Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, also known as Cage and Cope, are a Canadian professional wrestling tag team. They are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). They are best known for their time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), as Edge & Christian (E&C) (Edge being Copeland's WWE ring name, and the other being Cage's), where they won the WWF Tag Team Championship on seven occasions.
Initially, the two were portrayed as on-screen brothers, but this aspect was de-emphasized in the mid-2000s, and in 2010, the team was officially retconned as legitimate childhood friends. The team disbanded in 2001 but reunited briefly under the SmackDown brand in 2011. Edge, however, announced his retirement from professional wrestling due to neck injury on the April 11 episode of Monday Night Raw, which would ultimately end their final run in WWE together. Edge made his in-ring return in 2020, followed by Christian in 2021, as the two were both entrants in the 2021 Royal Rumble. Shortly after, Christian left WWE for AEW using the ring name Christian Cage, and Edge would then join AEW in 2023 under his real name Adam Copeland, also truncated as Cope. The duo reunited in AEW in August 2025.
In addition to their seven reigns as WWF Tag Team Champions, they each won singles titles during their run as a tag team. Edge and Christian are also noteworthy for their participation in the first three Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches (TLC matches), and the use of steel folding chairs as weapons. They developed a move called the "con-chair-to", a play on words of "concerto" where both Edge and Christian each hit a wrestler simultaneously with a chair, often in the head, or they lay a motionless wrestler's head on a chair, and then hit them in the head with another chair. They are considered one of the major teams that revived tag team wrestling during the Attitude Era.Ranking the Best Tag Teams and Stables of WWE's Attitude Era In 2012, WWE named them the greatest tag team in WWE history."Edge & Christian". WWE. Retrieved May 15, 2012. The team's popularity propelled Edge & Christian to main event success, with both men becoming multiple-time singles world champions in their own right.
History Early years (1995–1998) Adam Copeland and Jason Reso formed a tag team in the Canadian independent circuit after completing their training with Ron Hutchison and Sweet Daddy Siki at Hutchinson's "Sully's Gym". The pair primarily used the ring names of Sexton Hardcastle & Christian Cage, respectively. Their tag team wrestled under several team names, such as "High Impact", "Suicide Blondes", "Revolution X", "Hard Impact" and "Canadian Rockers". They were part of a faction dubbed "Thug LiFe" in 1997. The stable consisted of Cage, Hardcastle, Joe E. Legend, Rhino Richards, Bloody Bill Skullion, Big Daddy Adams, and Martin Kane. In 1998, Sexton and Cage 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.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1998–2001; 2009–2011)
The Brood and Terri Invitational Tournament (1998–2000) On the June 22, 1998 episode of Raw is War, Copeland debuted as Edge 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. Eventually, he started a feud with Gangrel. At In Your House: Breakdown on September 27, during a match pitting Edge against Owen Hart, Reso, cited as an unknown person looking strikingly similar to Edge, came out to the ring distracting him long enough to allow Hart to get the win. It was later revealed that Reso's character was Christian, Edge's storyline brother, and that he was aligned with Gangrel as his vampire follower. After some confrontations between the two gothic brothers, Edge was eventually convinced to "come home" with Christian and Gangrel, and the three of them formed a stable known as "The Brood".
At In Your House: Rock Bottom on December 13, the Brood defeated The J.O.B. Squad (Al Snow, Bob Holly, & Scorpio). The Brood then briefly joined The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness faction, but left after Christian was flogged and almost sacrificed for revealing Stephanie McMahon's whereabouts to Ken Shamrock. Following a short feud with the Ministry in the immediate aftermath, Gangrel turned on Edge and demanded that Christian do the same. He refused and both Christian and Edge broke away from 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 Hardy & Jeff Hardy), who also briefly formed a new Brood with Gangrel before turning on him as well. 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 & 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 on October 17 to determine which team would earn Terri's services. 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 tournament after a competitive bout that resulted in both teams receiving a standing ovation from the audience after the match, as well as the next night on Raw Is War. On that next night, the four men shook hands in a show of respect, then all turned against Gangrel by attacking him when he came out to boast about spending the night with Terri, establishing them all as heroic figures and removing Gangrel from the equation entirely.
The storyline then focused around the "mutual respect" between Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boyz, along with both teams' pursuit of the WWF Tag Team Championship. The two teams were involved in several matches together, such as at Survivor Series on November 14 and No Way Out on February 27, 2000. However, shortly after Terri betrayed the Hardyz at No Way Out, the truce between the two teams imploded and they began fighting each other once more. Terri then attempted to sow discord between Edge & Christian in a storyline that was originally intended to see the two split off into singles wrestlers with Terri managing Christian, but plans was quickly changed to keep the tag team together and have them reject Terri's plans.
Comedic antics and championship pursuits (2000)
Edge & Christian continued their "mutual respect" storyline with the Hardy Boyz, with the respect between the two teams steadily deteriorating into a more aggressive rivalry leading up to WrestleMania 2000 on April 2. At WrestleMania, Edge & Christian defeated the defending champions The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) and the Hardy Boyz in a Triangle ladder match to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship. Immediately thereafter, Edge & Christian began redefining themselves as a villainous duo of comedic, arrogant, surfer-styled teen idols. No longer entering the arena through the crowd, the two engaged in various antics, including making fun of their opponents and/or the city they were performing in, 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 pose 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 the King of the Ring event in Boston) in order to generate a negative reaction from the crowd.
At Backlash on April 30, the duo successfully retained their titles against D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg). They then began a feud with Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty, Grand Master Sexay, and Rikishi). On the May 29, 2000 edition of Raw Is War, they dropped the titles to Scotty & Sexay. At the King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 25, 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.
Matching the Dudleyz' penchant for driving enemies through tables and the Hardyz' proficiency in diving attacks using ladders, Edge & Christian became known for using the "con-chair-to", an attack consisting of simultaneous steel chair shots on both sides of a victim's head. At SummerSlam on August 27, they defended their titles successfully against the Dudleyz and Hardyz in the first-ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match (TLC match), a specialized ladder match themed around the signature weapons of all three teams. Edge & 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, along with a special "37-second pose" where the fake Hardyz and Dudleyz bowed to Edge & Christian, who stood on the table.
Los Conquistadores (2000) After Edge & Christian lost the tag team championship to the Hardy Boyz at Unforgiven on September 24 in a Steel Cage match, they were granted a rematch the very next night on Raw Is War in a ladder match, which they lost. According to the pre-match stipulation, due to the loss, they could never again challenge for the tag team championship as long as the Hardy Boyz held them. Thus, as a loophole, they began competing under the masks of Los Conquistadores. On the October 16 edition of Raw Is War, they defeated the Dudley Boyz, and on the October 19 edition of SmackDown!, they won a tag team battle royal to earn themselves a tag team title shot. They went on to defeat the Hardy Boyz at No Mercy on October 22 to once again become the tag team champions.
Soon after, another team began competing as Los Conquistadores as well, and they soon challenged Edge & Christian for their tag team championship on the October 23 episode of Raw Is War. "Los Conquistadores" defeated Edge & Christian before ripping off their masks and revealing themselves as the Hardy Boyz, therefore the Hardyz were champions once again.
Team RECK (2000–2001) During the course of 2000, Edge & Christian began to periodically team with Kurt Angle, forming "Team ECK", a group that was later joined by Rhyno when he came in from Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in early 2001, christening the foursome as "Team RECK".
At Armageddon on December 10, Edge & Christian competed in a Four Corners match which included the then-current champions, Right To Censor (The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan), the Dudley Boyz and the makeshift team of Road Dogg and K-Kwik. Edge & Christian went on to win the match and their fourth WWF Tag Team Championship. A week later, they lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Rock and The Undertaker on the December 18 episode of Raw, but eventually regained them on the December 21 episode of SmackDown!.