Superstar Appreciation Week

In 1996, Edge initially made $210 per week while working for WWE without an official contract. The company also paid for his outstanding college debt, which was around $40,000. Copeland received a developmental contract with the WWF in 1997.  On Remembrance Day 1997 in Cornwall, Ontario, he (under his real name) 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 is War 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 the city streets and assaulting innocent pedestrians.

Edge's first televised match was against Jose Estrada, Jr., which ended prematurely by countout when Edge performed a somersault senton from the ring to the outside, legitimately injuring Estrada's neck. In his first pay-per-view match at SummerSlam in August, he served as Sable's mystery tag team partner against Jacqueline and Marc Mero, and bodyslammed Sable onto Mero in a pinning position to pick up the win. At Breakdown: In Your House, Edge faced Owen Hart in a losing effort, on October 11 1998, an edition of Sunday Night Heat, Edge defeated Vader in singles competition and at WWF Capital Carnage, Edge faced Tiger Ali Singh in a losing effort.

Edge was then placed in a feud against the vampire wrestler Gangrel. During the feud, Gangrel introduced Christian Cage (now going by just "Christian"), Edge's storyline brother, as his ally. Eventually, Gangrel and Christian convinced Edge to join them, and the three of them formed an alliance known as The Brood at Rock Bottom: In Your House, The Brood defeated The J.O.B. Squad in a six-man tag team match. At the Royal Rumble, Edge competed in the 30-man Royal Rumble match and was eliminated by Road Dogg. The Brood was later abducted and converted into The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness. In May 1999, the Brood broke away from the Ministry after Christian was attacked by Ken Shamrock and forced to reveal the location of the captive Stephanie McMahon. The Undertaker chose to have Christian punished for his trespass, but Edge and Gangrel stood by him and betrayed The Undertaker, leading to a brief feud with the Ministry. At Backlash: In Your House, the Brood faced Ministry members Bradshaw, Faarooq, and Mideon in a losing effort. At King of the Ring, The Hardy Boyz defeated Edge and Christian in a match to determine the number one contender to the WWF Tag Team Championship, after their first match on Sunday Night Heat ended in a no-contest.