10 Wrestlers You Didn't Realise Wrestled For WWE In 1996

2. Edge

Okay, not Edge, but Sexton Hardcastle.

The future WWE Hall of Fame icon was but a young pup in 1996, a long-haired newbie hoping to capitalise on his boyband good looks and height to make a career in the world of professional wrestling. If that meant losing to anyone and everyone for a few years, then so be it. The young Adam Copeland’s career began in 1992, and by 1996 he was on WWE’s radar.

Bob Holly was scheduled to squash some chump at a house show in Hamilton (Ontario), a chump that subsequently had to pull out for some reason. ‘Being squashed by Bob Holly’ sounds legitimate enough. Copeland filled in at the last minute, and the mighty Sexton Hardcastle put up a decent fight against ol’ Spark Plugg before succumbing to the inevitable.

Copeland also had a couple of WCW TV appearances under his belt for the year, performing as Damon Striker in losing efforts against Meng and The Taskmaster. It was WWE who followed up with him, wiping off his college debt and allowing him to dip his toes into the shark-infested waters of Vince McMahon’s wrestling promotion.

A developmental contract came in 1997, and the rest is history.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.