I love to say in light of fairly recent circumstances, that this is going to strain me somewhat. But splicing through false praise and an attempt to heighten my opinion of said superstar in order not to totally alienate the undecided, I know it just simply won't.
Edge is, by championships, the most 'decorated' superstar in the history of the WWE. Indisputable. He's a key figure when you want to consider the landscape of the WWE over the past 5 and a bit years. What is far and away more disputable, is as to how deserving the man is to hold such a legendary accolade.
I stopped watching wrestling (not a conscious choice, just something I fell out of when I was younger) about 2001 and commenced again in 2007. Ergo I missed a large portion of the rise of Edge and his memorable feuds with John Cena, Matt Hardy and ....? Be sure, I've caught up on those things since and have the information required to make an informed decision. Edge is one of those guys who could just as easily never broken through to become a main event fixture, in much the same way as Christian (who seemed closer to the verge of breaking through at the time of his departure) may never have, and it would have felt justified. Instead, we're in a position where we're talking about the plus 10 time world champion, all reigns which came in a 5 year space more or less. Now, of course he benefited from his gimmick, being the ultimate opportunist surely help him in situation like MITB where he successfully captured the title multiple times. So what about the other times?
So, when I judge a wrestler's work I don;t like to consider as heavily their body of work, and more what I can remember them doing like and acting like in and outside of the ring. I remember Edge as a comfortable speaker, but one who's words never shook the audience into a vibrating frenzy. I'll remember him for being a competent worker, for pushing through in matches with greats and not looking out of place, and not for being someone who caught my eye in the ring and made me think 'gotta watch this match again sometime'. I'll remember the guy who had a handful of big feuds in his 10+ years career, but not a guy who stole the show any arena, any match, any segment, ever.
Edge wasn't bad, but he was't great. So then the question is, is CM Punk?
In all fairness now, in not watching ROH, some TNA, the rest of the place where CM Punk made himself an indy household name, I've missed as much of the rise of Punk as I have Edge. My first real recollection from when I began watching are, who is this kid and why is he the WWE champion. And I wouldn't know the answer for a good long while, up until he came to be locked into a feud with Jeffrey freaking Nero Hardy. He went from a little guy with a strange name to, 'WOAH, where's this guy been hiding?'. And it could be argued, as Hardy himself so in-eloquently attempted to, that Punk rode the chants of the fans to an easy spot as a heel, putting Hardy out of the WWE would be destined to get him heat one way or t'other. True. It isn't as simple as that though. People aren't going to buy a story with one good player, doesn't happen. If John Cena was a man on fire, and Lesnar was just a lame duck, even with his accomplishments, the interest would quickly dwindle. Punk took the ball, ran with it and never passed it back.
He practically augmented his own rise to fame almost a year ago now after being put in the dog house with a poorly organized second run of The Nexus, or Nexus light as you may remember it. He tried and tried to do good work, but even the best workman can't make what he desires without the right tools. From the get-go, the group was doomed. They were never going to be the Nexus of old, they contained fewer and more inferior members and served only to act act kicking practice for Randy Orton's right foot. Before that he was pushed into the comfortable SES stable which he did well with, although looking back at how they were booked, it was never meant to be anything more than a mid-card group of brigands, sort of like The Corre but with talented people. Still, he did well there as the commander and managed to maintain belief that under his hairy exterior was rough raw talent, smoothed down to suit what the WWE wished him to do.
Nobody predicted what happened when Punk grabbed a live mic before Money In The Bank last year, but looking back we shouldn't have been half as surprised. What did happen was the month long highlight before the event culminating in a match regarded by many as a 5 star classic, and it proved something as 'The Fire Burns' blared through a speaker set in Chicago. Punk succeeded in doing something that nobody has been able to do, even if only for a few months, since probably The Rock was kicking it a decade ago. CM Punk became, for a little while, mainstream, relevant and mostly important cool to an army of demoralized wrestling fans clinging to hope. The reason being, he is a once in a generation wrestler who had that raw talent from whichever source it happened to be.
Edge was one of the guys in one of the most difficult 'grin and bear it' eras in wrestling history, a time when HHH was still being booked on top despite the majority of people being tired of him but simply having no alternative. That's the brand of competition he was saddled with. Punk did something unprecedented, he bucked the trend. He's, on occasion, sensational in the ring, he probably the guy most comfortable with a microphone of any superstar WWE has, an that may include Cena or Chris Jericho. The Kevin Nash, little sister text line a while back proved that he just isn't afraid to say what he wants or has to, and that he's effortlessly comfortable doing so.
Edge's career could've lasted another five years, it wouldn't have mattered, he just isn't in the same league as the self-made man who captivated the world and will not hesitate to do so again.
