Adam Copeland's WWE Debut Was A Nightmare

You only get one chance to make a good first impression. If you mess that chance up, no matter how much you may improve, some will always look back on the first time they saw you and think "you're still that same person that I wasn't too impressed by the first time I met you," it's just a fact of life.

In wrestling, a first impression can come in the form of a fan watching wrestling for the first time, immediately being drawn to a certain performer or performers, while also being put off by others for a variety of reasons. A first impression in wrestling can also come in the form of a wrestler making their big debut, a match that has a lot of pressure on the wrestler as they aren't just trying to impress the fans in attendance or at home, they're trying to get the approval of their colleagues, and more importantly their bosses.

Back in 1998, WWE fans got their first chance to see Adam Copeland, who would of course become better known as Edge, in action. The future WWE Hall of Famer had already made his in-ring debut for WWE by the summer of 1998, performing as an enhancement talent in various dark matches under his real name, and his original ring name of Sexton Hardcastle. After WWE thought that he had learned the ropes enough for him to be featured on television, vignettes started airing, promoting the arrival of Edge, a tortured soul who only trusted one person, that being himself, with not much being known about him other than he was a mysterious individual.

Edge made his televised debut on the June 22, 1998 edition of "WWE Raw Is War" against Jose Estrada Jr., but it's safe to say it didn't go according to plan.

Given that it was the Attitude Era by the summer of 1998, it wasn't uncommon for matches on WWE TV to last no more than a couple of minutes. If anything, the wrestling during the Attitude Era took a backseat to all of the chaos and carnage that surrounded the company's characters at that time. However, Edge wanted to make sure that people knew he could go in the ring.

After a hot start from Estrada, Edge hit a spear, his first one on TV that didn't end up being his finishing move at the time, a dropkick, and then a somersault senton to the outside. Despite everything looking good from a fans perspective, Edge had genuinely injured Estrada with the senton, landing on the top of his head, causing him to be knocked out, and forcing referee Tim White to rule the match in favor of Edge by count out.

In a 2019 interview with Inside The Ropes, Edge said that he felt like "a bag of prison ass" afterwards as he felt like he had not only blown his big moment, but that he also hurt someone for real. There was a long-standing rumor that Estrada had broken his neck during the match, but that wasn't true as Edge confirmed that Estrada simply had a lot of pinched nerves in his neck following their bout, and Estrada was back wrestling on TV less than a month later.

Estrada would actually continue wrestling until 2007 before retiring, but he did come out of retirement for one night only in 2024 to reunite with Los Boricuas at an event in Puerto Rico. As for Edge, he would also be forced to retire in 2011, but would return in 2020, and after a three year run that saw him win another Royal Rumble and headline WrestleMania 37, he joined All Elite Wrestling to feud with his long-time friend/partner Christian Cage.