10 Greatest WWE WrestleMania Gimmick Matches
5. Edge vs Mick Foley (WrestleMania 22)
For a hardcore match this brutal and bloody, Edge vs Foley is surprisingly wholesome in its intent. The former Mankind was an industry legend by this point, but couldn’t rightly claim a WrestleMania classic in his career.
He and Edge set out to change that in the way only they could.
A match that easily steals the show on an otherwise fairly pedestrian ‘Mania, it nails its tone perfectly. There are plenty of gruesome moments, but none of them are excessive or superfluous, all building the story of the wily hardcore legend and the rising star who’d have to pull something special out of the bag to win.
Taking a page from the Bret Hart playbook, Foley allows himself to be speared only to reveal barbed wire wrapped around his stomach. From there, the two trade shots with bats and chairs, before the coup de grace - a table, lit on fire by Lita, through which the pair tumble with Edge getting the win.
It’s a hardcore match with genuine psychology, Edge doing a terrific job of selling the heaviness of the encounter as he retreats to the back bug eyed and shaking, making sure everyone watching was fully aware that they’d just seen two titans go to war.