Edge's mixed reaction... Does it say more about Edge or the crowd?

[Blade]

When Edge returned at the Rumble, he got a great pop and a great reaction. Apparently not because they thought he was face, but just because of the surprise and how entertaining it was. Why do I think the crowd wasn't sure if he was face? His reaction on Raw.

He came out on Raw to cut his return promo, and there was no doubt some booing from the crowd, probably about 20-30% of the crowd booing him. This really caught me off guard considering the last time a super-heel returned from a career threatening injury: Triple H. When Triple H got injured in 2001, he was the number 2 heel in the company behind Austin, and a year previously he had been the number 1 heel before Austin returned. He got injured, healed for 8 or 9 months and returned in January. When he returned he was getting huge face pops. Huge face pops for the man that had been getting serious heel heat less than a year previously.

As I've said already, when Edge came back there was definitely a considerable amount of the crowd booing when he came out on Raw. So what does this mean?

Was Edge such a good heel that when he returned there were still fans that hated him? That possibility is small, as I've said above, Triple H was in the same position in 2001 that Edge was in last year as number 2 main event heel. But not a single person was booing Triple H when he returned. I don't think that Edge was a better heel last year than Trips was in 2001. Equal, maybe. But not that much better. Edge didn't return in his usual heel fashion like his return at the 2008 Survivor Series, taking the title off Triple H. He came back and won the Rumble fair and square. The closest thing he did to a heel action was eliminate John Cena. But hey, that was just part of the Rumble.

Or was it simply a 'smark' reaction? People booing him because they knew he'd be pretty much the top face now that he'd returned and they turned on him like he was Cena? I find this hard to believe too, 'smarks' have alwats been cheering for Edge, even more so when he was heel so I don't get it.

So why was Edge still getting a fair amount of boos upon his return?

 

[jkenyon81]

yeah, triple H was the top heel before he got injured but throughout the year the WWE kept fore feeding those "we will make him better" videos of his surgery/recouperation which made him look like a good guy. Edge got one promo while he was gone.

 

[Big Hairy]

Probably a mixed reaction due to a mixed kind of fans in the arena. Fans who cheer for who they are told to cheer for were probably booing him because he was a heel before he left. The rest were cheering him because they know and respect how good he is and are glad to see him back regardless of his Face/Heel status. Uh, so yeah, s "smark" reaction.

 

[codatious99]

You got to think the kiddy Cena fans HATE Edge. Watching the rumble live at a local pub the whole place marked out for Edge. His promo on raw was a bit torn, just the way he said some things, the guy just needs a bit more time to get back into the swing of things. the way i see it, Edge probably has one more great heel run in him. I say keep him face until after backlash then go back to the good ol edge.

 

[Jetspete]

A couple of points:

in 2002, the wwe fans needed a face to feud with the only champion, Y2J. Austin and the Rock were stale and had already lost to Jericho. Taker and Angle were heels. Thus, HHH gave the fans something to root for. Edge returns in an era where there are already much more popular faces in Cena and Dx, and multiple titles.

A poster already mentioned the front sell of HHH as a hero recovering from injury. Edge was only sold as a guy who would obviously feud with Jericho.

Finally, Edge was never as over with the fans as Triple H was, either as a heel or a face. People are booing edge because they are seriously disinterested in Edge as a main event caliber draw.

 

[axl626]

I hated Triple H before he got injured but I realized I was missing something when he was gone. Triple H doesn't get enough credit for being a big leader during the Attitude era. When Rock and Austin were faces, Trips was their heel. When Rock was heel, Trips was his face. But I didn't feel anything when Edge left. His spot was easily filled, by Big Show no less. I'm only excited for Edge's return in hopes that he eventually faces off against or teams with Christian. But Edge will probably be full heel again in a few months just as Triple H was, maybe by turning on Christian like Hunter turned on Shawn.

 

[justinept]

I don't think it says anything about Edge or Triple H ... it just says something about the fan base.

The older demogrphic saw Triple H as a character.... When he came back, we cheered for the return of the character, and then we continued to cheer for him because we understood the character was turning face.

The younger demographic sees Edge as a person... When he came back, they cheered for the "OMG" moment, but they won't be so quick to pledge their allegiance to him until they are flat told that he is a "good guy." They only know him as a "bad guy" and they don't trust him yet.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Well, not only did Edge eliminate a face to win the Royal Rumble, but he also came out and cut a promo that wasn't 100% face. He's been a heel so long that in a kayfabe sense, you shouldn't just ignore it all and expect the guy to be different upon return. That's why the bit with Sheamus was there - to put him up against a heel so he'd look like a face. The only problem with that is that Sheamus gets zero reaction and nobody gives a shit about him, so there isn't much momentum to be gained. Now, if Edge were to fight with Randy Orton...or Big Show...or hell even Jack Swagger, he probably would have had a much better response.

I don't think they want him to be 100% face right now though, anyway. It's more than obvious to us that Jericho will win the Elimination Chamber and Edge will face him at WrestleMania, but why just give it away right now and ruin the so-called suspense? Why not keep Edge seeming like a tweener so at any time he might actually reroute and challenge a face champion? Keep the audience on their toes.

 

[theBIGdealAndyP]

i think the reason he was initially boo'd was the first thing he said when he got in the ring on raw... IMMMMMMMMMMM BAAAAAAAAACK!!!! those are the words of jack nicholson in the shining and is usually parodied by "evil" or "deranged" characters in tv, movies, and now wrestling... i mean, he couldve re-introduced himself so much better then that, i mean all he had to say was "The Rated R Superstar is back on PG tv!!!" that wouldve got a cheap pop and the smarks wouldve got a nice laugh out of it, i know i would. but yeah, staying a tweener, still reminding that hes the "ultimate oppurtunist" untill he chooses his opponent (jericho will win the EC, mark my words), then the face turn will be 100% its not exactly what i was hoping for with his return, i was just hoping for him to show up randomly causing jericho the title, then they get to have a MOTY w/out the extra pressure of it being the main-event...

 

[Schizophrenic]

I think a few things added into his boos from RAW. 1) He won the Rumble by eliminating John "Superman" Cena. Because of this people (kids mainly) will boo him and if their parents are there but don't really watch the show they will boo along with their kids to have their "cute, bonding moment" with the yound ones. 2) He was a heel before he got injured and yes he did semi turn face by telling Chris WHEN he got back he was gunning for him, but that was it. You didn't hear from Edge since then, and like someone else pointed out who knows what his intentions are since he was the cocky, arogant jackass heel we love to hate (or just love in my case). 3) He didn't say whom he was going after and in this age of instant gratification I'm sure people wanted to know then and now. Plus you hear it all the time when someone says something to the effect of "You will get your match." (Crowd cheers) "Next week!" (Crowd boos). Selfish crowds and the gimmie attitude may have also played a factor.

 

[Megadeth]

I happened to be in Nashville for Raw this week, and I can tell you for a fact John Cena was way over in Nashville. I could not hear any boos for him at all in the arena, and for the crowd was pretty much booing every heel and cheering all the faces. So I think the reaction was purely based on the fact most of the people there thought Edge was a heel and thus were booing him for that fact. This crowd seemed to me to be one of the less informed crowds at least from where I was sitting, so since Edge was a heel when he left, they I think assumed he still was. He did however get a pretty good pop for spearing Sheamus.

 

[Showtime]

A major difference between Edge's return and HHH's is promoting it. Edge got zero build and nothing explaining that he'll be back, just a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble. HHH was promoted as 'returning soon' months before the Royal Rumble. They had video's of him recovering from his knee injury with U2's Beautiful Day in the background, which was U2's biggest track off their grammy winning album. And HHH also debuted before the Rumble and had the chance to attack the man who replaced him as #1 or 2 heel, Kurt Angle, thus helping him turn face more.

Edge didn't get any sympathy from the fans because WWE didn't air sympathetic coverage of him recovering from injury. They didn't build him as looking for revenge against Jericho, and Jericho had basically stopped talking about Edge, so the crowd (in today's wrestling anyway, had almost plum forgotten about Edge and Jericho. This is WWE being extremely lazy on their part. They feel that if they surprise the fans that that'll lead them to bigger ratings. That is true somewhat, but only if it's like a Hart, Goldberg, Rock, or Austin, someone who's been out for a while, making an absolutely surprise appearance, and then showing up again next week. WWE killed all Hart momentum they had by taking him off TV again.

Edge simply returning is not going to turn him face. Look again at HHH. After he had his feud with the number 1 heel Angle, he beat Jericho then lost the title the next month. A couple months later he was back to being a heel. Why, because HHH was the best heel in wrestling and the fans still wanted to boo him. If the WWE wants Edge to be a successful face, they will have to put him against the top heels, that being Jericho right now, but Edge's case is still different from HHH's since Angle was absolutely hated while Jericho is respected by at least some of the audience.

To sum up a long and rambling piece, WWE needs to start building the return of wrestlers more, especially if they want to try and turn a heel to a face. Surprise appearances, especially at PPV's, lead to zero extra buys cause the audience doesn't know about it. If they did maybe the WWE could've gotten another 50,000 buys. So in closing, it doesn't say more about Edge, cause Edge can play both Heel and Face well and he really needs more than a week of returning to decide if him being a face is working, and it doesn't say more about the crowd as the last time they saw or heard anything about Edge, they were supposed to boo him, so why change. It says more about the WWE because they did NOTHING to build his return and NOTHING to tell the fans that he should be the guy they cheer for.

 

[un1earn]

Say what you will about Edge but the guy is a superstar. When he came out at the Royal Rumble the fans were PUMPED! Even when he eliminated John Cena fans were still going insane...no boos then.

However upon his return to Raw, I believe WWE is doing exactly what they wanted to do and got the exact response they wanted to get from him. He's not a heel, he's not a face...he's Edge. They are keeping him on the border without actually taking a full side which will ultimately end up having him turn face, but in the mean time i think the WWE is just playing with the fans. The fans went just as nuts with Edge on raw the second he speared 'Shameless' the most over rated champ that could turn any heel into a face just because the WWE universe can't stand to see him as champ.

It's all part of the show boys and girls.

 

[Rated_R_Superstar2010]

well i was at the rumble and you right he did get a huge pop. i cheered mainly because i havent seen edge in over 6 months. anytime a great maineventer like him comes back people are going to be exited. i dont see this face turn lasting too long. edge is at is best as a heel, after all he is the rated r stuperstar and ulimate opportunist, not exactlly a face type character. u used HHH as an example and it fits perfect.

edge will have is feud with jericho that we've all be dying to see then he'll be a heel again.

 

[classicviolence]

The big difference between the HHH/Edge returns is that, HHH was the leader of DX suring the Attitude Era. Fans only hated HHH because he turned their backs on the fans, however when they were hyping up HHH return fans were getting behind that.

Edge as a heel was always a "cool" character, fans cheered and boo'ed him. Edge is known for being Cena's arcrival, and the fans cannot forget that. So when Edge returned, the fans went back into hating Edge because he is known as the Anti-Cena.

Edge can still gain steam as a face by feuding with Sheamus and Jericho, but I think they will keep Edge as a tweener for a while.

 

[Tastycles]

There's no reason for the crowd to cheer him. In the rumble, almost everyone gets cheered, just because any entry is exciting. Seriously, if you watch 2009, you'll see Randy Orton, who beat up an old man a week earlier, get a huge pop, so he was sure to get cheered.

On Raw, Edge had done nothing to suggest that he was a face, so people didn't really know how to react to him. I think that now they know what they are doing with him, the reaction will settle out a bit.

 

[TheDarkCloud]

I'll point out that Triple H had an injury that was repairable and recoverable. Edge tore his Achilles. You may not ever come back from that, and WWE was smart to use that in the promo he did with Jericho. The reason we're complaining about the lack of promos leading to his return or even in the past is because we already knew he'd return. The marks in the crowd had no idea Edge would even be back at the Rumble, whereas we did.

You dont promo someone who's career might be over, only when you can be sure they'll return to the ring.

 

[Josefien]

I think it was not exactly easy for the crowd to recognize Edge as a face ..

At the Royal Rumble, his return surprised many which of course made them cheer for Edge, as others have pointed out.

Now I must say I was surprised by what he looked like at the RR. I thought for sure he would come back all clean-shaven with a 'I'm back - never gave up during my rehab, better than ever'-attitude. But no, he didn't exactly look like that. For me, he still looked kind of like the madman he was before his injury, with the same facial expressions and such (I think he can pull it off very well but it doesn't really help if he wants to get instant face cheers).

Also, his everlasting Ultimate Opportunist gimmick was brought up again (by the commentators I think) which made it sound like 'Oh yeah, he was done with rehab before he was supposed to and now he just happens to be here, so let's enter him in the Rumble'. I think that was improved in Edge's RAW promo though, where he actually told people how hard he worked.

All in all, I think it says something about the WWE.
I don't know their plans and all but IF they wanted to get Edge to be cheered as a face instantly, they should have done it otherwise ..
Someone else already wrote something showing rehab promos and stuff so I have to agree with that, they should have built him up a little more.
Of course that would have ruined the surprise effect of Edge's return but I'm pretty sure the crowd would have reacted differently although that might not have been the WWE's goal.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

The people who boo edge are the teenyboppers who cheer Cena. The 12-14 year old girls who want to marry him and 3-12 year old boys who want to be him.

Wait til he's on Smackdown against CM Punk and Y2J, then he'll be over BIG TIME. I'm SOOO ready for him to be in a team w/Christian. You know he's LONG OVERDUE for this face run. Besides, he deserves it coming back from a nearly career ending injury. Everyone and their momma are sick of Cena lately, he's just boring. When was the last time Cena had a live sex show? Cmon people, its obvious. Edge is the choice of THE generation.

 

[Ryan420]

Honestly i think its the fans today. Not all of them but the majority. Back in 2002 when triple h returned most of the fans were different and understood what coming back from an injury ment... that u busted ur ass to get back. nowadays all the kids and uninformed wrestling fans dont understand the bussiness and they just think edge is still a bad guy cuz he has been since probly most of them have been watching. so my view i think its the fans of today in wwe. they dont understand what pro wrestling is.

 

[GetsHeat]

Don't be so quick to blame the fans.. Edge's promos have been pretty "Me, Me, I did, I".. if he wanted to return as a face he should have carried the "he's back" good momentum and came out and thanked the fans.

The guy has only been out for 6 months from being a sleezeball heel, time may heal all wounds but he wasn't out for years..

 

[proofinlife]

I'm not totally convinced Edge is turning 100% babyface. They've done this before with Triple H and Kurt Angle. He's back, he's still pissed, and because he's cutting promos on heels such as Jericho and Show it doesn't mean he's a babyface. This is a storyline they are creating to put the two in a PPV match in an ultimate "winner is the better of the two", all due to Jericho's comments on Edge after he was injured.

I think it will definitely turn into a Heel vs. Heel match, and if done properly, can come off quite well, with Edge still being the Ultimate Opportunist bad guy he's been for the last 3 years. That character is still very much marketable, and he does a damned good job doing it, why give up on it now?

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'd say that the mixed reaction from the crowd had to do with the fact that many of them might not have been watching long enough to remember that Edge can be good at playing a face. He has been the Ultimate Opportunist for over 4 years and that is what so many fans are used to. It took interaction with Sheamus or Jericho for more fans to get behind Edge during the promos. Edge is better at playing a heel than a face but he's certainly got the talent to be either. It makes sense for him to be a face for kayfabe'd reasons since Jericho has been putting him down in a few promos since the injury and the fans missed Edge when he was gone for so long. Once they adjust to him as a face I think he can get a bigger reaction as a face than he did on Raw.... the fans just need a little time to adjust because Edge had been a heel for years. Or something else might happen.... WWE might keep him tweener to capitalize on the mixed reaction he's getting.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I think a lot of this has to do with Edge's sudden return at the Rumble. He just came back after being on the shelf for a pretty long time, and the last images fans have of him is his long tenure as a heel. It's not odd in any way for him to get a mixed reaction after being out so long. WWE is probably banking on the fans to start cheering him more and more as Mania nears closer because they seem to be going with a face turn.

 

[RoxyRoxy]

Well I personally think that its a little bit of both. Crowd wise; they were just excited to see a decent heel back, plus (even though there were so many rumors) it was such a shock. Also don't forget that he eliminated Chris Jericho. But, Edge was such a magnificent heel when he was there, I couldn't STAND him, and heels don't get to me because I know that they are just acting, but there is something about Edge that just ticks me the hell off, anyways...people don't forget stuff like that, good actors never go forgotten!