Columns - Online World of Wrestling

WRESTLING COLUMNS

The Rise & Fall Of Edge
June 20, 2006 by Josh Jenkins

Editor's Notes: There are lots of columns posted on various topics, and sometimes there are multiple columns with similar topics. If you read a column (ANY column) and decide to send in feedback, PLEASE be sure to indicate which column you are responding to by typing the TITLE of the column in the subject line. Also, DO NOT FORGET to sign your name. Thanks!

Well I'd better start by introducing myself. I'm Josh Jenkins, I'm 14 years old, and I have been an obsessed wrestling fan since discovering it when I was 8 years old. Now that garbage is out of the way, I am going to be letting you know my thoughts on a superstar we have been seeing a lot of recently on RAW, the very man who screwed John Cena out of the WWE Title at ECW One Night Stand, 'The Rated R Superstar' Edge.

Five years ago, we saw the destruction of one of the greatest tag teams in WWE history: Edge & Christian. This was the end of a great and experienced team, but also the birth of a young and upcoming superstar that would slowly begin to gain popularity and rise in the (then) WWF. Winning the Intercontinental Championship solidified Edge as a potential main eventer, this potential only grew through the end of 2001 and 2002, feuding with stars such as Booker T and Kurt Angle. We saw some very funny segments, such as Edge switching Kurt Angle's new t-shirt with one with the words "You Suck", but we also occasionally saw a different side of Edge, a crazed psycho that would all of a sudden snap. These sorts of antics showed a sign that Edge was quite possibly the future of SmackDown.

Edge suffered a broken neck in February 2003 which put him out of action for over a year. Edge was taken off TV after Chris Benoit & Brock Lesnar found him unconscious minutes before a scheduled 6 man Tag Team match against Team Angle. Everybody seemed to have forgotten about Edge by 2004, until a promo aired at WrestleMania XX stating that Edge was returning. The next night, Edge was drafted to RAW at the Draft Lottery, and returned later in the night spearing then General Manager, Eric Bischoff. He began teaming up with then World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit and the team eventually won the Tag Team titles, only to lose them a short time after. He defeated Randy Orton to become the Intercontinental Champion once again, but the title was forfeit due to a groin injury. On the return from the groin injury, Edge's character changed dramatically into a crazy heel. This began the downfall of Edge.

This change didn't only affect Edge's character, but we saw Edge back down from various fights, something we never would have saw during his days as a well-loved face. He feuded with stars such as Shawn Michaels and Kane, winning the Money In The Bank ladder match in the process, acquiring a shot at the WWE Championship in the next year, but little did we know off-screen Edge was acquiring a little more than a shot at the WWE Title.

In Mid-2005, we saw Edge hook up with then-face Lita. It was then revealed on Matt Hardy's official website that the two had actually been having an affair off-screen for a number of months. This gained Edge a lot of heat, mainly because Matt Hardy was such a well loved babyface. This publicity was a huge blow for Edge, and his little popularity fell which made him the biggest heel on RAW. Edge had gone from one of WWE's most popular stars to a person who wrestling fans didn't seem to care about. This unpopularity lasted from mid-2005 to the beginning of 2006 when he began to feud with John Cena over the WWE title after cashing in his Money in the Bank title shot and capturing the title after Cena had just retained the title in an Elimination Chamber match. This gained Edge a measure of popularity due to dethroning John Cena, much to many fans' pleasure. Just three weeks later at the Royal Rumble, he dropped the title back to John Cena, restarting his unpopularity.

Currently, Edge is the number one contender to Rob Van Dam's WWE/ECW Heavyweight Championship, the two will fight for the title belts at Vengeance. We can't exactly expect much of Edge and the Heavyweight Title anytime in the next few months, WWE doesn't seem to like keeping the title on him for very long, nor do the fans want to see the title on him for very long. But hell, it's Edge. Everybody will love him again when he turns face.

by Josh Jenkins ..

Jon Rosaler wrote:
One more thing, Edge was not Drafted the next night, he was drafted 8 days after WM, when the Draft Lottery began, but it's ok, just letting you know.

Stephen wrote:
Hey Josh, what the hell are you talking about" Edge is a heel which means that he is meant to be unpopular. When he had the title, people were interested in what would happen with Edge, not beacause he was liked but because he was different to the boring Chain Gang crap. We can't expect much from Edge when he wins the belt" He is the best 'sports-entertainer' on Raw at the moment, and I want him to have the belt because he is entertaining. WWE give Cena the belt back because of the crowd reactions he was getting, and this was shown best at WrestleMania and ECW: 1 Night Stand. The fans don't want him to have the belt because he is a heel, and thats what heels do.

FJ Parlan wrote:
This is a pretty decent article, and the fact that you made it short enough to go straight to your point, well, is a plus.

Commenting on your column, I like Edge as a wrestler, and he plays his character too well, but like most of us, the controversy that surrounds Edge in real life does nothing good. However, I do not believe that Edge is on a downfall process. I do believe, despite the rude publicity he caused, he is a main-eventer who is still up in the rise. It's not the titles that determines his popularity nor the publicity. When he won the title form Cena, fans aren't happy just because somebody had finally dethroned Cena, but because his great work had finally given him what he deserved.

The title, well, is quite unfitting. On that note, let me say that let's see Edge as what he is for the business and not for what he does in real life, and he will be appreciated.

Ryan McKoewn wrote:
Are you on Crack" Edge is awesome and his next title reign will be a long one. You say Edge's downfall began when he turned heel" wrong! That's when he began to shoot back upthe Contender's List for the WWE title, which is where he was before his neck injury. The Edge-Lita-Hardy thing is done, over, finished, so stop talking about it, especially since Edge & Lita are broken up (off-screen). I've been an Edge fan since the beginning and have been during the whole heel turn and will be disapointed if he turns face again cause hes a great heel. The Rise & Fall of Edge, please Edge is still rising to the top, but what else can we expect from a 14 year-old who watched wrestling for 6 years.

Andrew Riordan wrote:
Some good points Josh, but some very bad ones too. Edge is currently my favorite superstar in WWE. I love his arrogence, his crazyness. As a face from 2001-2003 he was decent, but fairly stale. He was a goody-two shoes and I found him boring. In 2004 he was improved as a crazy heel he was still somewhat stale. Matt Hardy made Edge the monster heel thoughout 2005. Edge was entertaining and a perfect heel.

If you like Edge as a face and don't like him as a heel, I guess he's doing a good job.

Dylan L. wrote:
Simply put, one of the worst columns I have ever read. I was even thinking of stop reading it. You left out so much of Edge's career, I am thinking of throwing up. You lack so much knowledge of this man obviously, you have no right to write a column about him. You are obviously one of those people that never actually knows the full history of a superstar. He has worked in Canada, on the Indy level, you don't know anything about his life before WWE though. But that's the problem with most of you fans these days. you only see what goes on in WWE or TNA, you don't want to learn more about a person. But people like you, Josh Jenkins, who don't actually know a lot about a superstar, but have the audacity to write about his wrestling career. His rise and fall" I don't know why I am even responding to this HORRIBLE column.

Jon Rosaler wrote:
Edge will beat RVD at Vengeance, there is absoleutily No point for the WWE title to remain in ECW. Edge will likely get a little longer run than before, but the only reason Edge beat Cena, is because of the heat he got at NYR, but to be honest, I never liked Edge, ever since he made Angle bald. The reason for that is "What if they do a double turn"". Edge would just bash angle for being bald and he did. I plain hate Edge, there is no other way to say it. He has talent, but I am tired of seeing him with Lita and he really shouldn't be on Raw. He belongs in ECW, Raw has plenty to start a main event, Like Randy Orton or Mick Foley. ECW is going to soon have Test,Gangrel, and CM Punk, so they will be preoccupied soon enough. As for Smackdown, the heel base so far is Booker T, Ken Kennedy, Mark Henry, and Great Khali (oh, yeah and the commentating god.) Edge makes a better heel than Jeff Jarrett, I actually was disappointed that recognized guys like John Cena and Jeff Jarrett get that much heat, they would throw Soda Bottles, Toilet paper and signs at them. When it comes to cynile male fans that hate Cena, they kiss Edge's ass and that really pisses me off. I am always told my head is up Cena's ass, (well, look who's talking Mr.I-Said-F*ck-You-Edge-to-Thank-You-Edge)

Edge needs some improvement. 1.Put him out of the title picture 2.Get rid of the girl who aren't dating anymore 3. Get the hell off of Raw and get your ass to EC F'NW!!!

Jose Aguirre wrote:
Edge is not only a good wrestler he has an excellent gimmick. First he has good heel heat especially after the Matt Hardy fiasco because it actually happened in real life, and it was probably Matt's fault anyway because he and Lita were dating for 6 years and he wouldn't marry her. Second Edge is a good wrestler, did you not see his match with Mick Foley" Mick Foley is a glorified stuntman and Edge made him look good. Third Edge has excellent promo skills whether he's face or heel. When he's face he says what everyone is thinking and makes a big joke out of it, when he's heel he disrespects the fans even when they cheer for him, that is commitment to the role of being the "bad guy," even during the pointless press conference's for PP V's.

Billy On wrote:
You can already telll what type of fan you are, a 14 year old who only goes for the faces and is to busy wayching the gimmicks thatn watching the match. The fans love Edge and respect him because he goes out and gives everything to give the fans what they want to see, a great match. John Cena wrestles with one or two moves at first then for the next 10 miinutes gets the crap kicked out of him but still wins, please that happened with hogan sometimes but it should have gone away. Edge on the other hand portrays the heel perfectly he knows how to tick off fans like you who watch the gimmiks and puts his body on the line for a great match like me or anyone who actaull watches wrestling.

Mike Tedesco wrote:
Man, I wasn't originally going to bash your article until I read what you wrote in the comments as a "rebuttal" to some of the others that were bashing it. "But to be honest, I never liked Edge, ever since he made Angle bald." What" One of your only reasons for disliking a wrestler and having the balls to say his career is on the downfall is because you're mad that he made Kurt Angle bald because of a STORYLINE"! Are you retarded" This is exactly the reason why not every article should be accepted at OnlineWorldofWrestling.com and why fourteen year olds such as yourself, Josh Jenkins, should just stick to watching TV, playing video games, and downloading porn and keep your damn mouths shut about stuff you are obviously not qualified to talk about.

Richard Miller wrote:
So the name of this column is the Rise & Fall of Edge. You summarized his career, from his tag team days with Christian, his Intercontinental Championships to winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, winning the WWE Champion from Cena, and being up for it again at Vengance. There's the rise. WHERE'S THE FALL"""!!!

Oh hey, guess what - there is no fall.

I've always been a heel fan, and I think that he's the best heel today. Edge and Lita are the very characters that separate RAW from Smackdown!. And this is why they should be kept on RAW, contrary to what you're suggesting. Here's the thing: putting Edge on ECW is exactly like putting Triple H (the heel) on ECW: we love these guys as heels. They cheat by using chairs, sledgehammers, they're girlfriends, etc to win. We love it when they do these things, and when they do these things, it's only cool when they're actually BREAKING THE RULES by doing them. Seing Edge swing weapons at his opponents and having Lita get involved everyweek where all that crap is actually legal would dramatically alter his character. In order for Edge to be Edge, there has to be rules for him to break.

I'm not going to bring up your age, and I'm not trying to be easy - as far as I'm concerned, as long as you're here, I'm going to talk to you just like I would anyone else here. Despite what other people here are saying, if you've been watching wrestling for the past six years, then you know everything you need to know about Edge - and at the the same time, whether you've been watching wrestling for the past six years, or you just tuned in maybe two years ago, then you should know enough to know better than to say that Edge is on the "Fall".

Marco wrote:
I don�t understand why you call it the rise & fall of Edge. He is getting better and better. He is probably the most talented wrestler in the WWE roster. If WWE management can�t see that they shouldn�t be in the wrestling business. Why should they even consider turning babyface such a great heel. He�s got an enormous presence on the mic. Fans really love to boo him and that makes him really great. On the ring he is one of the top 3 wrestlers in the WWE roster. He should have at least one long title run in the next year or i will stop watching Raw.

Is so much better then RVD. Making him lose to Van Dam would be a gigantic mistake. Hell, even Cena is better then RVD. I�m still so p***** of that Cena didn�t lose to Angle , Christian, HBK, Jericho or Triple H and ended up losing the title to the spot wrestler RVD.

Brad Dykens wrote:
Okay, I screwed up. When I posted Jon Rosaler's comments (scroll up) I accidentally credited the comments to the author of this article, Josh Jenkins... Before I noticed this error, more feedback was sent it bashing Josh for comments that were actually made by Jon Rosaler... So if the last few pieces of feedback sound strange, that is why. My apologies to both John Jenkins and Jon Rosaler...

Jack wrote:
Hey Josh not complaining because your just 14 and i bet u like John Cena because he is a tough guy who never loses and never backs down, and maybe boogeyman because he scares people. But pls dont put ure stupid column on a site which is viewed by all age grps keep it to my space. And plus Edge is an amazing wrestle and a tough guy...jus see WM22 with him against foley.. Edge is also a good entertainer and gets the crowd to boo him....which is soo cool.....Cena sux btw and is gonna get his ass whipped next WM23 against Randy Orton....CENA FEARS RKO

Jonathan Preston wrote:
Well, I had a feeling that Edge was not going to win the WWE Championship at Vengeance. Actually, I was 100% sure of it. If Edge is going to be champ, he has to do it on Smackdown or even maybe ECW. RAW has too many main event wrestlers that are better than Edge that should be the champ. You got guys like Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, I even would like to see Shelton Benjamin champ before Edge. All I'm saying is this, if Edge is going to be champ, he has to do it on Smackdown or ECW. And considering he's been playing the hardcore role lately, maybe it should be ECW.

W D wrote:
yea i just got reading this article it was a good written article but yea there are somthings that i didnt like okay one edge didnt screw cena out of the title okay it was ecw rules which means anything goes which mean paul heyman had the right to do what he did so yea it was fair when edge speared cena okay back to personal things okay 1.edge is a heel so yea there is a reason he act like he does and is fearful of fights cause thats what bad guys do hype fans up only to go hey umm no 2. the whole thing about matt hardy would not have even came out if it was not for matt i mean he put all that on his website so yea it was only natual that he was going to be a heel after that and edge is better as a heel i mean he was a fan fav in the brood when he was part of takers minstry then he was a face in e and c also he was a face teaming up with hulk hogan after the first draft to win the wwe tag gold so it was for certin that he would end up being a heel sooner or later but edge was a fan fav when he won the title the reason is cause people got tired of seeing the same old chain gang antics which proves why they dont have people hold the title long and yea edge he was the future when he started but after he injured his neck WWE looked over him while he was gone pushing people like orton cena and Lesnar in 03 but when edge came back he went right after the tag gold and intercontinal gold yes he had a groin injurie but the main reason wwe gave him the ic title was to push orton to the world title when edge got hurt he was at a high point in his carrer but its like they say when one man gets hurt another has to pick the ball up and run and vince gave the ball to orton and he ran but as for the fall of edge is only in his early 30s so he has a bright future a head of him so yea he will end up being about a 3 or 4 time wwe champ before it is done

Richard Miller wrote:Jonathan Preston, how old are you"
First off, anyone here will tell you that there's no way in HELL Edge will EVER be on the non-cable TV show that is Smackdown! - not with his current gimmick anyway. Too many wrestlers better than Edge" I'm looking at the RAW roster right now - and the ONLY people I would consider to be better would be Shawn Michaels and Triple H due to their experience and the fact that they're not the same age as Ric Flair or Terry Funk, and I would consider Randy Orton to be Edge's equal.

Shelton Benjamin" Honestly, I see his career being just like Tito Santana's - he'll retire with a few IC, US (if affected by the draft lottery), and Tag Team Championships and that's it. How long has be been around, and how many world title shots has he had" That's what I thought.

Kyle Gurrent wrote:
(Before I write this response to your writing Josh, there are 2 comments that I want to respond to.)

Dylan L. wrote ''But that's the problem with most of you fans these days. You only see what goes on in WWE or TNA, you don't want to learn more about a person.''

Response: ''You fans today''! Are you f****** kidding me, we don't want to learn about the person behind camera" I guess not, with jerks like you surfing the net you would probably make up some half a** story about how they rapped some teenage boy or some other stupid bulls*** story (like Orton and the steroids) that I have heard from you ''older'' (emphasis on ''old''er fans).

You sit on your high horse and talk about how great the golden days were and complain about how today's stars that wwe has pushed (orton,batista,cena) doesn't have the ''stuff'' to be successful like your idols were. News flash! Just like how every other generation hates each others music, the same applies to the wrestlers. Wrestlers that you thought were great aren't going to seem as great to a person half your age, so give the guy a break, Dylan.

Jon Rosaler wrote:" I actually was disappointed that recognized guys like John Cena and Jeff Jarrett get that much heat, they would throw Soda Bottles, Toilet paper and signs at them. When it comes to cynile male fans that hate Cena, they kiss Edge's ass and that really pisses me off. Edge needs some improvement. 1. Put him out of the title picture 2.Get rid of the girl who aren't dating anymore 3. Get the hell off of Raw and get your ass to EC F'NW!!!"

Response: Thank goodness, someone with some common sense. I agree that edge needs to go to ecw within the next year. And that he and lita should break up (on-screen). Men are ready to kill of cena because there girlfriends cheer for him like crazy, but there are all cheering like f****** crazy for edge because he is the only other man in cena's age category, it's crazy, completely f******crazy.

In response to the article:

I'm not going to sit here and argue and yell with you about how much of a cena lover you sound or so on and so forth. I would like to comment on the fact that every time I turn on the telle I have yet to find one instance of edge degrading physical in-ring or mic wise, you have shown little or none instance that your opinion can be backed up with examples. I believe the main reason why superstars aren't going over like the wwe had hoped for them to be, is that they lack the storylines to put them over. I have also read here that some people here believe that wwe is saving there strength (so to speak), for when tna emerges as competition. I find this train of thought naive and too optimistic. WWE is dieing, just as they were in 1995. The problem is, that the youth that has pull with Vince in 2006(Orton, cena) is unlike the youth that had his pull in 1995 (Shawn, hhh).Because they lack the creativity that the youth of 1995 had.

All and All Josh, I find your writing here to be self indulging on a topic that (as I'm sure you're finding out from the responses) you lack experience with. Unfortunately, columns like this make me lose faith that my generation will be capable of leading this world. Disappointing, very disappointing column....

wrote:

If you have any comments, reactions, rebuttles or thoughts on this column, feel free to send them to the email below,
PLEASE INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE COLUMN YOU'RE REPLYING TO AND SIGN YOUR NAME..
We at OnlineWorldofWrestling want to promote all points of view, and that includes YOURS.