The Edge: From Orangville kid to WWE champ
By Malcolm Johnston

Toronto’s testosterone levels are set to spike tomorrow when WWE Smackdown comes to town. We caught up with The Edge, the current WWE heavyweight champion, who opened up to us about making it big, the Edgucator (his signature move) and his Mount Everest aspirations.

How did a boy from Orangeville become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion?

I won a contest by the Toronto Star. You had to write an essay about why you wanted to be a wrestler, and the winner would get free training. So I thought, “OK, this is my shot.” So I wrote this essay and the manager said, “Come on down so we can take a look at you.” So I went down the next week, no insurance on my car, made it down there. They called me and said, “OK, you’re the guy, we’re going to train you for free.” Coming from a single-parent household, I would not have been able to afford the $3,000 at 17 years old to start. I would have eventually done it somehow, but that sped up the process massively.

What was your argument in your essay?

I basically said I’m willing to starve to make it. It didn’t expect it to be all limousines and things like that. I assumed it was going to be pretty lean for a long time, and maybe for the entire career. But I just wanted to do it.

And was it pretty lean?

It was pretty lean for the first five years or so. A good payday was $75 a night, but you’d have to usually drive 20 hours to get to it, so you’d spend more than that in gas. I remember doing shows in little pubs and taverns in Toronto where I’d pay for my wrestling licence, which was $75, and then get paid $40. You did it to cut your teeth and get some form of experience and just get your name out there.

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The Score recently caught up with Edge when he was in Toronto for the Conn Smythe Celebrity Dinner. In the video he is asked who his pick is to win the Superbowl and it is confirmed that he does not have a Twitter!

Edge gears up for ‘Mania
The Canadian grappler was born Adam Copeland, and he’s been nicknamed “The Rated-R Superstar,” “The Ultimate Opportunist” and “The Master Manipulator.”

At Wrestlemania XXVI in Glendale, Ariz., this Sunday, the 36-year-old wrestler hopes to add “World Heavyweight Champion” to the list.

Edge, who recently returned from an injury to his Achilles tendon, is facing his former tag team partner Chris Jericho in a battle for the top title.

amNewYork spoke with Edge about the event, the biggest night in pro wrestling, which airs live on pay-per-view on Sunday at 7 p.m.

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