10 Most Vicious WWE Grudge Matches Ever
6. John Cena vs. Edge - Backlash 2009
The rvalry between Edge and John Cena was one for the ages. The Rated-R Superstar cashed in the very first Money In The Bank briefcase on Cena in January 2006, and every aspect of their ongoing feud since then had the feeling of genuine loathing permeating it. Edge attacked Cena's family, Cena threw Edge into the river: there were so many backstage beatings and gimmick matches that it's hard to recall whether the pair of them ever had a straight singles match with a clean finish.
How much more could they do to each other? Having inserted himself into the World Heavyweight Championship hunt in typically evil fashion, Edge lost the title to Cena at WrestleMania XXV in a triple threat match also involving the Big Show. Although technically Show was the one pinned, Edge was the one that got the rematch, as the previous champion - and that match would be a Last Man Standing match at Backlash.
A half hour of heavy, brutal brawling, the main event of Backlash lived up to the high expectations set. Edge and Cena had sold it as the final chapter in their ongoing, Israel/Palestine style feud, a match in which a definitive winner would finally be called when the loser simply couldn't stand up again. The two men couldn't get it done by simply pasting each other in the ring, so the bout moved to the outside, then to the announcers' table, then into the crowd.
They fought all the way around the arena, only ever able to get a nine-count, until their scrapping took them to the lobby and back to the stage. With Edge on top but unable to keep Cena down, the crowd exploded when Cena dragged Edge into a fireman's carry for the Attitude Adjustment - and that's when their marginalised WrestleMania opponent the Big Show interfered to chokeslam Cena through a giant (fake) spotlight, which blew up with a suitably impressive special effect to take Big Match Johnny out and give Edge the win and his fifth World Heavyweight Championship.
Cena was stretchered out back after the match. Somewhat typically, it took interference from a giant and being caught in the centre of an explosion to keep Cena down, and it couldn't be Edge himself who did the deed. However, the two men barely tangled again after that, and Edge found himself forced to retire only two years later: so technically, you could say that the Ultimate Opportunist actually came out on top of the whole three-year feud. Over Cena. Will wonders never cease.