Is Edge Actually Good?

WrestleTalk

Luke Owen asks if Edge is Actually Good. What do you think? Is Edge Actually Good? #Edge #WWE #WWERoyalRumble  Watch Is The Royal Rumble Actually Good here: https://youtu.be/0dL36NOXn4Q  Twitter clip taken from @dead_end_old: https://twitter.com/dead_end_old His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk5jDtlm8iGOcNJxu-ErNtg  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/

Transcript

00:00 On April 11th 2011, Edge announced on an episode of Raw that he was forced to retire from professional

00:06 wrestling due to cervical spinal stenosis.

00:09 His doctors at the time told him that if he took up hard fall, say a bump to the mat,

00:14 he would be at risk of neck down paralysis or even death.

00:19 He relinquished the World Heavyweight Championship and outside of a couple of on-screen appearances

00:23 and his Hall of Fame induction, that was it for Edge in ring in WWE.

00:30 Until January 26th 2020, nearly 9 years later when Edge was a surprise entrant in the Royal

00:37 Rumble.

00:38 It was a great moment, one of the all time great Rumble surprises.

00:43 Edge was back and it was summed up perfectly by this guy's reaction.

00:55 Sadly he had a complete snorefest against Randy Orton at WrestleMania and picked up

01:00 an injury in the rematch at Backlash.

01:02 A good match for sure, but it was hurt by the WWE marketing of "the greatest wrestling

01:07 match ever", setting it lofty expectations that it was never going to hit.

01:12 And that injury sidelined him once again, finally returning at this year's Royal Rumble

01:17 and going on to win the whole thing.

01:19 We rejoiced on our WrestleTalk LiveStream reactions, but were surprised to see that

01:24 the following day, not everyone shared in our joy.

01:28 After everyone loved the return in 2020, him winning the Rumble just one year later and

01:33 challenging for a top title at WrestleMania turned a portion of the fans against him,

01:38 labelling him as yet another Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker or any of the other part-timers

01:45 who are stealing spots from the younger guys.

01:48 Honestly it was quite surprising.

01:50 And although Edge has since appeared on NXT and Smackdown and has said he will be a full

01:55 timer while in this position, it hasn't stopped people thinking that this Edge return

02:00 might not be all it was cracked up to be.

02:03 But has this reaction tarnished the reputation of Adam Copeland?

02:07 Are people now ignoring the hard work he did prior to his injury?

02:12 Is Edge actually good?

02:14 Before we get into the meat of this video, I'd like to thank you for clicking on it

02:17 in the first place to check it out.

02:19 Please do subscribe to partsFUNknown, give this video a thumbs up and back us on Patreon

02:24 for cool perks like being featured in this video like some will be later on.

02:29 Edge debuted in WWF back in 1998 as this loner character, but his career really picked up

02:35 later that year when he was teamed with Gangrel and Christian who would then be billed as

02:39 his "brother" for storyline purposes.

02:42 Edge and Christian had actually been friends since they were 10 years old, and this helped

02:45 their chemistry when they split away from the brood and became an established tag act.

02:50 Which really kicked off in 1999 and 2000.

02:54 The ladder match with the Hardy Boys at No Mercy, the triple threat ladder match that

02:58 also included the Dudley Boys at WrestleMania 2000, the first ever TLC at that year's

03:04 Smackdown, the rematch of that TLC encounter at WrestleMania X-Seven.

03:08 It was a near three year run of fantastic matches, but also superb backstage and in-ring

03:15 segments.

03:16 Edge and Christian took on this surfer dude style of character that was akin to Pauly

03:19 Shaw in Encino Man, and made it less annoying than Pauly Shaw in Encino Man.

03:25 "Link and I are cruising the mountain, bro, and we figure we's the little Jew-o's."

03:30 WWE clearly saw Edge as the breakout star of the duo, splitting up the team during the

03:34 WCW invasion and giving him various mid-card championship wins, including becoming the

03:40 first dual WWF Intercontinental and WCW United States Champion.

03:45 He had some controversy around 2004-2005 when a storyline relationship with Lita became

03:51 something very real, despite her being in a real-life relationship with Matt Hardy at

03:56 the time.

03:57 Hardy in all of this was then fired by WWE, which made the already heel Edge an even bigger

04:04 heel in the eyes of the fans as everyone took Matt's side.

04:08 And this heel heat just propelled him further into the main event scene, winning the first

04:13 Money in the Bank ladder match and cashing in on John Cena nearly one year later at New

04:17 Year's Revolution 2005.

04:20 It was something we'd seen a few times in WWE in the past, but not something you see

04:24 very regularly now.

04:26 The slow rise to the top.

04:28 Edge started in a tag team and won gold there, he then broke off into being a single star

04:33 and won mid-card titles, and then made his way into the WWE Championship picture in the

04:38 main event.

04:40 Steve Austin had done it, Triple H had done it, The Rock had done it, and now Edge had

04:44 done it.

04:45 And Edge would remain in the main event scene for the rest of his WWE run, winning the WWE

04:50 Championship four times and the World Heavyweight Championship - some would say his belt - seven

04:56 times.

04:57 He won the 2010 Royal Rumble, he won Money in the Bank a second time, he successfully

05:01 defended his title at WrestleMania.

05:03 While he was never "the guy for the company", there was a long period of time where he was

05:08 the face of Smackdown - the biggest star on that brand.

05:12 Let's not mess around here either, he has one of the best wrestling themes of all time

05:16 in Metalingus.

05:17 Honestly, I've never heard another Alter Bridge song in my life, but I don't need

05:21 to, because Metalingus is the greatest song ever written that isn't the touch by Stan

05:26 Bush.

05:27 And before that he had Rob Zombie as his entrance theme, so yeah he has had the creme de la

05:31 creme of wrestling entrance themes.

05:34 Edge has a career of highlights, each year has its moments, and they're all fondly

05:39 remembered.

05:40 Edge and Christian were legitimately the first tag team I ever properly hated as a fan.

05:46 I was meant to of course, because they were the heels.

05:49 I was a Hardy Boyz fan and I hated these two blonde dorks who kept beating them all the

05:53 time.

05:54 But Edge was also my guy.

05:57 He was my hero because he beat John Cena for the title in 2005 when I was getting so sick

06:03 and tired of John Cena after getting back into wrestling.

06:06 In fact his run with Cena are some of the best matches of WWE in a time period when

06:11 people were switching off the product in favour of going over to TNA.

06:15 Now we could stand around in my snowy garden all day freezing my tits off, my wedding rings

06:19 come very loose because it's so cold out here.

06:21 We could stand around here and recap Edge's career to see if he's actually good, but

06:25 that's not going to answer the question.

06:29 To answer this question we need to consult our old friend, science.

06:33 Right, okay, it's time for everyone's favourite portion of these videos, the science section.

06:41 And it's everyone's favourite because it's undisputedly science.

06:46 Because what else could it be?

06:48 I'm adding numbers together and creating an average.

06:51 It's not geography is it?

06:53 It's science.

06:54 I'm going to look at Edge's WrestleMania run, but specifically I'm going to look at

07:00 his singles run, when essentially he'd split off from Edge and Christian and was just being

07:04 pushed as a single star.

07:06 Interestingly though that doesn't actually kick off until Mania 21.

07:09 He did have a match at Mania 19 I think it is, but it was like a throwaway match, maybe

07:14 it was 18, against Booker T and it went like six minutes and no one really gave an S really.

07:20 Four and a half stars for the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match.

07:25 That is a great start.

07:27 WrestleMania 22 versus Mick Foley, three and three quarter stars, which I actually think,

07:34 I think that's a bit low.

07:36 It's probably one of Mankind or Mick Foley's best Mania matches, right?

07:41 Same again for Mania 23, again in the Money in the Bank, didn't win that one.

07:45 Can he win that one?

07:49 Onwards, he's now in a full main event position here, headlining WrestleMania against The

07:55 Undertaker outside of Shawn Michaels, Mr. WrestleMania, bang, four and a half f***ing

08:03 stars for Edge versus Undertaker, well deserved four and a half stars as well because that

08:07 match is f***ing banging.

08:09 Mania 25 against John Cena in Big Show, triple threat, bit of a throwaway match that one,

08:14 so three and a quarter stars, yeah I think that's fair.

08:17 Mania 26 versus Chris Jericho, that's four stars for that one, another really good match

08:21 actually.

08:22 And then his final WrestleMania match, not including the Randy Orton SnoreFest as previously

08:28 mentioned against Alberto Del Rio, three and a half stars.

08:31 That is an incredible level of consistency, that is really, really good.

08:37 There isn't a dud match in this, and when you want to talk about big match performers

08:43 stepping up to the plate, you look at WrestleMania, you look at someone who takes the ball that's

08:48 been given to them and they run with it, and that is what Edge did in every single one

08:53 of these WrestleMania matches.

08:54 A wonderful average four stars for WrestleMania, that's great.

09:00 Why isn't Edge talked about as one of the great WrestleMania performers?

09:03 Sure we get like Michaels and Undertaker get that claim, Triple H often gets that claim

09:08 as well because he brings out the big matches, but look at Edge man, look at this, this is

09:13 pure scientific fact and proof that Edge is actually good.

09:27 Is Edge actually good?

09:30 No.

09:31 He's actually freaking great.

09:35 When you search Edge on the network and you scroll down to see the list of best-offs,

09:38 you have best of Jeff Hardy, best of The Undertaker, of Kurt Angle, John Cena, Royal Rumble, TLC,

09:44 best of WrestleMania, and the common denominator in all of those things is Edge.

09:49 Edge was able to fill every role given to him during his time in WWE, whether that be

09:54 as a comedy heel or as a sadistic hate-filled heel, he was a great wrestler and came up

10:01 big in his big matches.

10:03 I think for me what takes Edge to a level of greatness is his understanding of psychology,

10:08 of character work, of how to build a connection with the audience.

10:12 When he transitioned into this opportunistic, psychotic, unhinged heel, you wanted to see

10:18 what happened to him.

10:20 Even when he did horrible stuff, he could stand at the top of the ramp and make out

10:24 with someone else's girlfriend and turn to the camera with this smug grin showing

10:28 all those teeth.

10:30 Or he could wheel out Vickie Guerrero as sort of like a pawn in his psychological game with

10:35 his opponent and say, "I have the powers that be under my thumb."

10:38 And you would loathe him.

10:40 And then he'd storm to the ring and give you some of the crispest, most athletic, technical

10:46 wrestling going.

10:47 And you just couldn't help but be like, "Oh, I really hate this person, but I need

10:52 to see what happens to them."

10:53 This guy just always hit and he was always in a top heel role, but he also could show

10:59 that he had that edge to him, that antihero that was able to cross over and be a successful

11:04 babyface.

11:05 And since his return, he's just been incredible on the mic.

11:10 It's like aging has just made him better in being able to communicate.

11:15 And he's just become an incredible, awesome, amazing promo guy.

11:20 He's a very good entertainer and he's certainly someone who has had a lot of truly memorable

11:25 moments throughout his career from his tag TLC matches, his feud with John Cena, that

11:30 infamous scene with Lita, and now two wins at Royal Rumble.

11:33 All of which I do think have earned him his spot in WWE's Hall of Fame.

11:38 That said, personally, I don't ever feel like I've had a strong connection with his character

11:44 and he does like that persona, which makes a lot of wrestlers truly great and memorable.

11:48 For me, he just sort of feels like another guy.

11:51 And whilst he's a really good wrestler in terms of his sportsmanship and athleticism,

11:56 I don't think that he has a strong move set.

11:58 I hate his fit.

12:00 I do genuinely believe that a lot of his success rides on his nostalgic value and his music.

12:07 From hating his guts during his time with Vickie Guerrero in 2008, to cheering him on

12:12 wildly during his returns in the Royal Rumble in 2010, 2020, 2021, there are few wrestlers

12:19 that have ever been able to make me feel such a wide range of emotions like Edge has.

12:24 We took this question to our YouTube community tab and unsurprisingly it was very high in

12:30 favour of Edge being actually good, only 7% voting for no, which also means that Edge,

12:36 statistically, is more actually good than the Royal Rumble.

12:41 Instead of Rock, Austin, Punk and Jericho, I don't think there's any other performer

12:44 who has ever been such a perfect balance of great in the ring and great on the mic.

12:49 "Look at it this way, some of the most memorable, historic and enjoyable matches of all time

12:54 involved Edge in some capacity, be it the incredible TLC matches or the first ever Money

12:59 in the Bank cash-in.

13:00 There's a reason Edge is a legend.

13:01 He's done everything there is to do in the business and it's truly felt earned."

13:05 One of the greatest top heels of all time.

13:08 One of the greatest tag team wrestlers of all time.

13:11 One of the best all-round performers wrestling has ever seen.

13:15 "The fact that he can come back after 9 years and wrestle like he's never left makes

13:20 him an incredible performer."

13:21 "Yes, he's still got the stuff that made him famous.

13:25 Good moves, charisma and a very cheeky smile.

13:28 The fact that he's been able to overcome a career-ending injury only adds to his appeal

13:32 and makes us love him more.

13:34 I just hope he sticks around long enough to put some newer talent over."

13:37 "Growing up, Edge was someone that made me love to despise his healing tactics.

13:42 His ability to be extremely talented at crazy spots still amazes me.

13:46 And when there was a time where I stopped watching, Edge's return at Royal Rumble

13:50 made me cry so hard that I decided to get back to watching WWE.

13:54 This impact says a lot about how actually good Edge is.

13:58 He's one of the best."

14:00 But there are still some dissenting voices who are against the Rumble win.

14:05 The day after the show on our WrestleTalk Podcast review we actually had a fair number

14:09 of hyperchats that were voicing their displeasure of 47-year-old Edge winning the match when

14:15 someone younger than him who hadn't previously won the Rumble could have done.

14:21 And this was probably heightened by the fact that Goldberg had just come back and walked

14:25 into a WWE Championship match with Drew McIntyre and we were all super mad about that.

14:32 Fans, myself included, really did show a certain level of hypocrisy when saying that 54-year-old

14:39 Goldberg facing Drew is bad, but 8 years younger than him, Edge vs. Drew or Roman at WrestleMania

14:46 is good.

14:47 It certainly didn't help that Edge winning the Royal Rumble was reportedly his idea.

14:53 "There's definitely a place for old timers, veterans, nearer the end of their career.

14:59 Where you come back, you do have that one last title run and it's very emotional, that's

15:04 kind of like your send-off.

15:05 And crucially, you use that run to put over someone else.

15:10 And I think a lot of the optimism that I feel towards Edge's run is that I have faith he's

15:15 going to do that.

15:17 But with people like Goldberg and John Cena, although John Cena, as you know, he's come

15:22 around where people like him now, but definitely with Goldberg, we've been there and we've

15:27 had that, and it didn't result in anyone being more over.

15:31 In fact, I'd argue it worked against those people like The Fiend and Kevin Owens."

15:38 Edge himself addressed these criticisms, being labelled as a part-timer, stealing a spot

15:42 etc. on Corey Graves' After the Bell podcast, saying "All I can control is trying to be

15:48 in the best shape I can possibly be in, you know, and bust my ass in the gym so that at

15:55 least I can look the part, move the part, feel the part.

16:01 And that's all I can control.

16:02 I can't control people's opinions.

16:03 I can't control if people have ageism issues.

16:06 I can't, you know, I can't do any of that.

16:09 What I want to do is come back and tell a hell of a story and tell it with multiple

16:15 dance partners.

16:16 Somehow, I've been able to get through four decades with a break in there and have laid

16:23 hands on Ric Flair and Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk and The Undertaker and Ric Martel and

16:30 Bad News Brown and Shawn Michaels and all of these talents throughout the years.

16:38 And if I can do what those guys did for me for a new generation of talent, that's part

16:43 of the reason I wanted to come back."

16:45 And in a lot of this, I think it's important to look at the context.

16:49 Goldberg's recent WWE return saw him beat Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship

16:54 and then The Fiend for the same belts, when he didn't need either of those wins.

16:59 Goldberg has always been labelled as a guy who wins because he wants to win, and he always

17:05 wants to win because he's very protective of the Goldberg character.

17:10 Edge, going by the Corey Graves interview, is using his star power to elevate guys on

17:15 Raw, Smackdown and even NXT.

17:18 So what's incredible when asking if Edge is actually good on our YouTube poll - other

17:23 than some people really not wanting me to do this video because it's too simple of

17:27 a topic - is that the only two issues people have had with Edge are the Matt Hardy/Lita

17:33 situation from 16 years ago and the Rumble win from last month.

17:38 Seen as though he's been wrestling on the main roster of WWE since 1999, that's pretty

17:44 impressive.

17:45 But come back to that comment we featured earlier.

17:47 Edge has been part of so many iconic WWE moments, whether that is the first ever Money in the

17:54 Bank cash-in, the first ever TLC match that set the bar so ridiculously high that none

18:00 of the matches since have ever reached it, or even the first ever live sex celebration.

18:05 Edge has done it all, and he excels at everything he's given.

18:10 Be in a comedy tag team with Christian?

18:12 Nailed it.

18:13 Be the breakout star of that team?

18:16 Sure thing.

18:17 Get the briefcase gimmick over?

18:18 Yep.

18:19 Be a main event heel?

18:20 No sweat.

18:21 Main event WrestleMania with The Undertaker?

18:23 Walk in the park.

18:24 Be a tag team with Randy Orton so DX can have someone to feud with?

18:28 Tell you what, we'll actually be more over than DX themselves.

18:31 Edge has seen and done it all, and this Rumble win makes me feel like we're only just getting

18:37 started all over again.

18:40 As I said earlier, Edge is one of the first heels I truly hated.

18:44 I hated Triple H and William Regal because they were clearly heels, but I really disliked

18:50 Edge and Christian and I hated them beating the Hardy Boys all the time.

18:54 They worked me every single time.

18:57 It felt like those teams had matches on every PPV in the year 2000, and honestly I could

19:03 watch them again and again and again, cheering on the Hardy Boys to beat these dumb blonde

19:08 idiots.

19:09 Just listen to how happy I was when I saw him return at the Rumble last year.

19:22 It kind of sucks to say, but Edge will never be in the same conversation as Hogan, Michaels,

19:28 Bret, Rock, Austin, Triple H, Cena, Batista, Undertaker or even Roman Reigns because it's

19:34 never felt like WWE truly made him "the guy".

19:38 But he probably should be.

19:40 It's undeniable that he's one of the best guys WWE has ever had, and easily the most

19:46 consistent.

19:47 I'm glad he's back, I'm glad he won the Rumble, and I'm excited to see what

19:51 he'll do in the future.

19:53 Is Edge actually good?

19:55 Maybe it's nostalgia goggles talking, but yeah, he's one of the best.

20:01 [music]

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