Copeland debuted as Edge in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) against Jose Estrada Jr. He was a mysterious "loner" character, who would emerge from the crowd before his matches. Eventually, he started a feud with Gangrel. At In Your House: Breakdown, during a match pitting Edge against Owen Hart, Reso, cited as an unknown person looking similar to Edge, came out to the ring distracting him enough to allow Hart to get the win. It was later revealed that Reso's character was Christian, Edge's storyline brother, and he was aligned with Gangrel as his vampire follower. After some confrontations between the two gothic brothers, Edge was convinced to 'come home' with Christian & Gangrel, and the three of them formed a stable known as "The Brood". At In Your House: Rock Bottom, the Brood defeated The J.O.B. Squad (Al Snow, Bob Holly, & Scorpio). The Brood briefly joined The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness faction, but left after Christian was flogged and almost sacrificed for revealing Stephanie McMahon's whereabouts to Ken Shamrock. Following a short feud with the Ministry, Gangrel turned on Edge and demanded that Christian do the same. He refused and both he and Edge broke with Gangrel turning them into fan favorites. From there, the gothic storyline enjoyed limited success, beginning their eventual tag team feud with The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy), who also briefly formed a new Brood with Gangrel before turning on him as well. At this point, the duo had rehashed Edge's pre-Brood gimmick as borderline gothic fan favorites most notable for a tendency to enter the ring through the audience. The tag team feud with the Hardy Boyz intensified as Gangrel became Matt & Jeff's new manager, combining to form "The New Brood", in the summer of 1999. However, both teams were more interested in acquiring the managerial services of Terri Runnels for which (along with $100,000) they would compete in a best-of-five series of matches known as the Terri Invitational Tournament. Edge & Christian won the first two matches, putting the Hardyz in sudden jeopardy. The Hardyz went on to win the next two matches, however, leading to a rubber match at No Mercy to determine which team would earn Terri's services. The rubber match would be a ladder match, in which Gangrel tried to interfere, only to get ejected. Matt & Jeff Hardy went on to win the match