WWE/A&E’s ‘Rivals’ puts Edge vs. Cena into historical perspective
Serving as a sort-of direct sequel / deleted scenes companion to the episode of Biography featuring Edge that had aired just prior, this week’s episode of WWE Rivals expands on the rivalry between Edge and John Cena. On its own, it’s a stretch to call it one of the great rivalries that deserves investigative treatment, but considering how the two of them ushered in the first, and still one of the most entertaining, cash-ins of the Money in the Bank contract, that story does deserve to be told.
Usual contributors Pete Rosenberg and Bruce Prichard, along with tonight’s roundtable with Freddie Prinze, Jr., Kevin Nash, JBL, Cody Rhodes, and Beth Phoenix, open up with a quick summation of both men’s careers and how their confrontation began, in a sense, at WrestleMania 21.
At this event, John Cena takes the WWE Championship from JBL while Edge wins the Money in the Bank, putting the pieces in place for their impromptu match in January of the next year at the New Year’s Revolution event. Lita appears in this episode to talk about her real-life relationship with Edge and how it was brought into the storyline as a way to help him turn heel. This was left out of his episode of Biography completely, but the partnership gets a lot of appreciation here from the likes of Paul Heyman.
Lita says that she and Edge felt ready to carry this title for a while, but Edge had mentioned on Biography (not here) that he had been told from the get-go that he would win the title in January — and lose it back to Cena in January at the Royal Rumble.
The next stage of the rivalry sees Edge give an assist to Rob Van Dam as he dethroned Cena for the WWE Championship (and thereby defused a riot in Philadelphia), with Edge then reclaiming the title once again from Van Dam in July.
Cena reflects on how well Edge played the villain, especially as he entered John Cena Sr.’s house and slapped the senior in the face, because, as Edge reveals, a rivalry can only be about a championship for so long without adding layers. Phoenix chimes in to highlight once again the intergral role that Lita played, which Cena (Jr.) echoes as well.
The other legacy of the rivalry between Edge and Cena saw the end of the “Spinner” title that John had introduced when Lita tossed it into the Long Island Sound — which Cena later threw Edge into, too.
The culminartion of their feud came in September of 2006 at the Unforgiven show, featuring the hometown Edge in his favourite match (TLC), and the villified Cena. Edge recalls the moment Cena choked him out with an STF using a ladder, unbeknownst to Cena, later in the match dropping him onto a set of stacked tables with an FU to bring the rivalry to a close.
That brings the episode to an end as well. It was essentially a tip of the cap by both Cena and Edge towards each other, revealing just enough behind-the-scenes storytelling decision-making to make it an interesting hour’s watch.
