As you all remember, Edge was forced to retire due to his neck problems in April 2011 as the World Champion, which makes this nothing but pure fantasy booking. In reality, Edge knew he only had one more year left in him, and he wanted to be finished on his own terms at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami, against one very special opponent. The only man who could be his opponent. In this piece I’ll fantasy book what his last year could’ve been, let me know what you think!
CHAPTER 1 – VIVA DEL RIO
So, we’re in April 2011. At this point, Edge has defeated Alberto Del Rio and has retained his World Title. In order to extend his run as much as we can due to his injuries, the first step is to take Edge off TV for a few months. At Extreme Rules, he was scheduled to defend against Del Rio in a Ladder Match in real life (until retirement led to Christian replacing him).
Much like in real life, Del Rio gets drafted to RAW the week before the PPV, and then follows it up by winning the World Title and “injuring” Edge in the process, forcing the Canadian to take time off. Meanwhile, while Edge is gone, Del Rio continues to defend SmackDown’s World Title on RAW, until he makes history at Money in the Bank by also winning RAW’s briefcase. This is something WWE has never done, and they love their “first time evers”.
If you remember correctly, Christian suffered an injury in 2010 at the hands of Del Rio. This is where we bring Christian back, as Del Rio’s challenger for the title at SummerSlam. Just as Christian is about to win, Daniel Bryan comes out, causes a DQ and pins Del Rio to claim the title, beginning his slow turn into an annoying heel champion. Later that night, Del Rio cashes in his own MITB on CM Punk (like in real life), winning the WWE Championship and making this the first time both MITBs were cashed in on the very same night.
CHAPTER 2 – WELCOME TO THE HALL OF PAIN
On the following SmackDown, Teddy Long announces Christian will have another shot at his first World Title due to the DQ at SummerSlam, this time against Bryan at Night of Champions. Mark Henry interrupts the segment, destroying Christian while Bryan quietly leaves the ring and watches the beatdown (as part of his slow heel turn). The following week, Henry beats Christian in order to get added to the title match at Night of Champions, making it a Triple Threat.
In that match, Henry murders Christian, while Bryan stays away from the action as most as he can. While Bryan is “down and out” on the floor, Henry brutally delivers two World Strongest Slam’s and a Splash to Christian, at which point Bryan low-blows Henry and quickly steals Henry’s pin on Christian to retain, running out of the ring immediately.
After the match, Henry takes his anger out on Christian, literally destroying him and putting him on the injured list as well, making him another victim of Mark’s Hall Of Pain. A few weeks later, Bryan faces Henry alone inside Hell in a Cell, and this time there’s nowhere for Bryan to run. Here is where Henry’s World Championship reign begins.
CHAPTER 3 – HE’S BACK!
Around Survivor Series time, Edge finally makes his return from “injury”, winning a Four Way Match on SmackDown in December against Bryan, Ziggler and Cody Rhodes to become the challenger for Mark Henry’s title at Royal Rumble in January 2012. During the title match, while Henry brutally beats Edge down and is about to put Edge back on the shelf and with the ref bumped, we hear “GO… if you close your eyes… etc!”
Christian makes his return and gets his revenge on Henry for taking him out at Night of Champions, hitting him with three vicious chair shots to the back before delivering a Killswitch. This gives Edge enough time to deliver a Spear, while the ref dramatically counts three and Edge reclaims the World Championship, which would be his last, finally giving Henry his first pin/submission loss since his heel turn.
Later that same night, Christian enters the Rumble as number 30 and last eliminates Chris Jericho to get another shot at his first World Title reign at WrestleMania XXVIII. The show goes off the air with Cole saying “now with Edge as champion, will we see a showdown between the two brothers at WrestleMania?”… or something like that, instead of talking like a robot all the time!
CHAPTER 4 – ONE LAST GREAT HEEL RUN
As much as we love Edge, there’s no Edge better than cocky heel Edge, right!? That’s how his career took off, that’s how I’d have it end!
On the next SmackDown, WWE promotes a “E&C celebration”, with both men celebrating their respective wins at the Rumble. As soon as Christian starts to speak, Edge attacks from behind… Edge points to his head, pointing out he won’t be outsmarted by his “brother”, and immediately goes to the outside and grabs a chair, beating him up with it. Then he goes and grabs a ladder, wedging it and throwing Christian through it, breaking it. Finally, he brings in a table, and spears Christian through it, standing on top of Christian with a cold look in his eyes while the crowd boos him.
This writes Christian off TV for a few weeks so we can get through the Elimination Chamber. There, Edge retains his title, having a limited role in the match which would not only prevent him from really getting injured, but now would also fit his heel persona. So nice way to kill two birds with one stone! During the PPV, Michael Cole announces Christian will make his return at the next SmackDown to announce who he’ll challenge at WrestleMania.
CHAPTER 5 – TLC
Christian, as the babyface, obviously announces he’ll challenge Edge for the World Title, adding that he’ll finally realize his dream and win his first World Title in WWE. Edge comes out, saying Christian never won the title because the “true star of team is standing in front of you” (or something like that), to which Christian replies “I know you’re good, I know it better than anyone else, Edge. But if you think for one second you’d have won as many titles as you did if you weren’t making out with Vickie Guerrero or stealing other people’s girlfriends to stay relevant, think again”.
Edge snaps at this, accepting the match under one condition: “Let’s see who the better man truly was all along. Let’s put it all on the line. Let’s do it one last time. Tables. Ladders. Chairs. WrestleMania. World Title. My career. Your career. All on the line. When I win, I’ll make sure you NEVER were champion, and I’ll love every second of it”, smiling while the fans at this point should all be behind Christian.
Then, Edge immediately tries to spear Christian, only for him to block it and do the exact same attack Edge did to him the prior month with the weapons. This time, Christian is the one standing on top of his former partner, down and out on a broken table. During the next few weeks, the two continue to cut promos on each other, with Edge always saying he’ll have a lot of fun ending the career “he helped create”, in his own words. “You’re only here because of me. After WrestleMania, you won’t. It will all be over. Your dream of being champion, GONE. Your career, DONE. All because of me”, and smiles!
On the SmackDown before WM, Teddy Long books the final ever E&C match, as they’ll take on Primo & Epico. Christian picks up the win, only to then get a spear and a conchairto courtesy of the champ (sorry, PG sponsors) to close the final SmackDown before WrestleMania.
CHAPTER 6 – THE END
We’re finally at the big show. This career v career match shouldn’t be any ordinary TLC carwreck, this should have a lot of psychology, mind games on Edge’s part making sure the viewer gets he’s loving to take his friend out.
Christian makes a few comebacks here and there, but Edge always finds a way to cut him off and to make sure he lets the crowd know he’s on top. After a 20/25 minute classic, Edge finally puts Christian down and out for good. But he looks up at the audience and makes that evil smile, he wants one last shot. One last shot to make sure he was the better man along.
Just as Edge goes to hit a spear through a table, Christian suddenly throws a chair at him, followed by a quick Killswitch. Once Edge gets up, Christian is the one who spears him through the table in the corner.
And then, in what should be a moment for the ages, Christian slowly climbs the ladder with a sea of people standing up and FINALLY claims his very first WWE World Heavyweight Championship, while his amazing theme song plays in the background.
After a short celebration on top of the ladder, Christian looks down at Edge and helps him up, as the two hug and end the chapter on their incredible wrestling history, with Christian winning his first World Championship in Edge’s very last wrestling match. Edge then leaves the ring and gives this moment to Christian. Chances are they’d probably be crying real tears at this point, much like many fans in attendance and people watching at home!
The next RAW would feature a celebration of Edge’s career (a la Ric Flair in 2008), with Christian, Rhyno, Edge’s mom and many others coming out without Edge knowing to say one last goodbye to the wrestling career of the “Rated R Superstar”.
As for Christian’s reign, I’d have him keep the title for a while, retaining in good matches against challengers such as Sheamus, Jericho, Ziggler and all that. I’d have Christian drop it at SummerSlam 2012 to Ryback, who was on fire at the time, selling a lot of merchandise, and it wouldn’t have been a bad idea putting the Big Gold Belt on him instead of randomly giving it to Big Show for some reason.
I hope you enjoyed! Once again, this was purely fantasy booking, as Edge was FORCED to retire in 2011 and there was no way this could’ve possibly happened. This was just a “what if”. Thanks for reading, drop those comments down below!