Ashley Fichtelberg
“I gotta be me. Like me, hate me, I am just being me.” These are the words that sit underneath the black and white photo of a baby. The child rests in white shorts and a white lined shirt in the grass. A tall tree stands behind him, with a car parked beside it. The child seems to be looking at the camera lense mysteriously as his eyes are widened. At the time the photo was taken no one knew who this little boy would become. The photo now rests on one of the many pages in his autobiography. The book is entitled Adam Copeland On Edge and takes readers on the journey of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler Edge as he examines his life and career.
Copeland grew up in Orangeville, Ontario in Canada. His mother, Judy Copeland, left home at seventeen, she eventually got married and pregnant. Before the birth of her child her husband left her. Copeland talks about how he has never met his father nor has he seen his picture. However, he explains that his father did teach him something.
“If anything, it taught me what not to do when I become a father.”
Copeland’s mother worked two jobs to ensure they could keep their small apartment and have food on the table as well. She did not have a car so walking everywhere became second nature to Copeland.
Throughout the book Copeland explains his struggles with money, the terrible loss of his uncle and friend, Gary, how he learned to face the torture of bullies and how wrestling entered his life.
Copeland read the Toronto Star’s wrestling column. One day they wrote about how Sully’s Gym was offering free wrestling training to whoever can send in the best essay detailing why they want to be a professional wrestler. He won the contest and his journey into the WWE began.
It would not come easily though. He had to survive training and what he referred to as “winter death tours” in Japan and Canada.
The book explains in detail the matches and feuds he went through in the WWE. Copeland’s honesty is refreshing. If he was not proud of how he preformed in a match he would say so.
“I remember lying in the ring afterward, my eye swollen shut from the thick gash under it, thinking we let ourselves down,” he wrote about one of his matches with wrestler Christian (Jayson Reso).
Copeland relives his unforgettable ladder matches that he has had as well as his various TLC matches (Tables, Ladders and Chairs). He recaptures the moment he won the tag team titles and his split with tag team partner, Christian, his real life best friend.
What is so different about this book is the way in which Copeland writes. He writes as if he is talking to the reader. The way he talks in real life, the way in speaks on camera is the way he writes his book.
When he wrote about his hair vs. hair match, where the loser would be shaved bald he said, “I was going to be bald! My head is shaped roughly the same way as the Great Gazoo’s green helmeted head from the Flintstone’s. It would not be a pretty sight.”
Copeland retells his story; only this time he invites his readers to join him along the way. He allows the reader to be there when he wins his first Intercontinental title, when he had his first major singles feud and when he suffered a career threatening injury by breaking his neck.
After Copeland’s neck surgery he was forced on the sidelines for what would be a grueling year of rehabilitation. Copeland’s book concludes when he is able to make his return into the WWE. When remembering that night he wrote, “When the sun finally sets on my career it will be tough, but I will fondly remember this night.”
Adam Copeland On Edge is more then just a book it is a journey, in which readers can experience all the ups, all the downs, the highs and the lows of Adam Copeland’s life. Readers will grasp that besides being a wrestling superstar Copeland is a normal person that goes through normal problems. Reading this book is like becoming his childhood friend during his hardships and sitting front row and center to every single one of his matches. It brings you to every moment along side Adam Copeland and it is available at bookstores and Amazon for $26.