Edge (Adam Copeland) and Christian (William Jason Reso) go way back. The two Canadian wrestlers grew up together and went to the same school but more importantly, they shared a mutual dream and that was to become professional wrestlers.
As soon as they were done with their educational pursuits, Edge and Christian started attending a wrestling school run by Ron Hutchison. Fast forward a few years later and Edge was the first one who struck gold when he received a try-out match offer from WWE.
Christian went along with his tag-team partner and the two faced each other in a one-on-one match that Edge ended up winning. Copeland was offered a developmental contract and soon after, he was promoted to a full-time talent.
Edge And Christian Were Long-Time Friends
Edge remained in contact with his childhood friend but it took a while for Christian to end up in the company.
Edge waited until he was sufficiently established himself and then got a good word in for his best friend and in 1998, Reso ended up in the company.
Alongside his tag-team partner, Edge, Christian became a mainstay in the tag-team division during the Attitude Era. The two best friends had a massive part to play in the establishment of the division and as a team, Edge and Christian have held the tag-team titles a total of seven times. That being said, their relationship has fluctuated from time to time. They started as brothers and ended up as just tag-team partners and long-time friends. What happened? Lazy booking.
By the time Reso made it to the WWE, Edge was locked in a program with Gangrel and the company introduced Christian as his brother as that would instantly get him over, purely out of association with Edge as Copeland was a decently popular performer. Christian persuaded Edge to “come home” and his “brother” accepted the offer, joining Christian and Gangrel in the Brood stable.
The vampiric faction lasted for a short time and even merged with the Ministry of Darkness but in the end, Gangrel turned on Edge and demanded that Christian, his own brother, do the very same but Christian refused and the tag-team of E&C was born. At this point, they were brothers and the commentators reminded us each time they appeared on-screen.
For the next few years, Copeland and Reso mostly remained a tag team and they did quite well for themselves, getting over with the fans as they were extremely talented, charismatic, and undoubtedly hilarious. However, after the Attitude Era came to a close, WWE began pushing Edge as one of the next big stars, and the dynamic shifted.
During the mid-2000s, the brotherly relationship was deemphasized by the mouthpieces of the company but more importantly, Edge and Christian went their separate ways after a big feud between the two. In 2001, the team finally imploded as Christian grew jealous of Edge after he had won the 2001 King of the Ring tournament.
Edge made a name for himself as a top heel but Christian went on another route and in 2005, he left WWE in favor of TNA. Reso eventually returned to WWE in 2009 and perhaps this was a punishment for going to TNA but WWE retconned his relationship with his former brother and he was downgraded to being Edge’s childhood friend. During the 2010 WWE Draft, Edge was traded to RAW and Christian gave quite the emotional speech, detailing how close they were and what they shared together. Christian detailed their first meeting during the 6th grade and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
Wait, what?
The Retcon Took Place In 2010
The retcon was official. E&C were simply childhood friends. Soon after the draft, Edge and Christian feuded for a short while and the commentators constantly referred to them as best friends turned rivals.
Interestingly, Edge and Christian actually started their careers as kayfabe brothers. Prior to their debut in WWE, Copeland, and Reso wrestled on the independent circuit and they were known as the Suicide Blondes. WWE ran with this dynamic as it served a purpose to instantly get the debuting Christian over but once the two went their separate ways, the company retconned them to mere childhood friends, altering a good chunk of its own history, especially in regards to the tag-team division. The Hardy Boyz versus E&C felt special for a reason.
Edge was the more successful wrestler out of the two and by a country mile as Christian, despite possessing all the talent in the world, just could not maintain a presence in the main-event scene.
Vince McMahon’s bizarre dislike of Christian is no secret and chances are, the retcon was a punishment for Christian as he went over to TNA. Or maybe the team creative forgot that the two were brothers and suddenly remembered that they ignored a good chunk of their own lore.
They even erased the existence of Grandma Edna Christian! Monsters.