wrestling / Columns

The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 Edge Moments

May 30, 2016 | Posted by Mike Chin
Edge WWE Image Credit: WWE

Edge is hardcore wrestling fan’s wrestler. Sure, he started to work his way up the ranks during the red hot Attitude Era, but for fair weather fans who tuned out after Stone Cold and The Rock left the full-time roster, it’s entirely possible that they missed the greatness of Edge—that he’s remained frozen as a young mid-carder/tag team specialist, and not recognized as a multi-time world champion and WrestleMania main eventer.

To make matters worse, injuries forced Edge into retirement when he was still more or less in his prime, settling into the role of the establishment, and the sort of talent who could be rotated into the main event picture whenever he was needed.

Rather than dwell on Edge being underrated in the public eye, or how his legend got cut short, this week I’m focusing, instead, on the greatest moments of Edge’s career. Considerations include objective memorability of the moment itself, importance for the Edge character, how unique the moments were to his identity, overall historical importance, and, as always, my personal opinion.

#7. Challenging The Streak

From 2007 to 2008, Edge had one of the greatest feuds in WWE history opposite The Undertaker, and it’s fitting that the feud included Edge’s one and only WrestleMania main event (yes, I’m one of those people who considers only the last match the true main event).

Strangely enough, this bout was not the blow-off for the rivalry, but rather happened smack in the middle of their elongated storyline. Regardless, by this point Edge was a legit main eventer, and while so few performers are ever on par with The Undertaker, Edge was certainly not out of his league facing off with, and defending his World Heavyweight Championship against The Dead Man.

I love this match because despite all logic—‘Taker’s undefeated streak plus the main event spot in which a top heel was facing comeuppance against a top face, all but ensuring that The Phenom would win—Edge delivered such a captivating performance that you had to wonder if he just might retain. Like most close Streak matches, this one loses some of its appeal on repeat viewings, with the outcome known, Just the same, this was a special encounter, well booked to establish the story that Edge knew The Undertaker inside and out, had a counter for every big move and that, by hook or by crook, he really might win.

I feel WrestleMania 24 tends to be underrated on the whole—a well-paced show, chock full of good-to-great matches. On a show like that, Edge-‘Taker was a near-perfect topper, sending the fans home happy after an excellent showing for both men, and match that further shored up Edge’s place as a main event talent for years to come.

#6. Spearing John Cena at One Night Stand 2006

2006 was a break out year for Edge, and we’ll discuss a number of other moments from the months preceding and following this one in this countdown. The central point for fans to know is that Edge was the absolute perfect foil for John Cena at this time.

John Cena. From 2003 to 2005 the guy got red hot as an edgy heel, and then an edgy face who rapped, made dick jokes, FU-ed The Big Show, and defeated JBL to become WWE Champion. By the summer of 2005, however, the bloom was off the rose. Cena started receiving, to put it diplomatically, a mixed response. Edge emerged as one of the few heels who could, legitimately, work heel opposite Cena, but they only feuded briefly in early 2006, before moving on to separate WrestleMania programs. After Cena got booed out of the building by the Chicago faithful at WrestleMania 22, it was time for something radical to happen.

Enter Rob Van Dam and the ECW brand. At the second One Night Stand show, which more or less launched the WWECW brand, Van Dam cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to challenge Cena straight up in as hardcore and unfriendly of an environment as possible for The Champ.

A fun atmosphere and a fun match followed. And just when it looked as tough all might be lost, and Cena was still going to retain his title, a man with a motorcycle helmet emerged from ringside and speared Cena. That man quickly revealed himself to be The Rated R Superstar, leading to a wonderfully bizarro moment of the ECW faithful chanting “Thank you Edge! Thank you Edge!” (Interestingly, this involvement contributed to a pattern—Edge was involved in each of the first five Money in the Bank cash-ins as perpetrator, victim, or person responsible for softening up the incumbent champ immediately before he lost his title.)

While the ECW brand would never live up to its potential, Edge’s involvement in this main event match contributed beautifully to a sense of chaos, unpredictability, and challenging the establishment, making for a tremendous moment for the new brand and Edge’s character, not to mention sowing new seeds for the Edge-Cena rivalry.


#5. The Live Sex Celebration

When Edge won his very first world championship in January 2006, the win held the promise of a minor paradigm shift. After all, the preceding year had cemented John Cena as the face of WWE, and with that established the foundation of the PG Era. But Edge—Edge was different. A veteran of the Attitude Era. A slimy heel character. And a guy was just beginning to very purposefully use the moniker The Rated R Superstar. He’d gotten over as a main event level talent in no small part due to his alliance with Lita (rooted in rumors of real-life escapades between the two), and so celebrating Edge’s new world title reign by the twosome having sex right in the middle of the ring in front of a live audience read pitch perfect for his gimmick, and the potential for a new era.

OK, so there wasn’t really a meaningful change in WWE programming at this point—Cena would be back on top in short order, and while Edge would become a main event fixture alongside him, he would always be an outsider defined by his raunchiness, rather than a character who’s gimmick meaningfully spread to other stars of the day. Just the same, the Live Sex Celebration main event segment stands out among Raws of its era for being off beat, salacious, and character defining. Yes, it was a little silly, and both Edge and Lita have, in shoot interviews, commented on it being awfully awkward to act out. Just the same, it was an important moment for Edge and WWE, casting back toward the Attitude Era for a segment, not to mention proving instrumental to a mini-feud between Edge and Ric Flair that helped to legitimize the former (benefiting from the added irony that, fifteen years earlier, Flair himself probably would have been the most likely candidate to host his own Live Sex Celebration).

Opinions diverge on the impact of this segment, it’s saying something that longtime fans can still recognize the segment by its name, and it’s a rare example in its era of WWE using a non-wrestling segment to further someone’s gimmick to this degree.

#4. The Edge Heads Debut at Armageddon 2007

By late 2007, Edge had in many ways supplanted Triple H as WWE’s master manipulator and “cerebral assassin,” masterfully picking his spots, contriving circumstances, and using every advantage to shore up his place at the top of the card. The debut of the Edge Heads marked distinctive moment for the Edge character, when he unlocked an innovative mode of securing outside interference and paying homage to himself, enlisting Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins—two wrestlers who superficially resembled him—to dress up like him and serve up the best doubling (then tripling) act this side of Doink the Clown to utterly befuddle his face opponents.

And the befuddlement was key. In late 2007, Edge outsized and outgunned opposite the much bigger, stronger, and fiercer Undertaker and Batista. Every advantage the Edge character had was mental—finding ways to connive his way to victories that he never should have legitimately been capable of.

As it played out, Ryder and Hawkins each set themselves up to be taken out by ‘Taker and Batista, respectively, so that each of the faces would think Edge was out of the picture, before he surprised the two of them and stole the victory (and the World Heavyweight Championship).

While Ryder and Hawkins wouldn’t exactly set the world on fire in the months to follow, they would prove to be worthy henchmen and cannon fodder for Edge as he continued his way through feuds when he kayfabe should have been overmatched, and further shored up his place as a tremendous main even heel.

#3. Spearing Mick Foley Through a Flaming Table at WrestleMania 22

i

When Edge won his first Money in the Bank briefcase, and started coming to the ring with LIta by his side, he broached the threshold between the upper card and the main event. He seemed to break the glass ceiling when he actually won his first world championship, but when he lost it right back to John Cena, there were questions about him. After all, we’re not talking about a heel character like Triple H who had a more steady progression toward the top, or a Brock Lesnar whose physical attributes earned him instant credibility. Edge had spent the better part of a decade in tag team/mid-card purgatory, evolving as a talent, but not demonstrating a clear progression up the kayfabe card.

Enter Mick Foley.

Foley, the former WWF World Champion. Foley, the guy who had put no lesser talents than The Rock, Triple H, and Randy Orton through hardcore hell, only for them to emerge on the other side as bona fide main event talents, above any skepticism or reproach.

Foley stumbled into Edge’s crosshairs when Edge blamed his guest officiating for costing him his title, and the two moved on to a Hardcore Match at WrestleMania 22.

The match was terrific—a too-often forgotten classic in which Foley put barbed wire to brilliant use to sabotage Edge’s first spear attempt, and to apply a particularly brutal mandible claw to Lita. But all of this brutality was mere set up for a flaming table at ringside and Edge diving head first into the flames—a literally and metaphorically brilliant spot in which he fearlessly sacrificed his body to, yes, get the best of Foley, but also to prove this was a guy who would both kayfabe and shoot do whatever it took to win and cement his place at the top of the card.

For four out of his last five WrestleMania performances to follow, Edge would be involved in world title scenarios, and for the year he wasn’t (WrestleMania 23) he nonetheless spent most of the surrounding year orbiting or in the thick of the world title picture. Spearing Foley through a flaming table didn’t introduce Edge to the main event scene, but it was instrumental in getting him over to the extent that he’d never again have a credibility gap to address.

#2. Spearing Jeff Hardy off a Ladder at WrestleMania 17

In 2001, a cluster of guys wedged into the tag team scene were hell bent on stealing the show, on the prayer of perhaps breaking the glass ceiling and becoming top-tier stars in their own regard. The cream of the crop: Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and The Dudleys. In different permutations, and most of all when all six men worked together, they put on classic matches, and the very best of them were car-wreck plunder fests–Ladder Matches that evolved to TLC.

WrestleMania 17, arguably the single greatest show in WWF history, was the site of arguably the greatest match between these teams, the second ever iteration of TLC, and a match that was key to establishing the TLC brand, which led to main eventers performing under the stipulation, and eventually a whole PPV themed around TLC.

And out of this tremendous, fast-paced, brutal match, there was one spot that stood out above all others as innovative, dare-devilish, and an awesome spectacle—Jeff Hardy, hanging from the apparatus that suspended the tag title belts; Edge positioned high up on a super-sized ladder. Then: the spear.

Edge spearing Jeff Hardy from the ladder provided highlight-reel fodder for years to follow. Moreover, not unlike Edge’s spear through a flaming table five years later, it demonstrated the man’s willingness and ability to think outside the box and put his body on the line to entertain the audience and make himself stand out.

This match featured six great performers—five of whom went on to win world titles (and odd man out Devon, despite never realizing much singles notoriety was still one half of the most decorated tag team in wrestling history). Out of the pack, Edge’s star shone brightest.

#1. Cashing in the First Money in the Bank Briefcase at New Year’s Revolution 2006

There’s nothing quite like a performer’s first world championship win. When you think about the most iconic instances of title wins, you may first remember the ones that fit the character and his time most perfectly, and most profoundly. It’s Hulk Hogan squashing evil heel foreigner The Iron Sheik in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd. It’s Shawn Michaels surviving an hour-plus technical masterpiece with arch-rival Bret Hart, when the lights were on bright at WrestleMania. It’s Brock Lesnar making inveterate star The Rock retreat for Hollywood at SummerSlam 2002.

In the case of Edge rising to the top of the wrestling world, it wasn’t about hard work, perseverance, or being the best. It was about earning is moniker as The Ultimate Opportunist.

When Money in the Bank was still a new and unproven gimmick, Edge put the briefcase to use at New Year’s Revolution 2006, handing it over to Vince McMahon in a sublime symbolic moment, before he stormed the ring, speared John Cena to hell, and walked out as champion.

This moment encapsulated and defined so many of the key elements of Edge, particularly as a main eventer, as he schemed, manipulated, and stole gold. Moreover, it was hugely historically impactful moment that heels (and even some faces) have imitated for a decade and counting, spawning Money in the Bank’s own dedicated PPV. While some of the luster of the gimmick may have faded over time, it remains one of the most exciting topics for speculation—about who will win the briefcase and when he might cash it in. All of this, owed to Edge’s single greatest moment.

Which Edge moments would you add to the list? Winning the Royal Rumble, winning King of the Ring, decimating Mick Foley in the build to his Hell in a Cell Match with The Undertaker, returning at Survivor Series 2007, successfully defending his championship against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 27, his retirement announcement, and his Hall of Fame speech were among my top picks that didn’t quite make the cut. Let us know in the comments section.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.

article topics :

Adam Copeland, WWE, Mike Chin