Last Friday I talked about The Rock. Number six of eight in my favorite wrestler series. As I inch closer to my current favorite wrestler, today I write about number seven. The Rated R Superstar Edge.

Just a quick recap, my favorite wrestlers in chronological order are Brian Pillman, Lex Luger, Ultimate Warrior, Crush and The Rock. The Rock may be my all time favorite, but it’s Edge who was my first favorite as an adult. The Rock was my favorite from 1998 to about 2003. It was probably 2005, when I started rooting for Edge. John Cena was the new Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold of the WWE, but I have never really been a big fan of the “mega baby face”.

I can remember Edge’s first match way back in 1998 against Savio Vega and if I remember correctly Savio broke his neck in that match. Edge portrayed a mysterious vampire like character when he first came to WWE. He was in The Brood faction with Christian and Gangrel and that was the first of many great entrance themes for Edge.

After The Brood he found success as a tag team wrestler with Christian. Edge and Christian had great chemistry as they had been friends since grade school. They dropped the vampire stuff and started more of a comedy type team. Still heels, they started doing a “five second pose, for the benefit of those with flash photography.” I thought it was hilarious and so did a lot of WWE fans.

Along with The Dudley’s and The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian went on to make history in several ladder matches. The three teams have had some of the most memorable matches in WWE history with the TLC tag matches. These matches were brutal and if you haven’t watched them yet, check it out on the WWE network.

After his tag team run with Christian, he had a singles run as a baby face and won the King of the Ring. He was able to capture the intercontinental title and the U.S. title. He then suffered a serious neck injury and had to leave for nearly a year. Upon his return, he noticed he was getting booed as a baby face. And so, he turned heel and The Rated R Superstar was created.

In 2005 the WWE was transitioning from a risqué attitude era product to a more family friendly PG product. However, Edge was the exception. He was able to be rated R on PG rated show. As for me, now an adult and a product of the attitude era, I did not want the PG stuff. So with Edge being the guy to go against the grain it caught my eye and I started rooting for him.

Edge, Matt Hardy and Lita had a very personal issue in real life play out on RAW. Lita and Matt Hardy were an item, but Edge and Lita began a relationship behind Hardy’s back. This set up an incredible rivalry between the two. And let me just say, Lita with Edge was great. Lita added so much to the Rated R character. She was with Edge when he won his first WWE championship. After he won, the next night he and Lita had a live sex scene on Monday night RAW. All adding to the Rated R persona.

Edge spent many years play a sleazy scum bag heel that would take the low road to get what he wanted. And although he was a great heel, he was my favorite wrestler. For me it was his character, look, Lita and his entrance music. Metallingus by Alter Bridge is by far the best entrance music in history. Edge’s entrance was one of the best, if not THE best.

Unfortunately, Edge has had as many injuries as he had titles. I think he wrestled through most of them, but it was only a matter of time before all those bumps in the TLC matches caught up with him. He won the 2010 Royal Rumble and was starting to earn the respect of the WWE universe. He spent the next year as a baby face and had his last match at Wrestlemania in 2011.

I remember the Monday night RAW when he came out to the ring and told everyone he had to retire due to his neck injury. I was bummed that I wasn’t going to see him wrestle anymore. It was a relatively short career in the grand scheme of things, but what a career it was. I have his farewell shirt and on the back it says “done it all, won it all!” There is no denying Edge is one of the most decorated wrestlers in WWE history. He has won every title, a king of the ring and a royal rumble. And in 2012 he was inducted into the WWE hall of fame.

Edge still makes appearances on WWE television every now and then. Usually hosting the Cutting Edge, a Pipers Pit like talk show on Smackdown or RAW. I remember he always had long hair and he cut it all off shortly after retiring. I hated it, because I always thought he looked so cool. He is the inspiration behind the long hair that I sport today. Anytime I play WWE 2k games and create my wrestler, I always pick an Edge type look and his entrance music.

If I had been able to be a pro wrestler, I would have chosen a look very similar to Edge. He will always be one of my favorites, and he’s a very very close second to The Rock for my all time favorite.

The next wrestler on my favorites list is my current favorite and has been since Edge retired in 2011. It will probably be next week before I get to it, but if you followed this blog, you probably have a pretty good idea who it is.

I am only writing three days a week for a while. On Wednesday I will have my RAW and Smackdown top ten. On Friday I will have my Take Over and Survivor Series predictions. I hope you enjoyed the read today and as always thanks for checking out gohomepwb.com