The Ultimate Opportunist was a nom de guerre given to the Edge character by the WWE office, and one that was borne out by his conniving, ruthless ways and the inventive imagination the man brought to bear in screwing people over to get what he wanted. This wasnt just kayfabe though lets not forget, before Edge became Rated R, Adam Copeland was mired in the upper midcard friendzone, constantly flirting with the main event but never able to seal the deal. Hed been a babyface for three years following his 2001 split with Christian, and was a stalwart of the roster, capable of improving any card and propping up any opponent but even after a November 2004 heel turn, that glass ceiling remained unbroken. Then the world discovered that hed been sleeping with his mates girlfriend, and Copeland finally found that little bit extra hed needed to go over the top. Edge and Lita were over like clover, hated by the hardcore fans, and lost no time in stoking that real life supernova heat for all they were worth, working the crowd into a lather. As the wronged party, Matt Hardy failed to capitalise on the shoot antagonism to make himself a main event babyface: it was homewrecker Copeland who would profit the most. In the ring, Edge was the man who made the Money In The Bank briefcase mean what it does today, and the man who drew the blueprint for the opportunistic cash-in that others like Dolph Ziggler, CM Punk and Seth Rollins have followed ever since. Rollins, in particular, owes his current success to slavishly following Edges example in how to be a world-class superheel. Edge would viciously and unpredictably exploit any situation to his advantage. He headed up the La Familia stable (despite not actually being a Guerrero, or even Latino), and had a heel authority figure in his pocket through 2007 to 2009 through sheer manipulative genius. Its the man behind Edge that truly deserves the title magnificent bast*rd, though. Regardless of how much of a nice guy Copeland is in real life, and regardless of the tragic circumstances of his forced retirement, this is a man whose last match was a successful World title defense at Wrestlemania against pro wrestling royaltybecause of course he did. Hes the Ultimate Opportunist.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
