Ripped To Shreds: L-edge-nd
I don’t know how old most you reading this are, but in case you don’t remember or weren’t even alive, three of the biggest issues of the early nineties were undoubtedly President George Bush running for reelection against Bill Clinton, NBA All Star Michael Jordan carving out his place as arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, and… Kelly Kapowski’s relationship with Zach Morris. Yes, I said Zach Morris. The scheming, womanizing character on Saved By The Bell who always seemed to find new ways to get in trouble with Mr. Belding. As cheesy as that show was, it was an extremely popular sitcom during that time period. If you weren’t a fan of the show, you probably know someone who is, whether through syndication or when the show was actually on the air. I still find the show to be a good way to break up the monotony of a boring day, which is more than I can say for most shows that aired over fifteen years ago. I want you to ask yourself a question, or if you weren’t a fan, the appropriate person. How exactly did the series end? (I mean the original class. No one can even knows one character, let alone the series finale of The New Class.)
Any answers? Screech and Jessie become porn stars? Well, I only mean on the show. Most people don’t even remember how everything ended, which is a shame considering what a great run it had. I doubt anyone has lost sleep over not knowing what happened in the series finale of Saved By The Bell, but still. Yes, there was the graduation episode that ended the original Saturday morning series, but the characters moved on to a series pitting most of the characters in college for one season, and then a made for tv movie in which Zach and Kelly got married in Las Vegas to end it all. The College Years had been ended due to ratings not being high enough, and then in an effort to still let the series end with dignity before it was too late, the wedding in Las Vegas took place. Had the show ended with the high school graduation in a high profile episode, it would have gone off the air while still being extremely popular, and done wonders for its legacy in television history. But instead, it remains just another series that kept going until enough people stopped watching for it to go off the air completely. It’s still revered, but not to the degree it could be. However, as of a little while ago, a similar fate has been avoided by a particular wrestler, a personal favorite of mine who was suddenly overcome by a dark cloud, but one that also had one of the brightest silver linings he may ever see.
On the edition of Smackdown on Friday, July 20, a tear filled Edge reluctantly vacated his World Heavyweight Championship in the middle of the ring. This brought the end to Edge’s third World title reign, but more importantly, it brought the end to what I consider one of the best two year runs that any wrestler could ever realistically dream of having. It all started with a real life affair that made wrestling fans act like sixteen year old girls discussing the latest rumors on who got the head cheerleader pregnant. From there he brought us a title win that shocked the world, followed by simulated sex in the ring that, regardless of your opinions on the matter, put Edge’s name in wrestling headlines. Not to mention great feuds with Mick Foley, John Cena, Degeneration X, and Batista, and two more title wins to boot. Nothing I listed is the equivalent of splitting the atom or discovering a cure for AIDS in terms of kayfabe, or even an accomplishment, but everything on that list probably captured your interest in a way that wrestling promoters would have wanted. It’s practically been a high speed ride for Edge, and I’m sure no one wanted him to suffer a legit injury while he was the champion or at any point in his career. But whether anyone likes it or not, I have to say that I honestly feel this is one of the greatest things that will ever happen to him on a professional level.
The reason for that is simple. Edge has now become a World Champion who had a title reign that never ended by him losing a match. Not a singles match, not a triple threat, not even a tag match that had a “whoever pins the champion wins the title†stipulation. Nothing. The concept of being champion is that you are recognized as the best until someone beats you for your title. But that didn’t happen. His title reign was over and done when he said it was over and done. He gave it to Teddy Long; no one took it from him. You can say Edge wasn’t even supposed to win the title in the first place. You can say Edge is nothing more than a back up champion, an emergency champion if you will. But the fact is he was a champion, signifying in kayfabe that he was the best on his brand. The Great Khali may be the current World Heavyweight Champion, but Edge can still justifiably lay claim to that title.
In 1965, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated then current Heavyweight Boxing Champion Sonny Liston to win that title for the very first time in what would become an illustrious career. Ali rapidly became a household name by defeating contender after contender, and established himself as a dominant champion. In 1967, Ali refused to fight in the Vietnam War, citing religious objections, and due to problems with the government and court proceedings over refusing to be drafted, Ali became unable to participate in boxing and was thus stripped of his title. The vacant title was then won, but many people considered Ali to still be the real, true champion. It would not be until years later that he would get reinstated, and when he finally got his first shot to reclaim the title that he never lost, he suffered the first loss of his career. But by then it just didn’t matter. Somewhere along the way, his name had been etched into the minds of millions of people as being a legendary boxer. Anytime someone heard his name, they thought about him as the champion who never really lost his title. Losing a shot at the title a long way down the road just isn’t going to erase what people thought of you for about five years. Had he lost his first title years later in an actual match, he still would have had a good title reign in and of itself by any means, and would have eventually proven himself to be a legendary boxer, as he did go on to win very big matches.
Yeah, the guy did lose his first title shot when he made his much anticipated comeback. But so what? Very few champions are undefeated throughout their entire usually lengthy careers, and there certainly are a good number considered to be of legendary status. There’s just seems to be a different aura about a champ who doesn’t legitimately lose the title. Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels really don’t fit into this category, as they vacated World Titles without even defending them during their reign. But performers like Batista who are respectable champs before they give away their titles will always have that certain intangible quality about them. They don’t reach Hulk Hogan status overnight by dropping a title in this fashion, but if you think about it, you can’t really even compare their title reigns to those of other wrestlers. Comparing Batista in May of 2006 and Shawn Michaels in May of 1996 is like putting an apple next to an orange. Some apples are ripe, and others are slightly too old; some oranges are seedless, and some are juicer than others. In any case, they just can’t be judged in the same fashion. Comparing Edge now to Randy Savage in June of 1992 can’t be done in a qualified manner. Edge is now in a category that relatively few will ever be in. No, he is not a legend. At least not yet. (I think it could seriously happen, if given time.) But the tears in Adam Copeland's eyes should have been tears of joy, because what happened on the July 20 edition of Smackdown has put Edge into a new, almost unique realm; one that with a decent and adequate amount of success before hand will make him an apple among oranges; no one might think he’s the best apple, but he still made it from the tree to the produce department, instead of laying beside the roots, left to rot and be eaten by insects.
Just dropping the title in a phantom match is not the only reason why I consider July 20 to be the day Edge will gain a higher place in the pages of wrestling history. Edge has just brought an end to what is almost undoubtedly the hottest streak in his career. From his series of matches with Matt Hardy to just two weeks ago, Edge was arguably the second most valuable wrestler to WWE. It might be a hard argument to make, with Triple H being around for much of that time and all, but the argument can reasonably be made, and at the least, the third most valuable. History will now look on Edge’s career in three segments: what he did as a mid/ upper carder, what he did from 2005 up to his pectoral injury, and post pectoral injury. He was always very good during his mid card days, being part of a very entertaining tag team in a great tag-team era, and even racking up a number of mid card titles and victories over some big names like Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Benoit. But the best was yet to come. He became the personification of someone fans hated when he stole his friend’s girl, and was one of the most hated heels in this modern era. Then when John Cena stood in the ring with blood pouring down his face after a grueling title defense at New Year’s Revolution 2006, and Vince McMahon started to make an announcement, Vince might have been putting gasoline into a race car. We all know what happened from there.
Imagine if you had just been promoted to the number one position at your place of employment. You take the position very seriously, and bust hump to do the best job you possibly can. You produce great results for an extended period of time. Then suddenly, something happens that forces you to leave your job for a while, whether it be a death in the family, a personal drug problem, or whatever. You come back, and you don’t quite live up to what you did in the past. It might make the difference between being considered one of the greatest employees in the history of that company and just someone who was really good, but being someone who was really good can not be taken away from you. It’s almost as if you have the option of having two careers with the same job. If you do even better after you return from hiatus, you will be considered to be extending the same career. If you don’t do well enough after you return, you will be considered to have been a guy who was really good for a while, but fell short of expectations in another segment of his career. Had everything been lumped together in a continuous process, the bad would negate some of the good from a historian’s perspective: but with a hiatus, whatever was done in the first part of the career stands alone, untouched by the second segment.
Triple H got his big push in 1999 to become WWE Champion, and was, to say the least, an excellent all around performer. He practically carried WWE through the year 2000 (with a lot of help from The Rock, of course) with Stone Cold missing for much of the year. Then when he tore his quadricep, everything he did from his push to his first World Title up to that point stood alone, as it does today. People can argue he got stale and boring and over pushed when he came back (I don’t know where I stand on that issue), but most people will agree he was a great asset to the company before his injury. Adam Copeland may go on to be a total flop when he comes back for whatever reason. But even if that does happen, Edge will always be able to show someone a list of his accomplishments from the summer of 2005 to the summer of 2007, and he will be considered someone was very valuable to the company, even if only for a couple of years.
I’m not saying Edge is now an instant Hall of Famer, nor am I saying he is now a legend in the business. What I am trying to say is that Edge has now reached a level that few wrestlers, even former World Champions, ever make it to. What he has done in the wrestling business over the last two years will now stand still in time. He may have done even more had he not gotten injured, but as it is what has done is remarkable for any wrestler. Had he continued on and eventually became less and less valuable to WWE, his career would have been considered to have jumped the shark like Happy Days. But years and years from now, after Edge's grand return from this injury is long in the past, it will be looked at as a sequel, or a spin off if you will, to Edge’s pre-injury run. That spin off might end up like Frasier, which had the seventeenth most watched series finale of all time, being created from Cheers, a beloved sitcom with the second most watched series finale of all time. Or it might end up like Joey, the spin off that got cancelled after two seasons, coming from the show with the fourth highest rated series finale in Friends. (I spend too much time on Wikipedia.) But even though Joey was a flop, it doesn't change the legacy of Friends. If Edge doesn't do much of anything in his return, it won't change everything he did in the last two years.
Edge might not be a legend, but there's no shame in that. Zach Morris could have been Tim Taylor, a character who went off our tv screens while the show he was on was still very popular, and his place in history would be as high as the height of his popularity. With Edge, there are no definite 'buts' to be said. Edge's best might be behind him for all we know. But even if that is true, his appropriate place in history might be as a l-edge-nd. Not quite a legend, but better than 90 % of all wrestlers, and certainly better than that pun.
Thanks for reading.
