6 Ups & 4 Downs From Edge's WWE Career

Downs...

4. His King Of The Ring Win Flops

Edge assured the world that he wouldn't "Billy Gunn" his 2001 King Of The Ring win. Two years earlier, Gunn's triumph in the tourney had been a false dawn for his own headline aspirations, and (similarly to '99), the '01 version was supposed to be a launching pad for Edge's career.

It wasn't quite that special.

By beating Rhyno and Kurt Angle on the same night, he was meant to parlay into a feud against old tag partner Christian before going on to bigger and better things in the main event scene. Two months later though, Edge was beating Lance Storm at SummerSlam to become the new Intercontinental Champ.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same for him.

WCW and ECW's ongoing invasion angle muddied the waters for Edge, but he wasn't the most convincing wannabe headliner in 2001. Before winning KOTR, he'd been a goofy tag wrestler more likely to play kazoos and wear oversized glasses than tangle with the best.