10 Awesome Ways Wrestlers Got Back At Critics

5. Edge & Lita's Fight Against The Fans

Edge Lita
WWE.com

It had been a rocky road for Lita and Edge after Matt Hardy revealed that his fiancee and best friend had been seeing each other behind his (and Edge's wife Lisa's) back throughout late-2004 and early-2005.

The pair invited brutal and bruising scorn privately, but Matt's exposure resulted in crowds showering them with feverous fury in the weeks and months that followed. Uncomfortable for everybody involved, the abuse from audiences hijacked countless matches and shows until they were forced together on television to awkwardly act out their affair as evil heels.

An on-screen feud between the scorned babyface and the girl-stealing heel didn't particularly dull the disdain, but Edge in particular basked in the inglorious nature of the newfound hatred. Fans still raged about their treachery, but the act insisted upon a topline promotion as a result - Edge's swaggering confidence catapulted him to the top of the card, helped by the Money In The Bank briefcase he'd clung to with as much lust as he had for Lita.

A New Year's Revolution 2006 win over John Cena didn't quite solidify his status, but it didn't really need to - his confidence carried him there by the end of the year.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett