Should Del Rio have gone over Edge at Mania?

[JGlass]

John Cena won his first World Title at at Wrestlmania. Was he a nobody too then?

... No? John Cena was quickly rising to superstardom at that time. Del Rio has sorta slowly been floating up.

Del Rio won the Rumble for christ sake, he isn't a nobody. Yeah he debuted less than a year ago, but the way WWE have built him up has been strong

.

He's not a nobody, but he isn't at the stage of his career where he should be winning title at Wrestlemania. Look at the past few Wrestlemanias and look at who has won their first world championships. You'll see names like John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Chris Benoit. Alberto Del Rio does not belong in that group yet.

This is turning into a hate on Del Rio thread, rather than what I wanted it to.

It's not turning into a hate thread at all, you clearly just expected people to come in and agree with you despite the fact you're wrong. Del Rio just isn't at a point in his career where he should be winning titles at Mania. Perhaps in two years or so he will be, but not now, and especially not over Edge.

Take Del Rio out of it then, and put Christian into his place, should Edge have still gone over? Or should he have layed down and created a new Main Eventer to fill his place?

Edge should have still gone over. Christian also doesn't deserve to win a title at Wrestlemania, especially because he hadn't wrestled a match in months prior to Mania.

And above all else, Edge DESERVES this. As he said, he's been doing professional wrestling since he was 23, and he's given 13 years of his life to the WWE. He's put himself through tables, ladders, and chairs. He's taken bumps that even Mick Foley would think twice about and he's paid dearly for it. He's done everything the WWE has asked of him, and that includes sometimes looking foolish and often times coming out the loser. It's a very rare sight to see Edge come out of Wrestlemania a winner, especially over the last few years, so it was nice to finally see Edge walk out from the grandest stage of them all with the belt around his waist.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I don't think so.

Del Rio has feuded with Rey, Kofi, Christian and Edge in just 6-7 months. That is the who's who of SD's most popular guys outside of the Big Show. They shoved him on Raw for months for no reason other than to try to get this guy some attention by beating Truth, a who guy can get the crowd into what he does.

Yet, the crowd at best seems apathetic towards him most nights. After he took out both Edge AND Christian after that cage match, the crowd was chanting for Cena? Huh. I know Del Rio is getting a very big push. I know that Del Rio is a big deal in Mexico. I know, I know. But I think the WWE realizes that it is going to be a while before this guy is universally viewed as a big deal, let alone a top bad guy.

 

[neildittmar]

There's not a more respectable way to go out than on top, especially when the retirement is being forced upon you.

And again I ask, how is this different than anybody else who ever retired, injured or not, whether it was on their own terms or not? It has been proven time and time again that, no matter what, you don't sacrifice those who are staying for the one that is going, regardless of how great that person is/was.

Both Del Rio and Christian could've benefitted greatly by Edge going out on his shield. Edge still could've had his retirement speech (essentially left completely intact) and HOF honors could've been rightly bestowed. In the grand scheme of things, Edge losing to Del Rio wouldn't have tainted his legacy one bit, wouldn't have taken anything away from a long, highlighted career, and would have not only elevated the career of his best friend, but that of Del Rio who WWE sees as a rising heel.

Instead, Edge gets to "go out on top" in the opener of a Wrestlemania that will probably be regarded more as a bit of trivia than his last great performance in front of a live crowd. Oh yeah, and neither Christian nor Del Rio get an extra, needed rub to help either of them fill the void left by Edges retirement.

Pretentious much. Who are you to decide what is right and wrong in the wrestling business? You sound like an old timer stuck in the past, set in his ways, unwilling to accept the fact that things change over time.

Fair enough on the old timer remark. In response I say that those who choose to disregard history are often doomed to repeat it. Look, there is no pretentiousness here, nor am I proclaiming to decide what is definitively right or wrong in the wrestling business. I'm just a fan, saying from a traditional perspective, it's not right in my opinion... this is a public forum, we're allowed to have those right? Christian and Del Rio could've benefitted greatly from Edge "doing the right thing." Now they won't and both could ultimately be worse off for it. My position on the matter really is as simple as that.

Saying it's not right, couldn't be more wrong. It was the right, honorable thing to do. Edge isn't the only one capable of putting Del Rio over, not by a long shot; and rewarding Edge with a successful title defense at mania was the right/honorable/respectable thing to do. So cheers Vinny, you did right.

I suppose this is where we'll have to do the old agree to disagree thing. No, maybe Edge isn't the one to put Del Rio over... but c'mon, you seem to think mighty highly of Edge. Wouldn't it have been a mighty huge rub if Del Rio was the guy who not only won the WHC at WM, but also took Edge out? Christian harnessing all the sympathy for Edge and becoming the "hero" certainly would've helped his career immensely as well. Smackdown also gets a solid storyline with emotional interest to replace the staggering loss of a main event caliber talent. Bottom line, in my opinion (sans pretentiousness or remarks of a definitive professional nature) you don't sacrifice the business or the guys that will remain in it after someone leaves because it's a respectable gesture for a career-well-done, particularly when said gesture won't really affect the guy leaving one way or the other.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Take the concept of "Edge deserved to go out on top" out of the discussion. It's irrelevant.

del Rio is clearly not ready to go over in the World Title match at Mania. I've said it before - despite his talent and what a great character he CAN be, he garnered little heat to be a world title contender at the biggest show of the year. S(h)eamus was hotter than del Rio and he went over at tertiary PPV's before bowing out to HHH at Mania. It wasn't his time.

The simple fact that adding Christian to the match and making it triple threat was teased shows you how confident the WWE brass was in del Rio's ability to get heat in this feud.

 

[Calderownz]

The reason Austin lost that match with The Rock was because, if you look at the history of their feud, The Rock had very little wins over Stone Cold. Especially at the biggest events. I wouldn't be surprised if Austin himself would have preferred to put Rocky over.

Also, it appears as though Austin has a better chance at wrestling at least one more match. Whereas, Edge seems as though that is a little bit less likely for himself. So, letting him finally defend his title at WrestleMania successfully makes a little more sense.

The other thing is that del Rio and WWE might just be better with a different route to the championship. Even if Edge had stuck around, perhaps he would have won. Just because of plans. We don't really know.

Nonetheless, in closing, I don't see anything wrong with how it all unraveled.

 

[Mexican Mark Henry]

I think that Del Rio should have won his match against Edge.

1. Del Rio can tell the fans that he ended Edge's career like Sheamus did, causing MAJOR heat.

2. Del Rio can kayfabe BREAK Edge's arm, causing even MORE heat.

3. Christian can "avenge" Edge and possibly win the World Championship from Del Rio.

4. Del Rio is more entertaining than Edge AND Christian combined, Christian and Edge are already established, what would a win give them?

 

[JUSBRINGIT]

del rio winning? No I don't think so...first match on the card and it was a great match and I'm glad Edge retained. Del Rio is not as entertaining as Edge and Christian combined. I still think it was a mistake to let him win the rumble. I know Miz has nothing to do with this but he basically is the miz of smackdown. He acts as if he has a chance and one day sure i see him world champion but look at Miz and Del Rio are good in ring workers they are good at promos and they both have a stupid bodyguard which nither of them need. But there is one thing that makes Miz better then Del Rio is that WWE know what to do with Miz and they gradually built him up. People will disagree and i don't care. As for edge winning yeah i think WWE knew Edge needed to retire and they said hell thats let him win this one. I'm sure Del Rio will have the title just not yet...

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Nope, plenty of time for Del Rio to get world title wins when its not over a man who is wrestling despite numbness in his limbs. They did the right thing.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

While I understand that it is a time honored tradition in wrestling to lose your last match, the opponent needs to be just as good as well. Austin lost to Rock, Flair to Michaels and Michaels to Austin the first time round and to Undertaker the next time round. They were all huge names in wrestling even at the point at which they retired these huge stars.

Del Rio has been impressive so far and there seems to be no reason why he should not have a long and successful career but at this point he is not a big enough star, not by a long shot, to retire a legendary wrestler like Edge. He has not done anything to earn such a feather in his cap.

I think what happened is that by the time WWE realized that Edge was all but a certainty to retire, the Edge vs Del Rio match had already been set for Mania. That is why they chose Edge to win on his way out. If there had been more time available I think the WWE might have set up a Cena vs Edge feud. Cena is actually the only superstar who deserves to win against Edge and retire him in that way.

 

[Minnesota Connection]

That's a bold statement, Del Rio being more entertaining then Edge AND Christian combined. One that I find to be false, by the way..

No, Del Rio is to green to be considered to retire Edge. Edge retiring on top was probably given to him from the higher ups for staying with the WWE his entire professional wrestling career and the fact he hasn't reached 40 means they were probably trying to keep him involved in the business and keeping him happy.

It was a huge mistake to let Del Rio win the rumble, while proved to be shocking, considering there was no way before hand anyone would of guessed... But sometimes surprises fail. Maybe in time Del Rio will grow a a superstar, but currently...

He should NOT of gone over Edge at WM.

 

[Dagger Dias]

At first I would have said yes, but now my answer has changed. There's a good chance that WWE might originally have planned for Del Rio to win but then found out about Edge's injury status. He deserved to go out on top as an 11 time World Champion with a title retention as his final match. Del Rio has his entire career ahead of him to get over. Say what you want about wrestlers "having" to put someone over in their last match. I'm sure it meant a lot to Edge to leave the way that he did. We got a good match out of the two and Edge got a great ending to his awesome career. It's not the end of the world that Edge won, in fact, looking back on it, I'd say he deserved it.