10 Wrestlers Who Changed Their Perception In A Heartbeat
6. Edge
Before:
A certain, intangible something lowered the ceiling on Edge. A superb wrestler with a great look - even a profound respect forged through those TLC wars - he never resonated as a true headliner despite being a tremendous all-rounder. Perhaps it was the babyface role - even stretching back all of those years, WWE's preferred, jovial verbiage was a ruthless shortcut to fans not taking a headline act seriously. This is a company that has spent much of its lifespan plagiarising itself, and still hasn't realised that Steve Austin was at his least over in 2001. Edge's 2004 heel turn helped, but the character and presentation felt somewhat derivative of his 2000 days.
In a heartbeat:
Edge clicked from upper midcard mainstay to headliner - as fast as sperm - with a cucking. By taking on real-life mistress Lita as manager in 2005, Edge rocketed to the main event as a top shagger - a truly reprehensible figure fans hated and, more significantly, were jealous of. Lita's thong was Phoebe Cates' red swimsuit to a generation of horned-up adolescent wrestling fans, and Edge seemed to grasp true, ticket-selling heat at last and with the most smug of sh*t-eating grins.