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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Edging Out the World Title

Edge vs. Y2J at Wrestlemania 26
2010 has been an interesting year for Edge.  He came back early from an injury to win the Royal Rumble in January.

He cashed in on his guaranteed title shot at Wrestlemania 26 against Chris Jericho and came up short.  That led to a heel turn and and mediocre run on Raw.  Then a few months ago, Edge landed back on Smackdown! once again finding himself the number one contender to the World Title.

Survivor Series he didn't win the belt, but he didn't lose the match either.  That of course meant he was still in contention for the title.

Edge then "kidnapped" Kane's father and manager, Paul Bearer.  He's been playing mind games with the champ for the last couple of weeks.  Last night on Smackdown! things came to a head as Edge pinned Kane (in a non title match) and earned the right to chose the stipulation at the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs pay per view later this month.  Of course Edge picked the TLC match.  It's "his" match.

But I don't think that's going to equate to his success in the chase for the title.  Usually when the champ is pinned on TV, he goes on to successfully defend this title on the PPV.  Usually.  But that's only one reason why I think Kane will win.

I like Edge, I really do.  But I don't necessarily think he should be or needs to be the world champion again.  Nine times is a lot.  I'm sure he'll win it again before he hangs up the boots forever, but I'm really hoping Kane continues to be pushed as a strong world champ.  That's what we need.  Especially in a year when the belt has been passed around like a hot potato.  Kane could be the longest reigning champ of the year.  I'm too lazy to do the math.

So what happens if Edge doesn't win the title as I suspect?  With a lack of faces on Smackdown! who are what I'd consider top contenders, I think we get a Kane-Big Show feud.  I'll be honest, not exactly looking forward to that.  But if Kane could dominate the Show like he did the Undertaker, I think it only makes the title look more important.  The only other face I could see up there in contention would be Kofi Kingston, but it looks like they're pushing him toward the Intercontinental title again. 

I really wish Christian wasn't injured, because he is really the guy I want to see get a world title run of anyone on the Smackdown! roster right now.  I think it's too early for guys like Kaval and Cody Rhodes.

I'm wondering if MVP now gone (not that I thought he'd be wrestling for the world title) if they'll send someone over from Raw to fill his void.  Raw has a ton of guys, so that's a possibility.  Or maybe they'll elevate someone to that mid-card IC title contender spot that MVP held.  I think moving someone like John Morrison over as a world title contender would be awesome.

Now if Edge does win the title, you would have a lot of heel contenders, but not really anyone who's at the top of the card.  At least not yet.  You'd have to elevate someone.  I'm not impressed with the way Jack Swagger was booked as champion earlier this year.  So I don't think he's ready for another run at the top.  Drew McIntyre would be interesting in that role.  He is the "chosen one."  But is he ready to step up to the plate?  His run as IC champion was mediocre at best.

Alberto Del Rio is too new to be champ in my opinion.  Cody Rhodes is another possibility.  He's talented, just needs to continue to develop. There's a lot of younger talent out there, but they've been looked over as guys who've been at the top repeatedly get pushed.  Randy Orton, John Cena, Undertaker, HHH.  Now as those guys get older, they're taking time off after being hurt and in some cases retiring. 

Chris Jericho said it best a while back, the WWE needs to start doing a better job of developing younger talent.  Now that the roster is full of lots of newcomers, the time to do it is now more so than ever before.  Here's to hoping.

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