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He kind of sucked, right? Outshadowed in every partnership he's been (E&C, Edge/Rey, Edge/Lita, Rated RKO, Edge/Vickie, Edge/Jericho), inability to be good outside of gimmick matches, frequently injured, consistently overpushed his entire career, basically killed Smackdown for a decade after his terrible terrible La Familia run, promos ranged from horrible comedy (watch the 2000/2001 era stuff, it's absolutely brutal, pun intended) to overwrought crazy/serious which meant he'd pull his hair and shake.

 

He's been pushed SO hard as a top level WWE legend since he retired since anyone who retires or dies prematurely gets martyred. In the end, he's about the most groan worthy guy if I even end up watching 2003-2011 stuff. He has maybe 4-5 matches in his main event run worth talking about, and only one of them isn't a gimmick match (Taker vs Edge at WM, which in retrospect was the turning point in the streak becoming finisher fests and making it impossible to buy one tombstone as a finish).

 

He's almost Jeff Jarrett-esque, in that he's a competent enough guy who kept inexplicably being pushed to the top of the card even when it was a detriment to the show. WWE willingingly killed SD to keep pushing him, giving him the blue version of HHH's death reign, except even worse.

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He was not very good but he was not THAT bad. The one thing I truly hated bout him (apart from the stupid facials, the worst spear ever, the bad WWE comedy) was the fact he, along with the Hardies, brought the infamous "wasted-motion spots" style of working, with awkward body-movement spots requiring illogical bumping or positioning just to make them look "cool".

 

As soon as Christian showed up in late 1998, it was obvious he was the worker though.

 

Probably a nice guy from all acounts, but your typical overrated WWE-only worker and "legend" from the monopoly era.

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Well, I wouldn't go all Jeff Jarrett on him. I was at the Rumble when he returned in Atlanta, and the crowd popped HUGE. There was a certain charisma about him that obviously a lot of people enjoyed on a higher level than that of a JJ. You think if JJ was the surprise entrant in that Rumble anyone would have popped? Nah... I'm not trying to call out Jarrett either. I use that name just because it was used here. Jarrett had his moments in Memphis and Dallas that were fun. But, it's also a fun comparison. I'm not sure I know anyone that loved JJ being the top guy in TNA all those years, and I definitely recall friends not buying him during the later years of WCW. However, I bet there are lots of folks out there that LOVED Edge as champion.

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I wasn't talking about reaction to him, I was talking about why a guy at his talent level keeps dominating the top of the card and it makes no sense. Although I do have the same reaction to Edge's main event run as I do to Double J's WCW run.

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In the Randy Orton thread, someone mentioned they'd rather watch a Best of Edge comp. I'm the exact opposite. I hated Edge so much. Terrible facial expressions. Embarassing overacting. The "running hug." A 2 year dominance on SD from 07-09 that killed the show from a business standpoint. When he returned to the show in the fall of 2010, SD had a made a decent comeback, at least in terms of quality, but then that awful Kane feud happened where he kidnapped Paul Bearer. Really bad stuff. The injuries were bad too, as he'd get hurt all the time. The 07 & 09 injuries were especially bad timing, yet he got opportunity after opportunity. 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. That's just one example of course. Edge seems like a helluva nice guy actually, but his years as a wrestler sucked.

 

On why he kept being pushed, I think the deal was the Edge/Lita pairing did monster ratings because people wanted to see Lita perform sexual acts on live television. I'm assuming WWE thought that had to do with Edge & kept pushing him because they had one big rating years after they didn't consistently have huge ratings.

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Right, and I was meaning maybe it made sense because of the reaction he was getting?

 

A surprise returning main eventer will always get a big pop in the Rumble. I'm not sure that's the best way to judge his popularity. And it's always impossible to tell who was truly over or not on SD due to the sound machine. The Edge/Jericho match at WM that year was pretty heatless.

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Not that the point doesn't have merit, but a comparison to Jarrett does seem a little extreme to me. I can certainly think of more Edge matches that I enjoy as opposed to Jarrett, in pretty much any category. He had his flaws but he had his moments too.

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He had some fun WWE style stuntfests but I have zero interest in rewatching anything with him any time soon. He feels like such an afterthought if you're interested in great wrestling. Not nearly as good as Mick Foley, who, among being a bigger lunatic, at least didn't hammer having crappy offence by thinking up a million stupid indy moves and kept it to some self sacrificing ones and some meh basic moves. And Mick Foley is not nearly as good at that style of wrestling as LA Park, Necro Butcher or Atsushi Onita.

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Well, I wouldn't judge his popularity solely by a surprise pop at the Rumble. I just meant that if Jeff Jarrett, or someone like him, had returned in that spot.... since you compared him to JJ... I do not think they would have gotten that pop. I think it takes a certain level of charisma to achieve a pop like that, and to be perceived as a main eventer. There are a lot of people that don't like Edge at all, whether it's ring work or his persona. However, I think there a lot of people that were really into him, and I think he had enough charisma to get over at a level higher than that of a JJ or someone at JJ's level. So, all I'm saying is ... to answer your initial question... in my opinion... he was booked on top more for his charisma than maybe what you might be looking for in him. It's just a thought...

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It's strange that he had what seemed like a long main event run but when you think back on it, it was only really about 5 years between his first world title and his retirement. It's hard to think of anything from that run that's of any consequence except for maybe the Cena feud.

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I think his retirement has helped edge to a degree, and the fact that he couldn't ever come back helped him not tarnish his legacy. That said I was a fan of edge and maybe it's nostalgia but I'm not as down as some above are on edge. I've been listening to his podcast with Christian and when they are talking about wrestling in detail you get to see how good of a wrestling mind Christian has. I hope Christian is put into the HOF soon.

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I liked him and Lita together. Neither wanted to to go through with the angle so given that I thought they played off each other very well. Lita has admitted it was the most uncomfortable she's ever been in her time in the business. I didn't think the E & C comedy was that bad in 2000/2001 although listening to their podcast they seem to have gone into "dad humor" territory. He was probably over pushed but he had some talent and should have had at least a decent spot. The stuff with Vickie lasted too long though IIRC

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Quality Edge Singles Matches With No Gimmicks Off The Top Of My Head

 

Edge vs Brock & Heyman - Rebellion 2002 (basically an Edge/Brock match)

Edge vs Angle vs Benoit vs Eddie - Smackdown 5th December 2002

 

Edge vs Randy Orton - Vengeance 2004

Edge vs Randy Orton - Raw July 2004

Edge vs Benoit vs Hunter - Raw November 2004

 

Edge vs Hunter - Raw February 2005

Edge vs Benoit - Raw April 2005

Edge vs Matt Hardy - Summerslam 2005 (great short match)

 

Edge vs Cena vs Hunter - Backlash 2006

Edge vs Cena vs RVD - Raw July 2006

Edge vs RVD - Vengeance 2006

Edge vs Cena - Summerslam 2006

 

Edge vs Orton vs Cena vs Shawn - Backlash 2007

Edge vs Orton - Raw April 2007

Edge vs Benoit - Smackdown June 2007

 

Edge vs Undertaker - WM24

Edge vs Jeff Hardy - SNME July 2008

Edge vs Matt Hardy - Smackdown December 2008

Edge vs Jeff vs Hunter - Armageddon 2008

 

Edge vs Cena vs Show - WM25

Edge vs Rey - Smackdown 5th June 2009

Edge vs Jeff Hardy - Smackdown 12th June 2009

Edge vs John Morrison - Smackdown 19th June 2009

 

(He was pretty unbearable in 2010)

 

Edge vs Dolph Ziggler - Rumble 2011

Edge vs Alberto - WM27

 

I mean, it's slim pickings for a guy so heavily featured on TV for a decade (its fucking Edge) and his strengths clearly lie in tag teams and gimmick matches, but there ARE straight singles matches there.

 

Comparing him to Jarrett as a star is way off base. No matter if you dislike the guy, and Lord knows I do too, its pretty disingenuous to suggest that he wasn't over with a lot of people and didn't warrant a push.

 

I do agree that it helps his legacy that he had to retire while he was relatively young and on top and never had a chance to hang around FOREVER and lose people's interest like, say, Randy Orton.

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Once again my comparison to Jeff Jarrett had nothing to do with his overness to crowds but in his clearly average/competent at best work and promos somehow getting him 6 years straight (minus injuries) of dominating the main event scene on whichever show he was on. For me personally, I have the same reaction watching Edge's main event stuff as I have trying to watch WCW 2000 and having Jeff Jarrett and the Harris Bros in every 3rd segment all show long.

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