Raw Ramblings - 10 / 11 / 2004

[theskooch]

I know there's dozens of message board sites out there for wrestling fans, & most of the people that are part of this community probably already have their own source for wrestling-related opinions. If they're wrestling fans that is. If they're not, then none of this will matter.

Comments

[andythesaint]

I'm not on the anti-Edge bandwagon. I still like him. He hasn't had the five-star matches he used to have on Smackdown, but that has a lot to do with the fact that he's been hurt and he's not wrestling Kurt Angle anymore. If he can get healthy, and stay healthy, he'll get back to doing what he can.

I don't think his character is stale; I think they haven't let him be his character. He used to be a stand-up guy who gave thoughtful, sarcastic promos. They tried to make him a white-meat babyface that didn't talk, or they want him to do the standard promo. Also, how can a guy who's been gone for a year be stale? Also, I think people want characters to change too quickly and too often these days. That way they've accomplished everything and done everything a wrestler can do in a career in two years (see: Brock Lesnar). They need to let guys be their character, without flipping between face and heel, for a good long while- like Jericho. Then, when they changed, it meant something. I say let Edge be a tweener right now and see where it takes him. Say he turns heel, and becomes a wise-ass, rule-breaking badass- you know what will happen? The fans will cheer for him and they'll have to switch him back. So then he's a babyface, and stops being a wise-ass, rule-breaking badass (see: Randy Orton and John Cena) and he'll lose his heat to some up-and-coming heel who's a wise-ass, rule-breaking badass. It's a vicious cycle.

That said, I've never liked the Spear as Edge's finisher. It was alright when there was no Rhyno or Goldberg around (in the time before Rhyno came into WWE and the time he was out with neck surgery), but now it looks lame.

[twistedyouth]

It doesn't matter if he's been gone for a year. The man is not stale, the character is. While he was away the 'world' within the WWE changed somewhat, and when he came back he just wasn't relevant anymore. I don't want characters to change quickly, but if it's not working anymore, it's not working. Turn him into a vengeful heel and have him fued with a beloved babyface so he WON'T get cheered for his heelish tactics. Use the whole "I never got a title shot" gimmick. Use the fans booing of him when he was trying to be a babyface. Turn him into a miserable badass that everyone loves to hate. I think he can do it.

No, Edge is not working against Angle anymore. He's working with Benoit, Michaels, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Christian... yeah... that's an excuse to put on lame matches... and as I said earlier, Benoit and Michaels are wrestling with serious injuries in their past, as is Triple H, Kurt Angle... if Edge is not 100% - fine. He doesn't need to be near the top of the card if he's still hurt. If he's not actually hurt and just fearing a reinjury of the neck, then he needs to be in the midcard until he can get over that fear. You don't see Benoit shrinking away from doing a diving headbutt because he might snap his neck again... no, the maniac jumps up there and does it every single time.

I'm not trying to sound cruel by saying that... but guys like Michaels and Benoit put their bodies on the line in the big matches all the time to entertain us. Edge needs that same mindset before he can recapture that thunder he had a few years ago that put him within a whisker of the main event scene.

[andythesaint]

Admittedly, I haven't watched the past couple of weeks, so I haven't seen him go against HHH, Benoit, Christian or Michaels (when did he go against Christian?). Except for his tag team run with Benoit, which I thought went fine. I thought his matches with Jericho were pretty good, just poorly booked. I saw him go with Kane, Batista, and Orton, with the Kane feud being particularly bad, and the Orton match I thought was pretty good. Unfortunately, people were hot for Orton at the time, so he received a mixed reaction which has been interpreted as all Edge's fault.