Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Edge: A Decade of Decadence Disc 3

Summerslam
August 20, 2006

Edge(c) (w/ Lita) vs. John Cena [WWE Heavyweight Championship]
Edge can lose the title via disqualification.

I remember how this match ends, and I don’t think it will make me happy. Cena was very aggressive early on, but Edge quickly cut him off. Edge tried to via countout. The crowd did not seem to like Cena. Cena fought back a couple of times, but Edge was mostly in control for a while. There was not much substance to it. Cena escaped a camel clutch and hit a blockbuster. Lita, suddenly getting very stupid, tossed Edge a chair. Edge obviously didn’t want it and then had to take a Cena comeback. A FU attempt was reversed into the Edgecution. Edge avoided a FU and then accidentally took out Lita. They both went down after a double lariat spot. Cena reversed a spear into a STFU. Lita, getting very stupid again, threatened to hit Cena with a belt. Edge got to the ropes, and Lita gave him some brass knuckles. Cena went to FU Edge AND Lita. Lita ate it. That confusion gave Edge an opportunity to punch Cena with the brass knuckles: 1…2…3

This was a fun match that featured a lot of easy-to-watch action and some stupidity with the stipulation. Edge’s heat segment was unnecessarily long given how little he did during it. The crowd remained into it at least, which reflects how over these two were as characters. The stupidity of Lita’s character really bugged me. They made her seem like the biggest moron to get over the stipulation.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Raw
February 19, 2007

Edge vs. Rob Van Dam
The winner of this match gets into the 2007 Money in the Bank match. Edge explained on the DVD that RVD’s first kick in this match broke his jaw.

RVD was running through Edge for a while. Edge finally cut him off with a boot to the chest and a swinging neckbreaker. Edge was in control after that. RVD fought back and hit a spinning heel kick that appeared to be the one that broke Edge’s jaw. RVD then made a very uninspired comeback. RVD went for Rolling Thunder, but Edge reversed it into a powerslam. RVD came back with a diving spinning heel kick and then a pescado. They kept going much longer than I needed, quite frankly. RVD got his shit in. He called for the Five Star, but Orton hopped up on the apron. RVD hit him with a diving kick, but then ate the spear: 1…2…3

This match was fine. RVD’s weaknesses really stood out here (the “get his shit in” aspect of his matches). The crowd was mildly into it, and that is how I would describe my reaction as well.
Match Rating: **1/2

Raw
April 30, 2007

Edge vs. Randy Orton
Rated RKO EXPLODES! I was a big fan of Rated RKO. This was tragic at the time, and it’s tragic to think about it now. This is the ever-rare WWE heel vs. heel match.

Orton got the first advantage. Orton shoulder tackled Edge from the apron to the guardrail. Edge came back and shoulder tackled Orton from the apron to the commentation station (shaped like a table!). Edge then worked him over for a while. Orton hit a dropkick during an Edge dive and then made a comeback. They traded nearfalls. Edge dropped Orton on a turnbuckle, and he got busted open. They traded feet on the ropes schoolboys. Edge then hit he Edgecution: 1…2…NO! Edge avoided a RKO and then hit a spear: 1…2…3!

I liked this way more than their 2004 match. They didn’t make the best use of the first half of the match still. However, they managed to keep the crowd with them this time. There was some nifty stuff down the stretch with the heel tactics, the (presumably) hardway bleeding, and some good nearfalls.
Match Rating: ***1/4

We got highlights of Edge taking Mr. Kennedy’s Money in the Bank briefcase.

Smackdown
May 11, 2007

We saw the closing minutes of The Undertaker and Batista’s cage match for Taker’s World Heavyweight Championship. It ended in a draw. Mark Henry returned from injury and attacked Taker. Edge showed up and cashed in his briefcase.

The Undertaker(c) vs. Edge [World Heavyweight Championship]
Edge immediately pinned him twice, but Taker kicked out both times. Taker was a bloody mess and couldn’t really do the sit-up spot. Spear: 1…2…3!

This was a bit derivative of Edge’s first WWE Championship win, but it was the smart move. Edge became the biggest fish in the smaller Smackdown pond.

Vengeance
June 24, 2007

Edge(c) vs. Batista [World Heavyweight Championship]
Harley Race was in the crowd. He raised Batista’s hand before the match. There is a “Last Chance” stipulation on the match for Batista.

Batista starts this match by going after Edge’s arm. It will not go anywhere. Tribute to NWA title matches from the territory days. Jokes. Batista was running through Edge at the start, until Edge cut him off in the least dramatic way possible. Edge was trying to win via countout. Batista crashed into the turnbuckle three times at this point. Edge was going after the injured arm. Batista eventually cut Edge off with a lariat and then made a comeback. Edge avoided the Big Dave Bomb by going after the injured arm. Edgecution: 1…2..NO! They traded some schoolboy nearfalls. Edge called for the spear, but Batista hit one instead. He shook them ropes, but Edge then gave him a low blow before he could fall victim to the Big Dave Bomb. Big Dave won via DQ.

Teddy Long showed up. I don’t see how he could make a tag match out of this. The match was re-started, and Edge can lose the belt via disqualification.

Edge hit a spear: 1…2…NO! Edge momentarily forgot the new stipulation and went for a chair before coming to his senses. They ended up on the floor. BIG DAVE BOMB ON THE FLOOR. Big Dave, the new stupidest person in the history of pro wrestling, put Edge in the ring before himself. Big Dave got counted out.

Big Dave then gave Edge a powerbomb in the ring. He’s being a jerk.

This was a failure on most levels despite threatening to get good a few different times. The in-ring story started off okay with Edge’s work on Batista’s arm. Edge is not particularly good at working over a limb (apparently), and it didn’t end up going anywhere significant. So, that was pretty much a waste of time. The booking of Batista here was baffling for a star of his stature. WWE constantly books themselves into corners onto PPV with two guys they do not want to lose. Thus, they give us a really shitty finish. They also made Batista look like an idiot to get there. Huge thumbs down for this one.
Match Rating: *

Edge got injured in an angle shortly after this match. He vacated the title, but he won it back in December (a month after a return angle where he cost The Undertaker the title).

Royal Rumble
January 28, 2008

Edge(c) (w/ Vickie Guerrero, Curt Hawkins, & Zack Ryder) vs. Rey Mysterio [World Heavyweight Championship]
I actually remember this match, and it made me feel Mysterio was washed up as a performer (a feeling I certainly did not take pleasure in having). Naturally, he looked great in a tag match on the following Smackdown (and had some good feuds with Punk and Jericho after this).

They did a shitty hurricanrana early on. Hawkins and Ryder were quickly ejected. Rey hit a pescado and got booed. Edge cut him off and went after the left leg. Rey managed to hit a wheelbarrow bulldog and then made a comeback. He actually hit a double stomp for a nearfall. They a couple of ugly looking things. Edge hit a big boot, but Rey hit the 619 and a splash. Vickie pulled the referee out. Rey went for another 619, but Vickie ate it for him. Rey went for a springboard move, but Edge caught him with a spear: 1…2…3

I thought this was just okay. Rey looked bad in a few moments. Edge’s leg work went absolutely nowhere and took up a bunch of time. I also don’t think Edge needed to cheat to win this match at all. Rey did not need protecting in the slightest.
Match Rating: **1/2

They skipped a bunch of chapters in the Edge/Undertaker feud to get to the Tables, Ladders, & Chairs match.

One Night Stand
June 1, 2008

Edge vs. The Undertaker [TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship]
The title had recently been vacated. The Undertaker would be BANISHED from the WWE if he lost this match.

Not much of note happened early on. They telegraphed a future spot with Taker setting up four tables on top of each other for no good reason. The match got off to an unnecessarily slow start. Just go at it already. Edge could not sustain any momentum for a long time. After the threat of a Last Ride through a ladder, Edge hit a low blow. Taker was gasping for breath after that. Edge then cracked him with a chair to the head. And again. Edge then put him through a table with a splash from a commentator’s table. Edge went to climb, but Taker stopped him. Edge speared him, assaulted a knee of Undertaker, and delivered more chair shots to the head. Taker came back with a punch to the dick. Taker then gave Edge a chokeslam on a bridged ladder. Edge just sort of bounced off the ladder instead of going through it. Taker started to climb. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder showed up to stop him. This got some heat. Taker fought back and sent Hawkins through a table on the floor with a chokeslam. Ryder met the same fate. Edge came back with a shoulder tackle that sent Taker from the apron to the guardrail. Edge climbed. Taker gave Edge a Last Ride through two stacked tables. Taker climbed, but Chavo Guerrero and BAM NEELY showed up. Taker took care of them relatively easily. Taker climbed again, but Edge pushed the ladder so that Taker fell through four tables on the floor. Despite the labored setup, that was a hell of a fucking ending. Edge then climbed and got the belt.

This was absolutely overbooked, but I thought it all worked out pretty well. Once Edge took over the match, I really got into it big time. Edge threw everything he had at The Undertaker, but it took a monumental spot to finally put Taker down long enough to win the match. Was this perfect? Absolutely not. Some of the furniture moving was labored. However, I thought the storytelling with the interference and the brutality from Edge was effective enough to make up for the weaknesses.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Summerslam
August 17, 2008

Edge vs. The Undertaker [Hell in a Cell]
This feud took a weird direction after their TLC match. Edge dropped the title to CM Punk in a MitB cash-in. He and Vickie then started having issues for reasons that are escaping me at the moment. Edge went a little bit crazy (very, very derivative of The Joker as I recall) and actually wanted this match.

Taker ran through Edge for a bit. Edge got going by using the steps as a weapon. He maintained the advantage by bring tables, ladders, and chairs into play. Taker fought back and was building some momentum. Edge cut him off though with a leaping shoulder tackle that sent both of them through the cage. They started to brawl on the floor. Edge got the advantage after some monitor shots to the head. Edge did the announce table spear spot. Edge was in complete control. Back in the ring, he used a camera shot to the head for a nearfall. That weapon was a great callback to the kickoff to this feud nine to ten months earlier. Edge called for a spear, but Taker hit a chokeslam: 1…2…NO! Edge came back with a very weak nearfall on the Edgecution. Edge avoided the Last Ride and hit a spear: 1…2…NO! Taker then got a nearfall after a Last Ride. Taker went for a tombstone on the steps, but Edge reversed it into an Edge-O-Matic. Ouch. Edge went for Old School, but Taker crotched him. Taker then chokeslammed him through two tables on the floor. Taker then hit him with a spear in the ring. Wow, that seemed oddly out of character for Taker. He them killed Edge with a camera shot to the head. Con-chair-to. Ah, now I get the spear. Tombstone: 1…2…3

Taker started to walk to the back, but he returned to the ring. He set up two ladders and then chokeslammed Edge through the ring mat. It then burst into flame. (They did that to write out Edge for a few months so he could have some time off.)

This was another really entertaining brawl between these two. Much like the TLC match, this match started out rather pointlessly with Taker running through Edge. Taker running through an opponent often comes across as obligatory. There were two aspects of this match that I felt helped put this match over the standard WWE weapons brawl. I really like how Edge’s character had evolved in this feud to the point where he wanted this match. He actually prepared to win on his own and used the weapons that his character has grown used to over the years. They then went to the standard Undertaker finishers sequence, but it finished on a higher note. Taker wasn’t content to just defeat Edge. He wanted to get true poetic revenge on him. Taker wanted to put Edge through everything he had been put through for the last year (or so).
Match Rating: ****

Check out Edge in free matches!
Edge & Christian vs. The Hardys
Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero
The Rock vs. Edge & Christian
Edge vs. Ric Flair
Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler
Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. Batista
Jeff Hardy, Edge, & Christian vs. The Dudleys & Al Snow
Edge, Randy Orton, & Kenny vs. Ric Flair, Triple H, & Shawn Michaels

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Check out a full/organized list of all the wrestling show reviews I’ve done at 411mania.

The 411: While this DVD doesn't really contain two of my favorite periods in Edge's history (the 2002 Smackdown Six run because of Benoit and the 2009 Smackdown Six run because it had not happened yet), I feel like it does accurately capture Edge's career as a performer. He was part of one of the last truly innovative runs in wrestling history (the tag team ladder battles). He got carried to a number of really strong matches while he struggled to find himself as a babyface (2002). His heel turn in the mid-2000s allowed him to become the main event heel character that he will be most remembered as. However, that run still re-enforced his strengths and weaknesses as a performer. He was not the type to drag out a great match out of a lesser wrestler. He excelled at plunder matches more than "regular" matches unless there was someone better than him in the match. Does that make him a bad wrestler? Absolutely not. He just probably wasn't as good as you would expect given the level of consistency at which he was pushed to the main event/world title starting in 2006. He was kind of like the heel John Cena in that way from 2006 until he retired in 2011. It was very rare that he was away from the main event or world title picture (unless he was injured). Similarly talented or more talented wrestlers easily could have done equally good or better work in his spot. A lot of those very talented wrestlers did not have the career Edge had and could be labeled a "victim of circumstance" (bad booking, stupid politics, etc.). Edge was kind of the opposite. He was the product of never-ending opportunities. He got over as a main event level character, and the WWE continuously went back to him when there could have been fresher directions in his last few years. In the end though, Edge delivered a lot of really good PPV and television matches over the years. He had a great career and a lot of matches worthy of being re-watched.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]