it.

And that's when I finally gave in
and said, I think something's going on.

I went to Steve Austin's
spine doctor because

he had had a spinal
fusion at this point.

He goes, you got to
come down to San Antonio.

I said, Dr. Youngblood.

This is disc material
and bone spurs right here.

And it should be a
nice symmetrical oval.

So I went down and ended up
getting a double fusion from C5 to C7.

And basically what they did is
they took a chunk from my hip

and they put it in my neck
and replaced the ruptured discs.

Keep this bone
graft down in here.

And they put a plate and
six screws into the back.

And I just remember
having to sleep sitting

up in that neck collar
for about three months.

You'd get a couple
hours here and there.

And if I woke up, I'd just turn on the
TV and just kind of mindlessly watch

something and try not to fall
down the well of depression

that every injury has and
every athlete has encountered.

I had to calibrate my brain to the
aspect of psychological toll that takes.

When you're used to going, 120 with no
hint of putting your foot on the brakes to

you're in reverse, and
you're going in reverse fast.

That takes some
mental gymnastics.

I had always hoped one day
it'll be my choice to walk away.

And this wasn't my choice.

I think that's the hardest part.

Four days after I had
the surgery, I thought

it'd be a good idea to
go in and just step right.

I'm going to the gym.

And I got in there and
I sat down and I tried

to lift the weight and
it was seven pounds.

And my arms were
just shaking like that.

And I put the weight down.

I feel like crying is
what I felt like doing.

I got up and I
walked out of the gym.

You have this thought
and you can't help it.

Am I going to get another opportunity when
I get healthy to come back and do this?

Am I going to be healthy enough
to come back and do it at the level?

So yeah, your mind plays
horrible, horrible tricks on you.

You know, I talked to Michael Hayes
and he said, you know, worst case scenario,

if you can't come back,
you've lived your dream.

And I thought, well, I've lived it,
but I haven't fulfilled my final dream.

That's to win either the WWE or the
World Heavyweight Championship.

I had gone down to see him at his
place in Florida when he was recovering.

It was funny because he looked
relieved to sort of be on a break.

I think the first couple of
years were a whirlwind.

Maybe a blessing in disguise to sort of
take a deep breath and be back at home.

You're interrupting
my morning coffee.

Thank you very much.

This is my humble abode.

Where should we head to?

Books.

I read all the time.

That's pretty much one thing I do
on my own, which I wrote, by the way.

Apple mango tango.

Aha!

See that right there?

That right there is an
ass crack that is implanted

in my couch from when
I had my neck surgery.

I just sleep there,
sitting up, just like this.

So my ass crack is permanently
embedded in this spot.

I think it's the motivation.

It's setback, yes, but
I know where I can go

and I know what the
company feels about me.

So I'm going to work
harder to prove that they

were right in spite
of having this happen.

I thought, man, I've been off.

I haven't been back in Toronto, I
think it was two years at that point.

I'm coming back.

I'm the Intercontinental
Champion.

I've had spinal fusion surgery.

This has got to be a
hero's welcome, right?

Both Jericho and
Batista are on the outside.

I came out and they booed me.

He's going through the
mighty beds right now.

And it's ironic
here, this crowd.

I'm amazed at these
fans here in Toronto.

You could see it on Edge's face.

Like, why don't you love me?

I'm Edge.

You're my hometown audience.

Don't you love me?

What our vision is, you know,
Edge is this heroic character

and fighting through the
odds and yada, yada, yada.

They're not buying it, because it's
the same thing I was doing before I left.

They were buying it then,
but for whatever reason,

this break has caused
them to not buy it anymore.

Instead of asking,
why do you hate me?

Make them hate you more.

And turn it around to take all of the
things that you do, being a nice guy,

and just put a twist on it.

And just put a little
bit of an attitude on it.

And that will help the
audience confirm their belief.

You're an ass.

I don't like you.

I did not see that coming.

Oh, the spear!

My god, right in the sternum!

A big-time spear!

And Edge wins it!

Now they want
something different.

They're telling us.

So let's give them
something different.

When you're kind of pegged to be a future
superstar, you're going to maybe even get

some more opportunities
that others wouldn't get.

And I felt like maybe he thought
his chances were running out.

The following contest is the
Money in the Bank letter match!

The first individual to climb the ladder
and retrieve the briefcase will win a

contract for a world
heavyweight championship tag!

The Edge is going to win this!

It can be extremely difficult for a guy
to go from being a babyface to a heel.

And normally it is
a recipe for disaster.

But man, as a heel, I think
he is just so much better.

That then became this
character who was just

maniacally obsessed with
being the world champion.

Because that was the last thing that needed
to be done on my checklist of things.

And that's Adam sitting back
and going, right, what else?

Yeah, that.

Did that, cool.

Did that, did that, did that.

Gotta do that though.

I mean, this can't
end until that happens.

With that neck injury, it made me realize,
like, I'm going to have to make it happen

sooner than later.

Nobody goes anywhere.

This night is not over.

First of all, I'd like to congratulate John
Cena in retaining the WWE Championship.

There's one more match
happening here tonight.

This individual is cashing
in his money and the

bank privilege that he
earned at WrestleMania.

The WWE Championship match
will take place right here, right now.

John Cena defends against Edge!

I'd like to think because...

Adam is so focused on all things WWE that
that truly is the pinnacle achievement.

He's definitely proving himself.

With new performers, that's
a tough mountain to climb.

Everybody wants
to be the champion.

Edge has shocked the world!

This was indeed
a historical night!

Edge is the new WWE Champion!

They told me the plan.

You're going to have
this thing for three weeks.

Then you're going to
drop it back to John.

And then John's going to
wrestle Triple H at WrestleMania.

That one put a big
chip on my shoulder.

I found out after the fact that there was
a lot of very vocal, I wasn't ready for it.

Don't know if I'll
ever be ready for it.

It was Locker Room
where that was the feeling.

All of that was
ammunition for me.

There's always somebody in the
dressing room that's like, uh, him?

I don't get it.

But they don't appreciate
what he was doing.

I think from my perspective,
he got to win the championship.

And it's all about what is my perception
going forward and how can I take what's

happened and continue
a compelling narrative.

The ratings go up.

The hits on the website go up.

Okay, merchandise is selling.

It's a good thing.

We're going to go with this.

No, we're not.

That pissed me off.

So I got Mick.

Right.

Now we can show everybody.

Mick Foley from my career was absolutely
what Edge needed to finally kind of cement

where I, Adam,
thought Edge belonged.

He was a guy, and still is to this day,
a guy who likes to prove people wrong.

He hit it!

He hit it!

The spin!

There's only so much
a human body can take.

Come on!

Try to roll to the outside!

Oh, no!

He's down!

Oh, no!

There it is!

There's Warby!

One of the things I never really thought
about was how barbed wire would feel when

it's wrapped around a baseball bat
and it's hitting you in the stomach.

Those thoughts crossed my mind as they were
about to happen, like a nanosecond before.

Huh.

Ow.

Oh.

That sucks.

One in the back.

Ah, that really... Wow.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

That's barbed wire.

That doesn't do good things.

Your skin's not meant for that.

Oh, take a look at this!

The thumbtacks... I mean, the look
on my face pretty much sums it up.

It's kind of like being on the high diving
board and just back-flopping into a pool.

But, like, I'm talking one of the
high diving boards from the Olympics.

That kind of, like, smack,
where it might knock you out.

Like, take your breath away.

In the midst of this
violent theater of the

absurd, you're getting
a real, real shock.

You're getting real
emotion in the eyes there.

Oh, a surgery being
performed by the Dr. Mick!

We had an idea in our head.

I was borrowing from a couple of scenes
I had witnessed, but I just felt like doing

it on the grandest stage of
them all makes it our moment.

Oh, my God, here we go!

And I'm crawling over.

I roll him over.

I said, I love you, Mick.

Sneer for the table!

Cover!

Two, three!

Oh!

Oh!

The last thing that you think
someone would say in that instance.

And he said the same thing.

Mick, you did what
you wanted to do.

Thanks, Pat.

There's a smell of
forearm hair burning.

A little bit of skin as well.

Let me take a look at it now.

It's sealed.

No stitches.

As stupid as it sounds, you've survived
something like that together, and you

create this story together,
and that feels really, really good.

You feel horrible,
but you feel elated.

And after that, I started
to see respect in the ring.

He is the Rated-R Superstar
and the WWE Champion!

Man, is he a really great heel.

He's just got that
slime, and he enjoys it.

It's funny, because the people, the
people that are really genuinely true,

nice guys, oftentimes
are better at being a

heel and being that
nasty, despicable character.

What a cheap shot by Edge!

I thought there could be money
to be made if you're that guy.

Undertaker has sent
Edge straight to hell!

A lot of those
characters are big.

Large, large men.

Undertaker, John
Cena, Batista, Kane.

Big show.

A lot of their character involves
throwing, throwing that bad guy around.

Look out!

How's that bad guy?

Look at the strength!

The power!

I want you all to know that I'll be a
champion that you can be proud of.

A champion that will take
on any and all comers.

Batista Bob!

Oh my God!

Bodies and ladders are broken!

I didn't fully grasp
how bad I felt.

I just thought it was, well, yeah, I got
a double fusion in my neck, of course.

That's how I feel.

I was one of the few
people that knew how

much pain he was in,
what he was dealing with.

He was trying to keep it as quiet
as he could until after WrestleMania.

Obviously, it wasn't
a good situation.

Finally, in the lead up to WrestleMania
27, I got hit in the back with a chair.

Live.

Well, that's gonna teach Edge!

Man, he's gonna be going into WrestleMania
a little bit more banged up than I thought.

And I think this was the first
time that cameras caught the

extent of what my body did
when stuff like this would happen.

Alberto was grabbing
me by the shirt and just

flailing me around, and
I couldn't do anything.

Like, I was just,
like, a limp noodle.

The trainers came running
out once we were dark, once the

show went off the air, and
they were like, what's going on?

I'm like, no, no, no, I'm good.

I'm good.

You know, what?

What exactly is going on?

I just lost my arms for a bit.

That's all.

Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to WrestleMania!

I do a bunch of strength tests the day
of WrestleMania, passing everything.

We make the decision, let's
get through WrestleMania.

Spear!

Spear!

After WrestleMania, they
wanted me to go get the MRIs.

I got the MRIs.

I drove up to Charlotte,
did a spear on this guy.

Spear on the outside!

Kind of lost my arms again.

He injured the disc above
the level of his previous fusion.

It was literally impinging
on the spinal cord

and also the nerves
to his arms at the time.

Oh, my God!

There's no way he could have continued
to wrestle with the injury that he had.

The risks would have
simply been unjustifiable.

So, I then get a call, like
two days later, from Vince.

Those calls are pretty rare.

He said, uh, you know, this is the
toughest call I've ever had to make,

but, uh, you gotta retire.

Huh.

I think I might have been wrong.

I might have been the
first person that he called.

He was choked up, and I think even though
he knew he was closer to the end than he

was to the start, not
being able to close the

book on his own terms
was hard to swallow.

It was a big shock, um,
because, I mean, he was rolling.

He had no other choice
than to walk away if

he wanted to be
healthy, and it was tough.

It was tough to watch.

I knew I was getting
closer to the end.

I didn't know that
was my last match.

Like, that can't
be my last match.

I didn't know.

I would have
treated it differently.

I would have come
into it differently.

I would have
approached it differently.

I don't know how,
but I would have.

Rumors have been swirling all day
long about what Edge is about to tell us.

I hope it's not true.

I went to RAW, and I basically
just went out and talked.

As Adam.

Like, there was no Edge.

Last little while, I've
been in a lot of pain.

It was Adam ending what he'd
always wanted to do, and that's it.

The WWE wanted me to go get
more tests, and thankfully I did,

um, because the MRI showed
that, uh, that I have to retire.

I mean, trust me,
it's not my choice.

The doctors have told
me that I got no choice.

I'm gonna miss all of this.

All of it.

No matter what, I came
out here, and I tried to

give you guys as much
as I had every single night.

And in turn, you guys
gave it right back to me.

Thank you, guys.

It was just, like,
shocking to me.

I felt bad for him,
and I know he felt like

a good part of his life
was being ripped off.

I cried.

I cried because I felt for Adam
Copeland, the human being.

It's sad when a talent has to lose what
they love and what they have a passion for

and what they've dreamt
of doing their whole

life, and it's taken away
from you in an instant.

There's gonna be some uneasiness in
his soul that is never going to go away.

That's what we live with if we
don't have closure on our careers.

I have to figure out how to wrap my mind
around this because this is all I know.

This is what I've done
with my entire adult life.

This is all I've wanted
to do since I was a kid.

If I don't figure this
out, emotionally, this is...

this could be bad.

This could cause a wormhole of I don't
know what, but I need to put on my big-boy

pants and just go,
right, what is life now?

Here we go.

There you go.

Being a dad now, having not necessarily
a template to draw ideas from on how to do

this dad thing, I really just
came to my own conclusions,

is that all you gotta do is love
your kids and support them.

Is there any ice cream in
there, or is it just candy?

I put ice cream in there.

It sounds delicious with gummy
frogs and marshmallows and chocolate.

It tastes delicious.

Beth and I were on the roster at the
same time, but very just, hey, Beth.

And, like, never called me Adam.

It was always Edger.

Hey, Edger.

I could totally have him wrapped
around my little pinky finger, too.

And I retired.

And then we started talking.

And talking and
talking and talking.

And it just kind of
blossomed from there.

And we started dating here.

We started dating seriously.

And then started talking about the idea,
okay, well, we're gonna have kids, right?

That's what?

What?

Chicken butt.

Thank you.

Being a dad is easily,
hands down, no competition

whatsoever, the best thing
I've ever done with my life.

I tell him this a lot, but I said, Adam,
you've become the dad that you

always deserved growing
up, that will get on the floor

with the kids and be silly
and let them paint his toenails.

He's just all in on being a dad.

It was a life away from home.

It was a life away
from wrestling.

It really was.

We didn't watch.

We moved away from it.

And into what
everyday life was now.

But if wrestling's
not on the table, I still

need to do something
creative, whatever that is.

You had no business here.

This is Haven.

Making things
disappear is my business.

I'm gonna go act on a TV show.

I don't really know how to do that,
but, I mean, I guess I'll figure it out.

Action!

I had four scenes
in the first episode.

That I was in.

And halfway through the
second scene, they pulled

me aside and said, can
you do more episodes?

I mean, I got nothing
else to do now.

Sounds good.

So that first episode, it
turned into four that season.

Turned into 41 all told.

And I realized, in that time,
how much I loved acting.

After all, I am a Viking.

None of this is
possible without Beth.

She has been my support.

She has been my everything.

The mother of my children,
my partner, my best friend.

She almost took on, and I think on
purpose, what my mom would have done.

I think that was probably
part of a pact that they made.

And I don't know if they
officially did, but I know they did.

We really wanted his mom, Judy,
to be here with us in Asheville.

And we were working on her
immigration, her immigration papers.

And right around that time,
she was diagnosed with cancer.

It was a really hectic time, just because
I had already signed on to do Vikings.

I found myself doing this triangle of
travel for about two and a half years,

where it would be Asheville, dad,
husband, try and be all of those things.

Got to get up to Toronto, check
on my mom, see how she is.

I got to go back to Dublin.

Got some scenes coming up, then
back to Asheville, then Toronto, Dublin,

then maybe back to Toronto.

And it was pretty exhausting.

And the emotional aspect of
watching my mom go through,

you know, chemo and
just battle through this thing.

Yeah, I was with her
the last five months.

It was gut-wrenching.

I just said to Adam, I texted him, I
said, you better get back home soon.

I don't think this is good.

I think that, you
know, I think she finally

felt like she could rest
because I had Beth.

And she knew, like, I had a
partner that truly has my back.

Losing his mom, like, that
tore that constant in his life.

It really hit him hard.

And I don't know how much he
dealt with that grief for a long time.

The weird thing about depression,
I think, is sometimes you don't

necessarily know you are because it
becomes just mundane and you just...

I don't know.

It's a weird funk.

Like, you're just, you know,
kind of stuck in the mud, right?

I don't know if I really fully grasped
that I was until I pulled myself out of it.

And that I can
attribute to the girls.

Howdy, girls.

And realizing, like,
whoa, hold on a second.

I got to snap out of it.

You have to show his muscles.

Because there's a camera here.

They became kind of the
starting point for everything.

I don't think it's the wrestling
that makes him happy.

I think it's the challenge.

Whatever the toughest route is,
whatever the road least traveled is,

that's what makes
him feel alive.

I remember once or
twice it was ever said, like,

I wonder, I wonder if I
could have one more match.

And I would shut
that down real quick.

When that man comes up with
an idea, there ain't no stopping him.

If he wants something,
he manifests it.

How's it going?

I'm Sheamus, aka The Celtic Warrior,
here with the Rated-R Superstar Edge.

We are going in the mountains,
fella, and we are not coming back.

That was a good one.

They came flying up, and my
brother-in-law, Eric, was behind me with

the GoPro, and he's like,
whoa, dude, are you okay?

I was like, yeah, actually.

Sounds all right.

That's the important thing.

Yeah, that was my
first, like, good one.

People see that and
go, why can't he wrestle?

I feel great.

Like, I feel alive.

I feel like that's all that was
running through my head.

Oh,.

Oh, yeah.

There we go.

I feel like I was a big
roadblock for the return.

I retired from
wrestling in 2012.

It was six or seven days
later, Adam had neck surgery.

We don't talk about it a
lot anymore, but he was

having very bad symptoms
at the time of his retirement.

He was dropping things.

He had atrophy.

He had nerve damage.

And so what I was told when he had
that neck surgery was like, if he gets

rear-ended, you know, in a car
accident or something, like, he could die.

She'll tell me, you know, we would
be out for two hours running errands,

and then you'd have to go get flat
because your head would just be pounding.

And I've washed that out of
the memory banks a little bit.

I said, listen, for this to
happen, there's two things.

I got to hear it from the
best in the world that it's okay,

because for a long time, I've
been told this will end badly.

And number two is I got
to see it with my own eyes.

I got to see this, and I got
to make sure you're okay.

Is that good?

Is that enough?

How many lines can you do that?

Ha, kid!

Ha!

Once he took that first bump, and I
looked down at him, and he looked up at me,

and we were just like,
is everything okay?

And, like, I was just, like, holding my
breath, and he's like, I think I'm okay.

So went up, met
with the doctors.

We had a long, detailed discussion, and we
thought that, yes, there was minimal risk.

There's risk any time you
do these kinds of things.

But we ended up
feeling that it was safe.

I still can't fully explain it.

Just worked really hard, you
know, to strengthen everything.

You know, there's still
parameters, don't get me wrong.

I'm not going to try and
land on my head, but

that's pretty much
everybody in the world.

Got that final clearance,
and then it really became real.

Welcome to the
33rd Royal Rumble!

If someone took away the thing
that, at that point in your life, you loved

most, and after that, you landed on
your feet, you started a beautiful family,

you did all of these things, but someone
dangles that carrot of doing it again and

ending it the way you want to, how
many people are going to say no?

When I found out he was going to come
back, I thought it was the most amazing,

coolest thing that I've seen happen
in this business, maybe of all time.

I was excited for him because he was going
to have an opportunity to go out the way

that he wanted to go out and
finish what he started, really.

It's about to blow up.

Yeah.

Let's just cut to
the chase, shall we?

Yeah.

He looked amazing, didn't he?

I think that's when it really became real
for Beth, for the company, for everyone to

really start, oh, this thing is, not only
can it happen, it's now going to happen.

And in 10 seconds,
entry number 21.

Three, two, one.

Who's it going to be?

You think you know me?

Yeah!

Oh, my God!

Rated-R superstar!

People are always
looking for those surprises.

I dare say Edge was a huge surprise
and an unbelievable live response.

It's been nine long years.

Edge with a spear!

Now, this is a Royal
Rumble moment.

Ooh!

A spear fest at the Rumble!

Yeah, it's still surreal,
you know, and it really

kind of felt like a dream
sequence out there.

It felt really good to hear them
react the way I thought they were.

That's, that's... Oh, you
can't... Oh, you can't beat that.

I know there's not many of these left
for me, so I have to truly soak it all in.

The Rated-R superstar!

Edge dumps her!

Edge wins!

Edge wins!

Edge going to WrestleMania!

If you wrote this as a script for
Hollywood, they'd say it's impossible.

It can never happen,
it's not realistic.

Yet here we are.

Adam's comeback
has been special.

First of all, it was never
supposed to happen, so

anytime you hear something
like that, that's excellent.

Second of all, it's the
best he's ever looked.

I've been waiting for
the moment for someone

to step up to face
me at WrestleMania.

The ultimate
opportunist strikes again!

The Rated-R superstar
battering the Phenomenal Rumble!

Wow!

Spear in mid-air!

What makes him a legend
is the fact that it's in his blood.

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

He lived his whole life
wanting to be a wrestler.

And he left a mark that you
can't erase on this business.

The Rated-R superstar!

Edge fears no man.

You think you know me?

Let us make moves!

Oh, my God!

And for the 25th time!

Look out!

There's a few wrestlers that have had
the journey that Adam Copeland has had.

You think you know me?

To have it gone
for nine years...

I mean, nine years is long enough
that you think this thing has sailed.

That ship is gone.

And it's not even
on the horizon.

Edge is out of it!

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

So I...

I had to come to
terms with that.

Bodies and ladders are broken!

And now suddenly...
Wait, hold on a second.

This is doable.

And I got it back now.

Even if it's for this limited
time frame, I'm going

to make sure that I soak
in every single part of it.

So in a strange way, I'm
almost thankful for the nine years.

I love you.

Because in that nine years,
Beth and I become a couple.

We have kids.

The extra special thing, he's
a great husband, a great dad.

He's got a lot more
things to balance.

So I respect the hell out
of him for what he's done.

It's made me appreciate
all of this so much more.

And not look past it and
really understand that you

have to live in every single
moment as it's happening.

He's not a wrestler that
stands out for a particular

time or the end of his
career where he was great.

He's a guy that was great
throughout his whole career.

I'll consider Edge one
of the all-time greats.

He's a legend.

He's the guy.

He's quietly carved out one of the greatest
careers in the history of the sport.

From the get-go, Edge had
something and you saw it.

I'm just proud of the
man he's become.

I'll be able to know
when the end is.

And be able to
walk away from it.

And know that I'm
walking away from it.

That's going to be huge.

This time it's going
to be my choice.