Dark Pegasus Video Review: Edge - A Decade of Decadence (Disc Two)

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 12.02.2008

Edge goes big-time.

Edge: A Decade of Decadence, Disc Two
by J.D. Dunn

Your host is Edge.

Intercontinental Title: Randy Orton vs. Edge (07.11.04).
Orton was starting to receive a lot of vocal support from the fans, which would explain his ill-fated face turn. Headlockery to starts, but it's the good kind where they actually work off the headlock into other sequences like the criss-cross. Orton gets steamrolled but controls the match with clubs to the chest. Edge comes back with a flying forearm, so Orton bails and grabs his title. Edge hits a sliding dropkick, though. Back in, Edge hits a missile dropkick for two as the fans start to get behind Randy. Edge sets up for the spear, but Randy punts him in the face to counter. That sets up a neck vise, and the fans start to go back and forth. Randy tells them he doesn't need their help. He slaps on the chinlock, although people were just starting to notice his reliance on it, so it was not yet the ORTONLOCK~! Edge elbows out and dropkicks Orton out of the sky. They tease a double KO and then slug it out from their knees. The Edge-o-matic gets two. Orton sets up for a superplex, but Edge shoves him off. Orton lands awkwardly on the ropes. Randy unties one of the buckles, distracting the ref so he doesn't see Edge roll Randy up for two. The Impaler gets two, and now the fans are starting to root for Edge again. Orton drops Edge on the exposed buckle and puts his feet on the ropes for two. That sets up an RKO attempt, but Edge shoves him to the corner. Randy leapfrogs a spear attempt, sending Edge into the middle turnbuckle. That sets up an RKO attempt, but Edge backslides him, tosses him into the exposed buckle, and finishes with the spear at 26:37. This was heralded as a classic at the time, but there are too many dead spots early on. It really finishes strong, though, and that's what people remember. Randy's IC Title streak, which was approaching Honky Tonk Man levels, was finally over. The idea was to set up Edge as a babyface avenger, working his way through Evolution until a big showdown with Triple H, but they made his so edgy (no pun intended) that the fans actually turned him heel before that could happen. Edge had to get to the main even through other means. ***1/4

Street Fight: Edge vs. Shawn Michaels (02.28.05).
You know it's a "Street Fight" because they are wearing street clothes... even though they never dress like that backstage. Michaels takes off his belt and punches Edge with it. They brawl to the crowd. Michaels borrows a camera and snaps a shot of Edge. Michaels hits him with a trash can. He pulls out a ladder to a huge pop. Edge cuts him off with a chairshot, though. Edge sets up the chair and DDTs Michaels into it after a failed try. Michaels starts to bleed as we go to commercial. We come back from commercial to find Edge with a chokehold on Michaels. Michaels fights out of it and grabs the ladder. Edge dropkicks it back into his face for two. Edge goes up top, but Michaels knocks the ladder into him, sending Edge all the way to the floor. Shawn planchas onto him. The ladder gets set up in the corner. Michaels tries to whip him into it, but Edge reverses to a drop toehold into the ladder. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Edge splashes him off the ladder. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO!!! Michaels blocks a chairshot and catapults Edge into the ladder. Michaels hauls off and hits Edge with a wicked chairshot. Edge misses a swing with a Kendo stick, so Michaels delivers a flying forearm and kips up. He knocks Edge's head out of the park with a Kendo stick shot and goes up top. Elbow Drop! TUNING UP THE BAND! It misses! Edge low blows him with the chair. Edge sets up for the one-man conchairto. Michaels punches him in the giblets to counter. Michaels goes for a chairshot, but Edge hits the Spear. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO!! He tries for another one, but runs right into SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Shawn falls on top for the win at 15:05. Brutal, hate-filled classic. Much better, and more intense, than their Rumble match. ****

Gold Rush Tournament Finals: Edge vs. Kane (w/Lita, 05.16.05).
Edge runs into a big boot but drop toeholds Kane into the turnbuckle. Kane tosses him over the top. Long… methodical… beatdown… by Kane. Edge snaps Kane's neck off the top rope and gets a lowblow behind the ref's back. We come back from a break to Edge working over Kane's leg. Kane fights his way back and gets two off an uppercut. Snake Eyes. Clothesline. Two count. Kane counters the spear to the chokeslam, but Edge grabs the ref to block. Edge hits the Edgetable, but it only gets two. Edge runs right into a sideslam. Kane goes for the Tombstone, but Edge pushes him into the referee. Edge spears him and grabs the briefcase. Kane boots it back into his face, sending the briefcase to the outside. Lita snatches it away and slides it to Edge. Edge BLASTS him with briefcase. Lita revives the ref. ONE… TWO… THREE.

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…

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…whore. (11:21) *1/2

Jim Ross' rant about Lita going back on her marriage vows is pretty funny considering she was raped and coerced into a hellish, demonspawn ceremony. Trish looked good, though.

Street Fight: Edge (w/Lita) vs. Matt Hardy (08.29.05).
Lita's breasts were like Hacksaw Jim Duggan's eyes at this point – going off in independent directions at their whim. Matt & Edge fight into the crowd, and then Matt gets a ladder as we go to commercial. Apparently Eugene found a job timing the commercial breaks. We come back to Matt hitting Edge in the face with a metal trashcan lid, which appears to be the same consistency as Lita’s breasts, so Edge is probably used to it. Matt goes up the ladder and drops a leg on Edge’s face. Edge busts out the Whuppin’ Stick or Singapore Cane. He tries a one-man Conchairto, but Matt sweeps his legs like he’s Raiden or something. Edge gives Matt an awkward flapjack into the ladder and proceeds to beat him with the trashcan lid. The ref is about to stop the match again, but Matt stops him. Hell hath no fury like a man scorned who whines on the internet and then gets his ass beat. Edge curbstomps Matt’s head between the ringpost and ringsteps, or at least he tries. Matt responds with a DDT to the ringsteps. Lita gets involved with a briefcase shot, but Matt no-sells it like he did her fake orgasms and smashes the ladder into Edge in the corner. Matt tries a moonsault onto Edge on the ladder, but Edge moves. Matt starts swinging wildly. They fight all the way to the ramp, and Matt rams Edge’s face into Raw sign. Matt goes after Lita, but Edge makes the save. Both men miss their finishers, and Matt delivers the side effect off the platform into the electrical equipment below. That grinds the match to a halt as both men are apparently electrocuted. You know what would be a cool gimmick? If it fused them together and they had to go through life as conjoined twins. I think there was a Rosey Greer movie about that. Anyway, both men are collared and taken away as we go to commercial. History has given me a new perspective on this one, and it's quite enjoyable to watch Edge steal Hardy's girl, his spot, his soul and beat him into paste. The finish is still stupid, but it beats the hell out of their Summerslam matfch. ***1/4

WWE Heavyweight Title: John Cena vs. Edge (w/Lita, 01.03.06).
We actually open with the final few minutes of the "Elimination Chamber Match" as the epic team of Carlito and Chris Masters beat John Cena down. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Cena comes back and beats the both. Just another day at the office for the C-Note, right? Wrong! Edge cashes in his Money in the Bank title shot right there on the spot. Edge jumps the bloody Cena and pounds away on his open wound. He sets up for the…SPEAR! ONE, TWO, THREE? NO! The ref hit three, but Cena had rolled his shoulder. Edge can't believe it. ANOTHER SPEAR! ONE, TWO, THREE! NEW CHAMPION! (1:48) Lawler screams, "He's stolen the damn title!" Edge struggles to hold back tears as he celebrates with an appreciative crowd. 1/2*

Hardcore Match: Edge (w/Lita) vs. Mick Foley (04.02.06).
Joey Styles joins commentary, probably at the request of Foley. Edge misses a swing with a baseball bat, so Foley delivers the tree-of-woe elbow. Lita slides a cookie sheet in, and Edge smacks Mick over the head with it. CHOCOLATE CHIP, BITCHES! Edge sets a road sign against Foley's face and dropkicks it. SPEAR! Oh, but Edge injures his shoulder. Ah, Mick had wrapped himself in barbed wire. Edge gets tied in the ropes Andre-style, so Foley grabs "Barbie" the barbed-wire board. Lita jumps on Mick's back, but he Cactus Clotheslines Edge with Lita on his back, sending all three of them to the floor! Edge whips Mick into the ring steps and sets up a table. They tease Edge putting Foley through a table, but Edge slams his head on the entrance ramp for two. Back in the ring, Edge douses Foley in lighter fluid! Mick comes back with a piledriver for two, but Lita jumps in and distracts him long enough for Edge to jump him from behind. Edge dumps a bagful of thumbtacks in the corner of the ring, but Foley reverses and backdrops Edge in them! BARBED WIRE SOCKO! Oh, dear God! He applies the Mandible Claw with the barbed wire — and there's one for Lita! Both men are bleeding like stuck pigs, and even Lita's bleeding from the mouth. Foley digs Barbie's wire into Edge's forehead and douses the table in lighter fluid. Lita hits him with Barbie, though, and lights the table. Edge recovers and spears Foley off the apron through the flaming table! OH MY GAWD! Obviously, that's enough for the win at 14:38. Note how they built to the big spot by teasing the crowd with the table early and then the lighter fluid before leading up to the ending. The result is that the crowd is whipped into a frenzy for the crescendo. That's what separates good storytelling from your average indy violent sleaze. We'll go **** for the chaos, the intensity, the build, and Edge's awesome postmatch selljob.

Six-Person Tag: Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk & Beulah McGillicuty vs. Mick Foley, Edge & Lita (06.11.06).
Edge and Dreamer do a little exchange before Mick gets in and calls out Terry Funk. Terry takes him to the outside early and pummels him. They pair off, and Edge pulls out a ladder. He javelins it into Dreamer's face and preps to spear him into it, but Dreamer counters to a hiptoss onto the ladder. Terry Funk gets a hold of the ladder and does the helicopter trick, taking out Edge & Foley. Funk climbs the ladder for a moonsault, but Edge pushes it over, dumping Funk off. Dreamer hops in and goes for the DVD, but Lita breaks it up with a low kick. Edge and Foley introduce a barbed-wire board into the match. Well, this can't be any kind of healthy. They sort of suplex it on Dreamer, taking out a chunk of his head when they pull it off. Funk sneaks up on Edge & Foley and yanks their feet out from under them, putting THEM underneath the board. The crowd chants "this is awesome" as Foley is shoved into the barbed-wire. That's a bit generous. Funk gets tied up in the barbed-wire and winds up at Foley's mercy. Foley tries to rip his eye out, so the medics come to drag Funk to the back. That leaves Dreamer in there with Foley and Edge…oh, and a BARBED-WIRE BAT! Lita legdrops the bat into Dreamer's crotch, prompting chants of "We want Sandman!" Mick then goes way over the line, way too hardcore, by bringing out – SOCKO! Beulah takes the Mandible Claw first, then Dreamer. Edge spears Dreamer but doesn't want to go for the pin. Instead, he stops to humiliate Beulah. Oh, but here's Terry Funk, returning through the crowd with a bandaged eye and his own barbed-wire 2x4! Edge & Foley see him coming, but that just provides enough distraction for Dreamer to lowblow them. Funk lights the board ON FIRE AND KNOCKS FOLEY THROUGH THE BARBED-WIRE BOARD WITH IT! Dreamer DDTs Edge and strangles him with the barbed-wire! Lita makes the save, but Beulah grabs her from behind. CATFIGHT! CAAAAATFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! Dreamer grabs Lita and gets a little revenge with the DVD. Edge sneaks back up and gives Dreamer the barbed-wire assisted Edge-o-matic. He spears Beulah and pins her Paris Hilton-style at 18:45. Well, the WWE guys had to get one. You know how I say there is a difference between "heavily booking a match" and the overused cliché of "overbooking?" Well, this was a heavily booked match in just the right place. They disguised the limitations of three of the four guys perfectly, so while it wasn't exactly a masterpiece, it had just the right mix of action and drama. ****

WWE Heavyweight Title, No DQ: Rob Van Dam vs. Edge (w/Lita) vs. John Cena (07.03.06).
Good thing Rob saved that spinner title. Edge tries to get Cena and Van Dam to fight each other, but they take turns jumping him instead. They toss him and play to the crowd as we go to break. When we come back, Cena tosses Edge into the stairs, and then Van Dam flies out onto Cena. Back in, Cena catches Van Dam in the FU, but he shimmies out. They do a weird sort of Power & Glory-type move where Cena lifts Edge up in a suplex and Van Dam comes off the top with a crossbody. Van Dam wins a 3-way slugfest but gets thrown to the floor. Cena hits Edge with the 5-Knuckle Shuffle and gives Edge an FU to the floor. Lita tries to interfere but takes an FU as well. Van Dam returns with the Van Daminator to Cena. The Five-Star Frogsplash misses, though. FU! Oh, but Edge runs in with a belt shot to Cena and covers RVD for the win and the title at 11:18. Edge ignores Lita while he celebrates, but then he finally picks her up and walks out with her. You know what that means! LIVE SEX NEXT WEEK, BABY! **3/4

Special Features

Adam Copeland vs. Christian (11.10.97).
This is a dark match from Ontario. Edge was already signed to a developmental deal, but Christian wasn't. Matt Striker and Edge are on commentary, and Striker asks a great, tough question of Edge, basically asking whether Edge was thinking of making a good impression with his new employers so he can get to the main roster or trying to get his life-long friend a contract too. Edge says he was just focusing on telling a story in this match. Both guys are doing a lot of high-energy moves like flying headscissors and off-the-top moves that they've since dropped. Hebner seems to botch a count off a crossbody. Huh. Edge hits a Demonbomb for the win at 4:58 and raises the roof. Edge: What was I thinking?! This was about what you'd expect from developmental guys who are hungry but not polished. *3/4

Intercontinental Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Edge (07.24.99).
This is from a house show the night before Fully Loaded. Not exactly the greatest footage, but it'll do. Ken Shamrock's plane had difficulties and couldn't land, so hometown boy Edge gets the last-second call. Jarrett jumps him on his way into the ring. Edge comes back with a sunset flip, and Jarrett bails. Edge says he tried too hard to prove himself and forced things around this time. Back in, Jarrett grabs a sleeper, but Edge fights out of it. Edge hits a Tornado DDT, but the ref is distracted by Debra. Edge gets distracted by the puppies, too, but he avoids Jarrett's charge and spears him for the IC Title at 4:37. Big pop from the home crowd. At first, they take the title away from Edge because it wasn't scheduled. Blackjack Lanza comes down and reverses that, though, saying the decision stands. Edge says he had no idea that was going to happen at the time, so his title win was as much a surprise for him as it was to everyone else. **1/4

The 411: It's fun to see Edge establish himself as a main-event player. Next up, real decadence.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]