O Captain! My Captain! Christian Returns To WWE

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we express our joy for the return of Christian to WWE.

How do you feel about Christian’s return at the Royal Rumble?

Chad Gelfand: I was ecstatic. He’s always been one of my favorites, and I’m glad he gets to end his career on his terms.

David Gibb: Christian was the highlight of the men’s Rumble for me. People love to say wrestlers “looked like they haven’t lost a step,” and most of the time, it isn’t true. Christian looked like he hadn’t lost a step. It was an especially nice touch considering the win ultimately went to Edge.

Juan Bautista: This was a genuine surprise because we thought he was done. The last thing that was mentioned about Christian was he had too many concussions. He looks great and I’m glad that he’s healthy.

Steven Jackson: Really excited! I’ve been a massive Christian fan, so to see him return at the Royal Rumble is a huge fanboy moment for me!

John Corrigan: It was a much-needed surprise because up to that point, the women’s Royal Rumble was far superior. Imagine if there was an actual crowd there – it would have been one of the loudest pops in Rumble history.

Jack Goodwillie: Love it. How can you not? I, like many, was legitimately surprised by Christian’s return, but once he returned, I knew that Edge was probably going over. It’s the one thing that might have brought Captain Charisma out of retirement, and to the shock and awe of nobody, he looked fantastic! He should have plenty left in the tank. Whether it’s one match, two matches or one more run, I’m intrigued.

Was Christian properly utilized by WWE before his retirement?

Gelfand: No. As he showed in TNA, Christian can be a perennial contender in the main event scene. Yet, outside of a few months, WWE viewed him mostly as just a mid-card guy.

Gibb: “Properly” is a tricky word. As a wrestler who could have the proverbial match with anyone, he was under-utilized for sure. He had what Vince McMahon allegedly calls “the curse of the great worker.”

Bautista: Once he got moved to SmackDown, yes. I was in attendance when his big return was on ECW. By that time, WWE had given up on ECW and was slapping it on top of SmackDown tapings. That’s why it took a second for people to get loud for him. Ultimately, the injuries piled up and he had a similar situation to Dolph Ziggler. Unfortunately, he got lost in the shuffle.

Jackson: Christian was utilized greatly throughout the early part of his return run from TNA. But then WWE seemed to drop the ball with him. I’ve always found his work to have so much more depth than Edge, and his wrestling matches have always been brilliant, especially his rivalry with Randy Orton.

Corrigan: WWE never utilized Christian properly. Before he went to TNA, he was riding a wave of momentum as Captain Charisma and should have been a frequent challenger to John Cena. I understand not putting him over the cash cow at the time, but Christian should have been a regular main event player. And then when Christian came back to WWE, after winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and proving he belonged at the top of the card, his surprise return was relegated to ECW. Like, what?

Goodwillie: No, but TNA wrote the book on how to properly utilize Christian. There’s absolutely no reason Christian, in his prime, couldn’t have been at the top of the card. He makes so few mistakes in the ring, can draw heat and can get his opponent over with ease. The latter point may have been his downfall in WWE. Just because you have a wrestler who can make his or her opponent look like the greatest thing since sliced bread, that should not necessitate a spot in the mid-to-lower card.

In TNA, Jeff Jarrett and Co. knew what they had in Christian, giving him the freedom and flexibility to do his own thing without bumping him down the card. For as long as he resided in TNA, even after the debut of Kurt Angle and the rise of guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, Christian Cage never sank lower than the fifth most-over wrestler on the roster. So, with a great TNA run written in stone, one would have thought WWE had learned its lesson from Christian’s initial run. Not so.

What’s Christian’s greatest match?

Gelfand: RVD vs. Christian in an IC Title match on a 2003 Raw. Those two had great chemistry and showcased the IC Title’s true spirit, which is about talented young wrestlers with main event potential.

Gibb: Probably the Triangle Ladder Match or TLC. As a single, he was very good with Orton.

Bautista: Christian vs. Samoa Joe at Destination X 2007. This match doesn’t get talked about enough. It was a nice blend of Joe’s ground and pound offense and Christian throwing down and fighting.

Jackson: Christian’s greatest match is also the match I chose as RVD’s greatest match, which is the Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship on RAW in 2003. A dramatic spectacle, it showcased all the qualities of what makes Christian so great!

Corrigan: He’s never been in a bad ladder match, and obviously is a pioneer of the TLC/car crash style, but I most fondly remember his match with Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XX. And that kiss with Trish, bah Gawd!

Goodwillie: This is a tough question because I know everyone’s going to reference the series of TLC matches, as is naturally the case with guys like Christian, Edge, The Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz. But when he returned to WWE, the lump sum of great matches he was able to have, particularly with Randy Orton, certainly caught my eye. However, these matches occurred in an era where WWE would run near six-month programs with little heat, so the matches between the two, good as I remember them to be, kind of run together. What I do remember is WWE shockingly working a double turn between Orton and Christian at a time where Christian had all the babyface momentum one can have coming off Edge’s retirement. So that marred those matches a bit for me.

If I were to pick one, consider this: On less than two weeks’ notice, coming off a severe back injury that cost him four months, Christian returned to fill in for Edge in a Ladder Match with Chris Jericho (in skinnier times) at Unforgiven 2004. I had only started watching wrestling in July, so I had not heard of Christian when he crashed Jericho’s Highlight Reel, but his status as Edge’s former tag partner intrigued me. That match was so great. I know that a good ladder match often tends to be a great wrestler’s best or most remembered match, but for all the circumstances, that match stands out. As far as TNA matches go, anything Christian did with Samoa Joe was gold.

What’s Christian’s greatest moment/angle?

Gelfand: Christian Coalition. I loved this group in TNA. Christian, AJ Styles and Tomko all worked so well off each other, mixing comedy with seriousness, and they helped Christian feel like the top guy in the company.

Gibb: I mean this as the highest compliment: I don’t think Christian is the kind of wrestler whose career has been defined by high points. He is the kind of wrestler whose career has been defined by consistency and always making the best of what is in front of him. I hold him in the same esteem as someone like Bobby Eaton.

Bautista: Three come to mind: The chair shot to Edge, his debut in TNA and turning on Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XX and sealing it with a kiss with Trish Stratus.

Jackson: Definitely the feud with Chris Jericho in 2004, and the shocking moment at WrestleMania XX when Christian and Trish Stratus embraced and the world found out they were in cahoots all along!

Corrigan: “Tomko, give me a beat.” Also, when he wore Kurt Angle’s chicken suit to lose weight to challenge for the Light Heavyweight Title. That’s the peak of Sunday Night Heat!

Goodwillie: It might just be providing the assist for Edge at the 2021 Royal Rumble. But Christian is the type to overachieve in almost any segment or angle. Remember his rap battle with John Cena? His various comedy segments with Edge? I always think of an interview the Christian Coalition did in TNA, where AJ Styles taps him on the shoulder mid-interview and asks him if he has star quality. “AJ, you have….. what I like to call….. potential!”

What would you like to see Christian do now that he’s back?

Gelfand: I would like to see Christian and Big E feud over the IC title, elevating Big E to the next level. I’d also like to see Edge and Christian reunite and have another shot at the Tag Team Titles. We need more five-second poses.

Gibb: I’d like to see him wrestle Randy Orton on the big stage one last time. They’ve had a great rivalry in the past, Orton has extensive and recent history with Edge that can easily be spun toward Christian and Orton’s the right kind of heel to set Christian up to do his thing in the ring at a high level.

Bautista: Let him go 20 minutes with Daniel Bryan or AJ Styles. He is a very underrated wrestler. A title program with Sami Zayn would be great.

Jackson: I’d like to see Christian go after the WWE Title against Drew McIntyre and feud with some of the younger guys coming up. He’s still got it and facing anyone he has never wrestled before is going to be must-see viewing for me!

Corrigan: I’d watch Brock Lesnar put Christian out of his mercy to set up an Edge-Lesnar showdown at SummerSlam.

Goodwillie: How much time have we got? If Christian’s back for one more match, then it has to be against Edge for the Universal Championship on the first SmackDown coming off WrestleMania. Has to be. If he’s here for a year-long run, though, I don’t have a ton of interest in seeing another heel turn. Who’s going to boo a man who has already given the fans so much? Wishing for another world title run may be asking a bit much, but what I would like to see is a year-long run with a mid-card belt, preferably the Intercontinental Championship.

The debate over of the prestige of midcard titles in WWE is a near-weekly discussion, so why not put either the United States or Intercontinental Championship on Christian at WrestleMania, and have him say he’ll stick around and keep wrestling until someone is able to take the title off him. Along the way, there will be opportunities for him work the opponents people want to see like Daniel Bryan and Sami Zayn. Flash forward to the next WrestleMania, and it’d be a great chance for someone like a Karrion Kross or a similar debuting star to make their mark as the one who retired Captain Charisma for good.