How a chance encounter led a pro wrestler and a Miami TV reporter to planking
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Adam Copeland and Jay Reso designed Pure Plank to make planking functional.
- Rosh Lowe joined founders to commercialize the board after a chance meeting.
- Pure Plank launched in 2024 with app support to guide short daily routines.
During COVID, times were tough, with people scrambling to find work.
Miami Beach’s Rosh Lowe found it with Pure Plank, created and designed by Adam Copeland and Jay Reso.
Lowe, an award-winning South Florida TV news reporter, was between jobs at the time, and with the hardships caused by the pandemic, he pivoted. Lowe found his entrepreneurial spirit to help lead a health and fitness product after a chance meeting with a famous pro wrestler.
Enter Reso, a Toronto-born Canadian who makes his home in Tampa.
Pro wrestling fans know him as Christian, one-half of the legendary tag team Edge & Christian. Copeland is Edge. They have competed and won tag team and singles championships and matches on the biggest stages, including WWE’s WrestleMania.
With various injuries throughout their long, illustrious careers -- which began in 1992 north of the border -- they thought their pro wrestling time was over, until planking became a thing for them during the COVID shutdown.
Planking is an isometric core-strengthening exercise where you hold your body straight like a board, engaging abs and glutes for stability, and a viral internet trend where people lie face-down stiffly. The exercise version builds strength in your core, shoulders, back and legs, while involving balancing in a rigid, prone position.
Planking helped Edge & Christian return to pro wrestling. Now both in their early 50s, they are competing (as Adam Copeland and Christian Cage) at a high level again with AEW, owned and operated by Tony Khan, whose family also owns the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC of the Premier Soccer League.
Pure Plank is their creation, their design. It’s an easy to carry and store, high-quality fitness board, good for planking at any level, beginners to advanced.
Here is my video interview with Adam Copeland (Edge) and Jay Reso (Christian Cage) about Pure Plank, Health, AEW, WWE, and NHL Hockey (Florida and Toronto, not Boston).
Established in 2021, Pure Plank was co-founded by Copeland, Reso, Lowe and Ari Marinovsky. Copeland and Reso are also the co-creators, and Miami’s Ryan Carter is the CEO.
Before, Lowe established a company MicDrop LLC, a professional training and development services company that specializes in team building and public speaking skills. That company was put on hold during COVID, but Lowe needed to pay the bills. He was then involved in “speaking training” for companies and PR groups when he met Reso in Tampa, who was to be an influencer for another company that hired Lowe as a sub-contractor.
Lowe was so impressed with Reso that he phoned his friend Marinovksy, a businessman in New Jersey who specializes in product development, e-commerce and manufacturing. Marinovsky asked Reso if he could create a product, what would it be? He noted how through Copeland, he was introduced to planking, which changed his life.
He called Copeland to brainstorm. From their experience, they knew there was not a planking device that made the exercise functional and comfortable. So they created handles on the board to make it so.
Planking was boring and uncomfortable, but Reso and Copeland changed that, and that’s what made Marinovsky interested. It wasn’t just another product to manufacture. It was a new idea born in real-life experience to help people.
Copeland drew a plank board design on a piece of paper.
“Adam is a great artist; the design looked great,” Lowe said. “Both Jay and Adam are two of the brightest people I’ve ever met, and they are perfectionists. They are intelligent and very creative.”
That’s saying something as Lowe, who performed on Broadway as a youth, worked with creative talent like actors Angela Lansbury and Ben Vereen. He’s also worked with many talented people in the TV news business and others engaged regularly in public speaking.
When Reso drove Lowe to the airport in Tampa, Reso noticed the cheap pair of sunglasses Lowe wore. Reso drove directly to the mall, since they had time, and Lowe bought a pair of Ray-Bans.
That small effort showed Reso’s heart. He genuinely wants everyone to feel their best and look their best, and that sparked Lowe’s interest in Reso as a genuine engine for a company. Who better for Reso to collaborate with than his in-ring tag team partner and long-time friend.
,%20Rosh%20Lowe%20and%20Adam%20Copeland%20(Edge)%202025.jpg "Pure Plank Jay Reso (Christian Cage), Rosh Lowe and Adam Copeland (Edge) 2025.jpg")
From Ray-Bans to Pure Plank.
Lowe said: “What can we do to help people? When it comes to exercise, and you’re out of shape, no one wants to run five miles, let alone walk that. Pure Plank allows people to slowly get themselves into shape or back into shape. A strong core is essential, and just three minutes a day, and you start to get your confidence back, start to get into shape.”
After a four-year process “to get it right,” the company’s product hit the market in 2024.
“We created a product that makes planking comfortable, and through our app and website, now people can do it properly,” said Lowe, now at WPLG-Channel 10 and not involved with the day-to-day Pure Plank operations. “We’re gonna help a lot of people.”
And just in time for those New Year’s resolutions.
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 6:52 AM.
