This thread has been done way too soon.
How so? Edge was a fixture in the main event scene in WWE until Extreme Rules. The Rock returned for a month, give or take, in the weeks leading up until WM 27. Then a party was thrown the Raw after ER, in what basically was a two hour exercise in the WWE sucking the Rock off. While Edge was wrestling every week, Rock appeared live 3 times on Raw, once at WM, and twice via Satellite. He's yet to have a match. People would argue that the Rock is responsible for WM doing over a million dollars, which is hogwash, to be honest. WM sold what it did due to a very nice build between the current stars of today in almost every match we saw. Was the Rock an integral part of that? Perhaps. But he didnt do the grunt work leading up to the event.
The effects of Edge retirement were immediately apparent in the WWE due to the draft and Randy Orton taking Edge's place as the top babyface of Smackdown.
Exactly. In other words, the loss of Edge as the top star on Smackdown was felt so badly that they had to bring their strong #2 babyface over from Raw to fill his shoes. Raw hasn't missed a beat without the presence of the Rock.
The Rock's return really runs through the past Wrestlemania up until next Wrestlemania and therefore we havent seen all that to come from The Rock returning. I think that The Rock's return will ultimately end up having the bigger impact because the aftermath of the match at Wrestlemania is just destined to be memorable.
Edge's retirement will prove to be more relevant. While Edge could never be a main eventer, per se, against weak competition, he didnt need to. He was in the right feuds with the right people and got over more as a face champion in a short matter of time. He received two sendoffs, essentially, which is unheard of these days. HBK and Flair only got one apiece. Albeit, neither were due to injury, but we've seen lesser stars retire due to injury and their only "sendoff" was a mention on WWE's website. Edge's retirement has also been the catalyst for Christian's heel turn, which is being found in the here and now. Rock is engaged in what? A twitter battle with Cena? He may make a memory at WM 28, such as winning the title, but where does he go from there? He's not going to stick around while he's filming 6 movies a year, so we could see a MITB cash-in that night, or a rematch loss the next night on Raw.
What if Cena beats Rock? What if Rock beats Cena? What if Rock is the new WWE champion? What if Del Rio cashes in? What if he cashes in on The Rock. Smackdown needed some more beefing up due to guys like Undertaker working way lighter schedules than expected so someone like Orton going to SD was going to happen sooner rather than later.
I dont understand the correlation between the Rock and Randy Orton here. In Edge, you lose an 11 time champion whose beaten all there is to offer, and has shined as a heel and a face since joining the ME event scene 6 years ago. First man to cash in MITb twice? That would be Edge. The first winner of MITB? Edge again. Tied for 2nd all-time in World Titles won while in the WWE/F alone? Edge again. He may not have the long term drawing power that Rock does, but Rock isn't going to be here long-term. He'll cut his cute insults, have a match, maybe two, then disapear to Hollywood for Lord knows how long again, perhaps forever. So the loss of a full-time wrestler, or a 1-2 time a year wrestler? Tough call. Im going with Edge myself.
