stro Posted May 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 Inexplicably pushed to that level to start with. Once he was pushed to that level, most of his heat on Raw as derived from Lita, and most of his heat on SD was derived from Vickie. I'm not sure there was ever a period in his career where he didn't need someone to play off of to make him look better. It's very obvious the decision that Edge was going to be a top guy was made in 2002 at the latest, and fans totally rejected the idea in 2003-2005 until the Matt/Lita thing happened. Yet, it never stopped them from pushing him hard. That's what is inexplicable to me. That they picked a dude who clearly wasn't as good as the people he was paired with, who was very average in the ring and mic, who wasn't particularly attractive either....someone high up decided he was going to be a main eventer and didn't stop until he became a "legend". Edge's push in modern WWE would have as hard of a backlash as Roman's, except he's not nearly as good in the ring as Roman has proven to be over the past 2-3 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted May 9, 2017 Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 He and Hunter I find very similar, particularly in the sense that most of the time their alleged heat is being produced by someone else. Hunter had Chyna, DX, Steph, Shawn, Evolution. Edge had Christian, Lita, Vickie. He rarely had to go it alone, and when he did ( 2004e, 2010 for example) he was awful as a character and way less over. Vickie was one of the best heels of the century, and one of the main reasons why is that she gave Edge heat and relevance for so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted May 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 First off, can we talk about how fucking horrible wrestling fans are that they turned a beloved star's WIDOW into the top heel for like 5 years? Like, wtf. But back to Edge. The HHH comparison doesn't hold water with me after he went solo as a heel. Yes, Chyna and then DX as a whole buoyed him in 1997-1998. Stephanie and Evolution certainly did not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted May 9, 2017 Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 Steph has definitely helped him in recent years as the Authority. She cuts better promos and is more over as a heel. The most heat Hunter gets in his matches now is the moment when Steph gets hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted May 9, 2017 Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 In what world is a cage match not a gimmick match? To me at least, there's a distinction between stipulation matches and gimmick matches. Cage matches in general feel like more violent versions of a standard wrestling match. It's not a theory I've rigorously developed, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeplastictrees Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 First off, can we talk about how fucking horrible wrestling fans are that they turned a beloved star's WIDOW into the top heel for like 5 years? Like, wtf. Who are you talking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 Better that than the pity babyface push (cf Rey Jr.). And Eddie was a heel too anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted May 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 First off, can we talk about how fucking horrible wrestling fans are that they turned a beloved star's WIDOW into the top heel for like 5 years? Like, wtf. Who are you talking about? I'm talking about Vickie Guerrero and how much fans hated her so much they had to turn her heel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 From the list above, I love the Edge/Orton matches the most (Vengeance 04 and April 07). I'd also throw a mention to a couple of his matches with Angle in 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topropepodcast Posted May 15, 2017 Report Share Posted May 15, 2017 Years later, a much better talent in Wade Barrett had the same injury problems & didn't get the near the level of promotion. Barrett might not have made money for WWE, near did Edge really, but he would have been far more successful on top as a talent because he was way better than Edge. I feel like this is a step way too far. Barrett on any given night was usually the worst guy in the ring. I don't see any way he was "way better" than Edge and I'm not an Edge fan. Barrett sucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricR Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 I'm not a huge Barrett fan, but I don't think I've ever seen him be a notable "worst guy in the ring". Notable meaning "all four of these guys in the match aren't that good, and he's the worst". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 I wouldn't say Barrett sucked but he got really over rated because people wanted to believe their bullshit narrative about how Cena ruined the next top guy. But you can't say anything about Edge being "fragile" or "injury prone" and spare Barrett the same criticism. I would rather watch a Barrett match than an Edge match though because Edge was fucking garbage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 Barrett didn't really find his groove as an in ring worker until after his ship had well and truly sailed. There's a lot of quality in the 2012-2015 period. But in 2010 that was irrelevant, he came in as a genuinely good promo and performer and an interesting character, and they DID fuck him up and not give him nearly as many chances as Edge got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposer Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 Years later, a much better talent in Wade Barrett had the same injury problems & didn't get the near the level of promotion. Barrett might not have made money for WWE, near did Edge really, but he would have been far more successful on top as a talent because he was way better than Edge. I feel like this is a step way too far. Barrett on any given night was usually the worst guy in the ring. I don't see any way he was "way better" than Edge and I'm not an Edge fan. Barrett sucked. Completely disagree. I thought Barrett was a really good worker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposer Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 I wouldn't say Barrett sucked but he got really over rated because people wanted to believe their bullshit narrative about how Cena ruined the next top guy. But you can't say anything about Edge being "fragile" or "injury prone" and spare Barrett the same criticism. I would rather watch a Barrett match than an Edge match though because Edge was fucking garbage. I didn't spare Barrett the same criticism. If it came across that way, it's not what I meant. I meant they were both injury prone, but for two guys who were Barrett was much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted May 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 Also one guy got pushed at the top of the card for 6 years, with wins over every top guy of the era, 11 championships, and retired a legend. The other guy had a 6 month push, got turned into a joke then an actual comedy character for the next few years, retired and was never mentioned again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 Better worker: Triple H or Edge? Alberto Del Rio or Edge? Randy Orton or Edge? (holy shit Rated-RKO was boring) Cody Rhodes or Edge? Edge always sort of reminded me of seeing guys like Dino Bravo when watching old wrestling shows. Like he's always there and I never really care. Never struck me as a main eventer, despite how much they used him. Good for him that he's in the Hall of Fame but the credibility of that will always be questioned anyway. Speaking of Hall of Fame: Koko B. Ware or Edge? I liken Edge a lot to how I see Kane, actually. Not a great worker, continually around the top of the card but you never really care about him all that much. He's just kinda there. Kane or Edge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 I'd rather watch Edge than just any of these guys save for Koko (especially in Memphis). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposer Posted May 16, 2017 Report Share Posted May 16, 2017 I'd rather watch Edge than Triple H. Maybe some of the bad stuff with Kane. Otherwise, nah. I prefer the others to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted May 17, 2017 Report Share Posted May 17, 2017 I find Edge to be mostly inoffensive. He's still probably Cena's signature opponent after all these years which is saying something. I also don't think him being on top for 6 years is really that big a deal when you consider the promotion had 2 brands at the time and he alternated between the two. That was also an era where the top of the card was kind of in transition. He was also in the promotion for almost a decade before being a top guy. If I had to rate him I would save average to above average with bouts of good mixed in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justtxyank Posted May 17, 2017 Report Share Posted May 17, 2017 Meh. That's about how I feel about him as a singles main event worker. His offense always bothered me. I'd rather watch Triple H for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 I really liked Edge as a heel. Sure he was a bad actor and his facials were extreme, but the guy knew how to get heat. He was the sniveling coward who was incredibly resourceful and was seen as dangerous when pushed too far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigVanCrush Posted June 10, 2017 Report Share Posted June 10, 2017 inability to be good outside of gimmick matches what was the gimmick for the tag match from no mercy 2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotJayTabb Posted June 10, 2017 Report Share Posted June 10, 2017 Man, Jarrett carried Michaels and Angle to arguably their best ever singles matches. Edge hasn't got anything that comes close to either of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted June 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2017 inability to be good outside of gimmick matches what was the gimmick for the tag match from no mercy 2002 Being the 4th wheel in a match where the other 3 were 3 of the best in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.