Edge

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Goodear]

I don't really see a compelling argument for Edge other than he was in main events in WWE and was good at plunder matches. He obviously had a noticeable deficiency when it came to offensive execution with his finish being particularly weak. With some nominees, I can overlook such a negative if they have some glowing quality in another category, but I just don't know where Edge stands out as a performer. That being said, I think the idea of the spear worked well with his opportunist character who was always looking for a paper-thin opening. The move was typically well-placed, but not well-executed.

 

In terms of diversity, the tag team with Christian is vastly overrated in my eyes and struck me far closer in tone to two singles guys working together than a cohesive unit. It seemed to me like their chemistry only really came out during promos and segments. The team with Rey worked better in my estimation since it gave Edge a clearer role on the team than with Christian. To be fair, Christian hadn't matured as a performer until well after the team with Edge ended.

[Jimmy Redman]

Edge for me is the ultimate test of the List of Great Matches vs Skills and Qualities quandry. I think he's the guy with the highest number of my favourite matches who I personally don't really like at all and find overrated (by people who rate him obviously, less so here).

 

There are a lot of matches of his that I love, and not just the usual TLC/stuntshow examples, but also a fair few singles matches and straight matches, to give him his due. But all the same if I look closer, how many of them are matches that Edge happened to be in? In how many of them was Edge the best guy in the match or a standout performer? How many of them were made great by things that Edge did? If I broke them down I think all too often I'd find that Edge was more just The Other Guy in a match. He played his part and hit the right notes, but usually the other guy(s) made it extraordinary. A lot like Triple H in that regard. Actually Edge vs Hunter is an interesting comparison now that I think about it.

 

But anyway, the flipside to that is that I'm someone who really likes Lists of Great Matches, I like making them and reading them and using them. And I'm not wild about the idea of leaving a guy off who has THAT many great matches to his name, Honestly I'm hoping that after I've filled my plethora of gaps I'll have found enough options to take it out of my hands.

[Timbo Slice]

Not wild on him. In the great matches he was a part of, I never felt he was the guy making it great. Felt he was along for the ride most of the time. One of the best garbage workers of his time, but I can't put him on the list.

[BillThompson]

Won't make my list. In a lot of ways he's the 2000s version of 1990s Shawn Michaels. Not in terms of style, but in how WWE decided Edge was a big deal and has maintained his status as a big deal no matter what. In the ring I've always found him rather bland, and that it's almost always the other people in the ring that are producing greatness from Edge, not the other way around.

[soup23]

Edge is someone who was proclaimed as great while he was wrestling and given tons of snowflakes by Meltzer but now that he is gone, everyone moved on and you don't get a great sense of nostalgia about him from people going back and digging in the crates of his matches.

 

Scott Criscuolo had a good point on Edge in the Survivor Series 2001 podcast which emphasizes both why he enjoys Edge's work and why I generally don't. The crux is that Edge was the ultimate hybrid and never found his one true style. He could have garbage brawls or WWE workrate heavy matches with the likes of Angle, Christian, Jericho, etc.

 

I have watched a decent amount of 2000-2003 Edge the past few months and he has disappointed me both in tag team matches vs. the likes of the Dudleys when given time and his first big singles run up until his 2002 injury.

 

I would safely vote for the likes of Angle above Edge in a list like this.

[Shining Wiz]

 

Scott Criscuolo had a good point on Edge in the Survivor Series 2001 podcast which emphasizes both why he enjoys Edge's work and why I generally don't. The crux is that Edge was the ultimate hybrid and never found his one true style. He could have garbage brawls or WWE workrate heavy matches with the likes of Angle, Christian, Jericho, etc.

 

 

 

This versatility would be, and has been pointed as, a big positive for several other people on this list.

[Dylan Waco]

I'm not sure he is arguing that Edge is versatile, but rather a weird mashup of disparate elements

[tim]

No chance on my list, but for matches that do not look appealing to me on paper, I really like the two RAW Edge/Michaels street fights.

[BillThompson]

In my PPV rewatch project I'm up to the Smackdown 6 era. It's not an era that is doing Edge any favors. It's clear as day that he can't keep up with the other five, and that just about every great match he's in is one where he's being carried. I talked before about the idea of guys being in a lot of great matches where they themselves weren't great and how we should view that. Edge is the poster boy for that, and the more I watch these great matches where Edge has to have his hand held by better workers I'm convinced that these matches shouldn't really be held in his favor.

[goodhelmet]

Can somebody take the time to actually list the Edge matches they think are great?

[goc]

Edge is one of my least favorite top guys of all time. His last run on Smackdown that had him feuding with Kane and kidnapping Paul Bearer took me from an actively interested Smackdown fan into someone who stopped watching for months. My WWE fandom has never really recovered but I can't blame the brand split ending on him so that's not exactly his fault.

[Witlon]

Can somebody take the time to actually list the Edge matches they think are great?

 

I remember liking the Edge vs Brock/Heyman match from Rebellion 2002, but it's been a while since I saw it and have no idea if I'd still consider it good.

 

And, uhh...that's about it.

[PhilTLL]

Can somebody take the time to actually list the Edge matches they think are great?

I recently rewatched Edge/M. Hardy in a cage from Unforgiven 2005 for the first time in a few years and came away thinking it was terrific, and somewhat slept on in my browsing experience. Of course the feud was uniquely heated, and I'd have to watch it again to see how much of it was Edge being great--it's pretty Matt-focused. But I would definitely feel comfortable calling it a great match. Really strong intensity, brawling, spots, pacing, and blood. Pretty easily among the best WWE matches in 2005 off the top of my head.

 

Note: I saw it live and would call it the best match of the few I've ever seen live, but it didn't hit me at the time as an all-time great. So I feel like I'm fairly safe from rose-colored glasses here, ha.

[WingedEagle]

Off the top of my head, a few I enjoyed include the PPV matches with Cena and Hardy, Michaels on Raw, Undertaker at Mania and Summerslam, Orton on Raw during the rated RKO period and the Backlash '07 four way, I also loved his out of ring work on Smackdown for most of the time he was on top there. One of my favorite characters.

[Loss]

Edge-Hardy at Summerslam '05 rivals the Owen-Shamrock dungeon match and the first Lawler-Snowman match as one of the all-time great super short matches.

[GOTNW]

I like Edge. He was a good ladder wrestler, carriable in other mediums and an interesting TV presence. However he is not among the 100 best wrestlers ever or even close to that.

[Jimmy Redman]

Can somebody take the time to actually list the Edge matches they think are great?

 

Off the top of my head, post-TLC era.

 

vs Eddie - Smackdown 9/02 (No DQ)

w/ Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002

w/ Rey vs Angle/Benoit - Smackdown 10/02 (2/3 Falls)

vs Orton - Vengeance 2004

w/ Christian vs Shawn/Orton - Raw 2/05

vs Shawn - Raw 2/05 (Street Fight)

vs Matt Hardy - Unforgiven 2005 (Cage)

vs Flair - Raw 1/06 (TLC)

vs Foley - WM22 (Hardcore)

vs HHH vs Cena - Backlash 2006

vs RVD - Vengeance 2006

vs Cena - Summerslam 2006

vs Cena - Unforgiven 2006 (TLC)

w/ Orton vs DX - NYR 2007

vs Shawn - Raw 1/07 (Street Fight)

vs Cena vs Shawn vs Orton - Backlash 2007

vs Orton - Raw 4/07

vs Undertaker - WM24

vs Undertaker - Summerslam 2008 (HIAC)

vs Matt Hardy - Smackdown 11/08

vs Cena - Backlash 2009 (LMS)

vs Jeff Hardy - Extreme Rules 2009 (Ladder)

vs Rey Mysterio - Smackdown 6/09

vs John Morrison - Smackdown 6/09

vs Jericho - WM26

vs Rey vs Kane vs Alberto - TLC 2010

vs Dolph Ziggler - Royal Rumble 2011

[InYourCase]

Edge is someone that I shouldn't like because he works that hybrid-WWE style and I typically don't enjoy that, but Edge is the best at it. I have a huge spot in my heart for his series with Kurt Angle in 2002. I love those matches and that's probably his peak - his non-gimmick match peak for sure. Add in some great gimmick matches against Cena, Foley, and his performances in a plethora of ladder matches and he's someone that is making my ballot. Bottom 20 guy, but someone that was very good-great for so long and I don't recall seeing any bad Edge performances. At worst, he's going to give you ***1/4 on a PPV. Not sure what it is about him because as I said, he works a style that typically doesn't draw me in, but I get really invested in Edge's better matches. Very exciting worker with a lot of great finishing stretches. I like the guy more than I should.

[GlassS0Ldier]

From what I've seen in my handful of years lurking around this community, Edge has been one of the more negatively received wrestlers mentioned in this conversation. I think there's a fair argument against his acceptance into a Top 100 solely off his subpar work in non-stipulation matches post neck-injury from 2004 onwards. That said, I cannot stress this enough, it's okay to enjoy Edge. In fact, Edge is someone I think is worth celebrating 

It could be my nostalgia for 2006 talking, but a lot of the down-talking of Edge's matches from the last four years of his first run undermines his entire run from 04-06, which I'd argue is one of the best from a hardcore wrestler/brawler of that era not named Necro Butcher.

Issues with his seemingly flaccid offence are circumvented by his vicious punches and intensity displayed in some of the best feuds WWE had to offer in that era against Matt Hardy, Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair (the latter two having their best TV matches of that entire decade against Edge). He's not, nor was he ever the workhorse that Christian was, but was smart enough to emphasis his promo, character work, and brawling skills during the peak of his career (kayfabe wise, not physically speaking). He also just has way more swagger than Christian ever did. Even before the neck injury and his character evolution, he still brought his brand of hardcore creativity to matches to the tag team division (TLC Matches) and even a handful of great singles performances (vs Eddie in 02).

I'm very curious what the reception will be of Edge's second run will be once it's over and done with, as it seems thus far he hasn't done much at all to sway his biggest critics here. I find it especially intriguing given Edge has gone on record recently to state that he wants to "go back to Nick Bockwinkel, Terry Funk, and All Japan with a modern twist." (Fightful, Feb. 4th) and while a little bit of that can be seen in how he worked the beginning of his match with Randy Orton last summer, I'm not sure how much of that he'll be able to properly convey in the current WWE climate, as I've gotten almost none of that vibe from his big matches so far in 2021 (praise for the Bryan/Roman/Edge triple threat aside).

In any case, he'll make my list, cause I'm about as insane as the faces he makes in his matches.

[Matt D]

Yup. Edge says a lot of the right things. Then he gives us crazy bug eyes.

[strobogo]

The twist being actually nothing like Bock/Funk/AJPW.

[Ma Stump Puller]

I think Edge deserves a rethread after his return to the ring. The guy's been out for years and years and is almost in his 50's, but has almost instantly returned to having solid TV or longform matches (ignoring his fucking dreadful Wrestlemania bout) including getting Orton to some of his most compelling work in years, a fun extended feud with Reigns, as well as a utterly amazing series of matches with Crazy Seth despite having to have their big blowoff feud as a opener on a Saudi show. 

If he isn't on a top 100 before, this probably won't change a lot for you, but it's definitely something to consider as he's really had a good stint so far.

 

[Tetsujin]

His matches with Seth Rollins are amazing. A really well made trilogy. Probably the best rivalry of the business in the pandemic era.

I've always loved him and think he's painfully underrated by these kind of circles around the IWC. He has a much larger resume of pretty good to excellent matches that you may think at first, has some really good performances as a chicken shit heel or bastardly hardcore heel, really great gimmick match worker and tag team guy, was great as a babyface midcarder in SmackDown and as the top heel of the company. He helped make John Cena like no other. His rivalry withw Taker is among the greatest of all time. And this recent run of his is being mindblowing, seriously. He looks even better than at his prime.

[newtalkingwall]

That Summerslam match vs Rollins was one of the worst matches I saw in 2021. Aimless and plodding. Just two guys taking turns doing stuff for no real reason and nothing flowed and then like 20 minutes in to it they decided to do a rest hold, right?

Edge has always had terrible looking offense which is only hidden when he works a garbage match. Extremely low-impact stuff that relies on his opponent jumping in to the move for him.