Copeland received a developmental contract with the WWF in 1997. On Remembrance Day 1997 in Cornwall, Ontario, he faced Christian Cage at a "Shotgun" taping, a match included on WWE Home Video's 2008 retrospective, "Edge: A Decade of Decadence". Upon completing his training, Copeland made his WWF television debut on the June 22, 1998 episode of "Raw" as Edge, a loner character who entered the arena through the crowd for his matches. This had been preceded by weeks of vignettes for the character, which included him aimlessly walking around darkened city streets and assaulting innocent pedestrians. Copeland took the name Edge from an Albany radio station.