Honoring Edge, The Rated-R Superstar

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we look back on the career and comeback of Edge.

Do you prefer Edge on his own or with Christian?

David Gibb: I prefer Edge & Christian to any of Edge’s singles incarnations.

Steven Jackson: I much prefer Edge with Christian than when Edge is a singles competitor. I do like Edge on his own, but he excelled so much more when he bounced off Christian.

John Corrigan: Even though I became a wrestling fan in the midst of Edge & Christian’s tremendous run, I loved the Rated-R Superstar run. Plus, the actual tag team barely lasted two years, while Edge had a great run on his own for half a decade.

Chad Gelfand: Edge and Christian will always have a special place in my heart as they were one of my favorite tag teams when I first started watching wrestling. However, Edge has always been one of my favorite wrestlers on his own. From Rob Zombie to the Rated-R Superstar, Edge has delivered so many classic moments as a singles wrestler that I have to go with Edge on his own.

Juan Bautista: Edge was great in either scenario. The tag team with Christian was great and the influence was immeasurable. Edge as a singles competitor gained his identity and won multiple championships. The Rated-R Superstar made sure he was must see.

James Klonowski: On his own, for sure. As entertaining as E&C were, Edge came into his own…on his own. He became a multiple time world champion, a solidified main event draw and a WrestleMania headliner. He achieved a lot of success alongside Christian, but it simply pales in comparison when put up against his joy as a singles star. If you asked Edge, I’m sure he’d say he had more fun with Christian, but sadly, there’s no real money in tag team wrestling, especially in WWE.

Jack Goodwillie: Let me put it this way: Edge and Christian were a great tag team. Edge as a singles wrestler is maybe the definitive wrestling heel of the latter half of the 2000s, and there’s a lot more value in that. Christian himself was no slouch whatsoever as a single, which is where their value lies as performers. Good tag teams are extremely replaceable and the value of a great tag team can be replaced by having two or three good tag teams on the roster. History suggests finding heels to work with the top guy are a lot more difficult, so for that reason among others, I always took to Edge and Christian more individually than as a unit.

Is Edge better as a face or heel?

Gibb: A heel, of course! Stealing girlfriends and kissing widows got him over better than anything else.

Jackson: This topic has caused much controversy with my fellow The Wrestling Estate colleagues, especially John and Jack! I have always seen Edge as a babyface. I can’t hate Edge and his heel antics always feel so forced to me. I’m in the minority and I am okay with that.

Corrigan: Heel. Even though his comebacks have always been fire (Survivor Series 2008, Royal Rumble 2010 and Royal Rumble 2020), the crowds roared because he was so damn entertaining as a sleazy douchebag with a nasty streak.

Gelfand: Edge was good as a face, but he really hit his stride as a heel when he became the Rated-R Superstar. That’s what took Edge from just a good wrestler to a legendary wrestling character.

Bautista: Edge is better as a heel. He was too corny as a face.

Klonowski: Without a doubt, a heel. The Rated-R Superstar. The Ultimate Opportunist. These aren’t nicknames for a babyface. Edge relishes being the bad guy. Most of his success in WWE was as a heel, and he was always the most entertaining antagonizing the crowd. He can be a sympathetic face, and a convincing one at that. However, the role just doesn’t fit him as naturally as a heel does.

Goodwillie: With apologies to Steven, the answer is obvious. Edge is much better at playing the villain than he is at playing the hero, but I will say he does owe a lot of his heel success to the long run he had as a face. The genesis of Edge as a singles face came in 2001 when he won King of the Ring, so up until the birth of the Rated-R Superstar in the fall of 2005, we got roughly three solid years of babyface Edge with an injury layoff included. WWE hit lightning in a bottle with the real-life love triangle between Edge, Lita and Matt Hardy eventually making its way to the screen. The Matt and Lita bond was strong on-screen to match its strength behind the scenes, so when Lita turned on Kane and jumped into the arms of Edge, who had known marital problems of his own at the time, the fans were ready and willing to hate it. From there, everything Edge touched turned to gold. The first Money in the Bank cash-in on John Cena at New Year’s Revolution 2006, the Matt Hardy feud itself, Edge’s attack on John Cena Sr., his involvement at ECW Two Night Stand, and later feuds with Batista and The Undertaker are all high points in the career of the Rated-R Superstar.

What’s Edge’s greatest match?

Gibb: The Triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania 2000.

Jackson: I always enjoyed his feud with Kurt Angle and their match at Judgment Day 2002 was quality wrestling done right!

Corrigan: Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit on November 7, 2002 – the greatest match in SmackDown history.

Gelfand: My favorite Edge match was his Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker at Summerslam 2008. It was the perfect culmination to one of Edge’s greatest feuds.

Bautista: The WrestleMania 22 match against Mick Foley and Mania 24 match against Undertaker. These matches showed what was great about Edge – he could get down and dirty while also stepping up to the plate for a big fight.

Klonowski: That’s a tough one, because he’s had a career filled with classics. Who can forget the epic TLC battles he had alongside Christian opposite The Dudleys and Hardys at the height of the Attitude Era? They were incredible. Or how about his recent wars with Randy Orton? Masterful storytelling throughout. Maybe you could go with his clashes with John Cena and Batista during the era of PG. However, what I believe to be Edge’s greatest match of his career has to be against The Undertaker in the main event of WrestleMania 24. It just doesn’t get better than that. The match was as perfect as it gets. It was the first time that anyone made me believe that The Streak was going to be ended. That’s a credit to the talent of Edge.

Goodwillie: I wouldn’t blame anyone for suggesting that it’s one of the TLC matches, but Edge the performer is so much more than that, which is why I’m going to go with Edge vs. Orton at WrestleMania 36.

Just kidding, although I did like that match a good bit more than most, while also not as much as I thought I did at the time. But as far as Edge’s WWE career goes, while I feel like he did his best character work as the Rated-R Superstar, I also feel his best pure matches came as a babyface in the years leading up. So, for that reason, I’m going to go with the No Disqualification match between Edge and Eddie Guerrero. For some reason, I remembered this match as a ladder match, but that’s only because there was some heavy ladder involvement, among other things. It’s underrated viewing in the legendary career of Guerrero, one of the greatest matches in SmackDown history and showed everybody who mattered in the company that Edge could be capable of holding down a main event spot based on ring work alone.

What’s Edge’s greatest moment/angle?

Gibb: Spearing Jeff Hardy off the ladder for the first time. It was in the WWF/E signature for years and is the first thing I see in my head when I think about Edge.

Jackson: The first Money in the Bank cash-in at New Year’s Revolution 2006! That was a history making moment for not only Edge, not only John Cena, but wrestling as a whole.

Corrigan: The Cutting Edge with Michael Hayes and Sgt. Slaughter on Dec. 5, 2005. This red-hot segment was the finishing touch on the Rated-R Superstar character. Blurring reality and storyline, Edge roasted Ric Flair for his real-life road rage incident and made a tasteless comment about Terry Gordy. You really wanted to see him get his ass kicked after this one.

Gelfand: The greatest Edge moment came at the Royal Rumble this past year when he made his return to the ring after nine years. I never expected him to wrestle again, and it made me emotional to finally see one of my favorite wrestlers have the opportunity to be back doing what he loved.

Bautista: The Royal Rumble returns. In 2010 and 2020, they were both unexpected. The crowds let him know how much they missed him. During both entrances, you could see the joy on his face that he was back.

Klonowski: He’s had a career filled with great moments such as the live sex celebration alongside Lita, impersonating DX, winning KOTR, introducing the “You Suck” chant that haunted Kurt Angle for the rest of time, becoming the first man to cash in MITB, and so much more. However, I’m going to have go with his return at the 2020 Royal Rumble. It was totally unexpected, and the pop he got was tremendous. When he retired in 2011 due to a serious neck injury, I don’t think anyone expected him to ever return to the ring, but nine years later he did, and he looks better than ever. This led to his brutal Last Man Standing war with Randy Orton at WrestleMania, followed by their “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever” at Backlash.

Goodwillie: I love this question, but I always feel like I gloss over a wrestler’s best moment in favor of throwing out his or her best angle, so I’m going to attempt to do both. Although Edge is one of the most decorated and tenured wrestlers in the history of the company, his greatest moment was his 2020 return. Modern medicine obviously played a role, and Daniel Bryan’s return to wrestling with his history of head injuries is one thing. But for Edge to return to the ring after being forced into retirement due to degenerative bone disease in his back, the highest physical stress point for professional wrestlers, it is nothing short of miraculous that we’re able to see him wrestle again and I’m absolutely thrilled about it and thrilled for him.

As far as angles go, Edge is as well-rounded as they come and his comedy segments are always fun to watch. However, I’m going to go the other way and point to his Cutting Edge segment with Mick Foley in advance of facing The Undertaker. It starts conversational but devolves into a pep talk with Foley attempting to motivate Edge into becoming The Rated-R Superstar again because that would be the only way he could stop this version of The Undertaker. It’s sort of a brick-and-mortar Foley segment, as we’ve seen him in several spots like this over the years, but when Edge came out of post-retirement and did the same thing for John Cena, his greatest rival, it really gave the segment that much more credibility.

What should Edge do in 2021?

Gibb: Raise his kids. Do auditions for TV parts.

Jackson: I’d like to see Edge head to NXT and face some of the new talent and mix it up with them. Even leading a stable again in NXT would be cool!

Corrigan: Edge should do another Cutting Edge segment, this time blasting Vince McMahon for allowing WWE to crumble in popularity since he’s been gone. All of McMahon’s stooges should come out to pull the plug and get roasted in the process. Then, Vinnie Mac should strut out to shut shit down, only to get put out of his misery with a spear for his final bump and last appearance on WWE TV.

Gelfand: I want Edge to feud with new people in 2021. It’s a miracle that Edge is even still wrestling, so I want WWE to maximize the time he has left in the ring and put him against opponents he wasn’t facing 16 years ago.

Bautista: If he is going to have a title run, do it. If not, he can work with Adam Cole or maybe even Pat McAfee.

Klonowski: The options are endless as long as Edge can stay fit, which is a long shot considering his track record. He should definitely have a rivalry with Seth Rollins, when one considers all their history together. AJ Styles is another one he should at least have a match with. The one feud I really want to see him have is against a heel Roman Reigns. That will be printing money.

Goodwillie: Edge’s return to wrestling in 2020 is one of the stories of the year, and I’d like to see him ride this wave as long as he can. That said, 2021 will have to be a pivot point for Edge and his feud with Randy Orton and I’d definitely like to see him work with some fresh blood. I don’t think he needs to do a “dream match tour” like some will suggest, but a program with Roman Reigns has massive upside. I’d also like to see him get one more run as world champion, even if it’s just for a night. But a feud between one of WWE’s biggest stars of the 2000s and without question WWE’s hottest performer going at the moment can do gangbusters and maybe even capture the interest of some lapsed fans.