Five months after announcing his initial retirement from professional wrestling, Adam “Edge” Copeland made a return to WWE television on a special edition of “WWE SmackDown” in his hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The episode, known as Edge Appreciation Night, celebrated Copeland’s career with a video package and an in-ring tribute alongside former colleagues. In a recent interview on “Insight With Chris Van Vliet,” Copeland shared that this September 2011 event also marked his first official date with his future wife, Beth Phoenix (real name Elizabeth Kocianski).
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“[Our first date] was Edge Appreciation Night in Toronto. It felt like a ‘This is your Life’ moment. I was a bit embarrassed during the celebration, but earlier that day, [Beth and I] had a meaningful conversation. We had spoken before, but that day we had a really nice chat while sitting ringside. As we talked, I realized how many things we had in common. She had trained in Toronto with Ron Hutchison and wrestled in the same dive bars in Parkdale that I had wrestled in. I had no idea about this connection. She did it seven years after me, with a seven year age gap between us. We connected over our shared experiences, and then I reached out to [Natalya] to learn more about Beth. That was the beginning of our relationship,” Copeland shared.
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Two years after their conversation ringside, Copeland and Phoenix welcomed their first daughter, Lyric. Subsequently, the couple expanded their family with the birth of their second daughter, Ruby, in May 2016. Five months later, Copeland and Phoenix got married near their home in Asheville, North Carolina.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Insight With Chris Van Vliet” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
