Last year, Edge was sitting on top of the world.
He had an epic return moment at the 2020 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. He delivered a great series of promos. He had a memorable WrestleMania worthy feud with Randy Orton. He even competed in a main event match promoted as the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever. Dude was riding high. Forget his nine year absence. Edge was doing great things, and fans were loving it.
Then disaster struck.
Edge suffered a serious injury last June and was going to be out 6-9 months.
Come January, a mere six days before the 2021 Royal Rumble, we shockingly saw a promo promising an update on Edge. Kinda random and completely out of the blue. Just six days before a major PPV…huh? Okay, weird but whatever. To the surprise of viewers all over the globe, Edge announced that he was returning from injury and was entering the Royal Rumble match. He not only was going to win, he was going to WrestleMania to become champion again!
Sure enough, six days later, Edge delivered. He started out as the number one entrant (number two being Orton in a cool moment) and won the whole darn thing! Edge was going to WrestleMania to try to win the Universal Championship. Remember he ‘retired’ back in 2011 still as the World Champion. He never lost his belt before hanging up his boots; the career ending injury did the job for him. He was done right then and there. It made for a good story. Edge was coming back to win a top title at WM37 and right a wrong from ten years earlier…
…except everything has felt wrong from the get go.
I guess an emotional comeback wasn’t enough. He needed that main event spotlight once again like many before him. Sigh.
Minus all the age/part-time complaints about actually winning the 2021 Royal Rumble and getting a WrestleMania main event spot after being gone all this time, let’s focus on the here and now in March 2021. While I do not believe a heel turn is imminent or being planned, it’s hard to ignore the obvious signs that all that fan support from 2020 is no longer there in 2021. It’s like a dark cloud hanging over a beautiful day. Hard to ignore and something that could ruin everything in a snap.
Why do I feel this way?
Let’s start with the obvious: Daniel Bryan. Listen, nobody is going to be booing Daniel Bryan. His heel stuff is cool and all, but fans love him. Whether it’s in the ThunderDome virtually or live in the arena (or online), fans love Bryan. When he starts teasing that his career is winding down, that only increases the sense of urgency. He doesn’t have a lot of time left in WWE, so every main event match that passes him by, it is a big deal. For him to even tease a WrestleMania main event for the Universal Title against Roman Reigns, wow! You can’t tease us like that. For Edge to come in barking about opportunity and other crap, get outta here! Bad look for Edge. Unless he is purposely trying to come off like a jerk, not good…
The second (and third) point I want to make is something WWE recently announced – fans are coming back! No more ThunderDome. Or at least not as much as the past year. The company is going to have live fans in attendance at WrestleMania 37 in three weeks. Beyond that, we have no clue. I have a hunch that crowds are going to cheer for Daniel Bryan A LOT. No matter where he is slotted on the card. then the big bad heel Roman Reigns…he may be getting cheers too. He has always had a weird give/take relationship with the WWE Universe. It wouldn’t shock me one bit for Edge to feel like an outsider or a tad out of place in this entire scenario. Time will tell though. We can debate that all day long, but what can NOt be debated is my last argument.
Edge is simply better as a heel. No debate. No BS. He excels so much as a heel. We’ve heard his promos for the past year since returning. He still has that ‘it’ factor, no doubt about it. Rather than be a part-time, formerly retired face champion and derail Reigns’ momentum right now on top of the company, why not flip the script? Turn heel during the next month or so, feud with Daniel Bryan and go back to being what part-timers should do – story lines with new/fresh opponents far away from the main event title picture. Edge doesn’t need another WM main event or title to add to his legacy. He already had his WWE Hall of Fame induction back in 2021 and is well respected.
Ultimately, the road to WrestleMania is coming to an end very soon. Fastlane is this Sunday, and then it is a straight shot down the highway to Tampa Bay and Raymond James Stadium. Universal Title or not, Edge as a heel or not, it is going to be a bumpy ride…
Buckle up.
