Did Edge's face run fail?

[Wade Renegade]

Lot of Edgeheads on here, me included! And with the suspense at the minute over whether he's turning face again or whether he's a tweener, I thought we should discuss his face run earlier this year.

I just think the turn wasn't executed correctly. After the Rumble, the Spear catchphrase being pushed on us just wasn't the right move for Edge in my opinion. They should have had him remain exactly the same, only antagonize faces, much like he did to Swagger on Smackdown last night. Not only that but having Edge crack jokes like Cena sometimes does (and not in the goofy way Edge used to during the E&C days) was another mistake. There's probably more you guys can think of!

In summary, I don't think it failed. The fans were on his side. It just wasn't the right way Edge should be for a face (in my opinion).

[Deleted]

I think it was the "SPEAR! SPEAR! SPEAR!" that killed it, no one was having it and they wouldn't have Edge let it go.

From a character standpoint though I think it's great that they were able to spin it that this was Edge's big attempt to swindle the fans into digging him, and that the fans could see right through it and not play along.

[Deleted]

Edge has always been a pretty lackluster face, but stuff like the Spear chants certainly didn't help him. Plus side, between destroying the laptop fans clearly hate and interrupting Swagger it seems like he's face again already and this time is doing it better.

[Bake Or Die]

Yes

[Beartato]

Yes. I couldn't STAND Edge during this face run. That SPEARSPEARSPEAR bull**** was annoying.

[Deleted]

Edge is a better heel than a face, but the problem lied in how they tried to present him as a face.

I mean... "Spear, spear, spear!"?!?

If you want him to be a face, try something along the lines of the Randy Orton "antihero" route with his on a quest to destroy everything that is stupid in the WWE.

[4real]

Apart from saying Spear over and over I thought Edge's face run was solid. I think WWE should have been more patient with it instead of turning him at the first available opportunity.

[Corre.222]

No, it was a success but they cut it short. If anything failed, it was his heel run this year more than his early face run, which is why they made the smart move to turn him back into a face

[Snowman]

Are answers 2 and 3 not essentially the same thing?

I'm not choosing any of those answers as I think it was a success and was given the correct amount of time. He came back, won the rumble, had a feud with Jericho, had a good Wrestlemania match and then turned heel before his face run could turn stale. He had nothing left to do as a face at that time so went back to doing what he does best being a heel.

Also I don't get the hate for the "Spear" chant. It's not like it was everywhere and spoiling promos like the "what" chant.

[Soultastic]

Oct 2, 2010 15:18:32 GMT -5 Snowman said:

Are answers 2 and 3 not essentially the same thing?

No, you see, Nº2 says that the run wasn't very good but could have been better if they had given it more time, while Nº3 says it was great and then got cut short.

I voted for Nº3 btw.

[Wade Renegade]

Oct 2, 2010 15:34:00 GMT -5 Soultastic said:

Oct 2, 2010 15:18:32 GMT -5 Snowman said:

Are answers 2 and 3 not essentially the same thing?

No, you see, Nº2 says that the run wasn't very good but could have been better if they had given it more time, while Nº3 says it was great and then got cut short.

I voted for Nº3 btw.

Thanks dude, saved me some typing there.

[Ben Wyatt]

They absolutely half assed his turn

[JMA]

It sure did. Edge just isn't a likable character.

[thuschongswing]

Yes.

It's like he was a lame face on purpose just so he could gather sympathy from the crowd after his injury. I honestly believe its half-assed execution and failure was completely intentional right from the start. That, or WWE (un)Creative panicked when they saw face Edge falling flat on its ass.

[nerdinitupagain]

Basically...
If they gave Edge the Randy Orton push, but let him be the Rated R Superstar... it would work. However, WWE faces tend to get watered down as soon as people are cheering in the pursuit of a phrase that always produces a cringe from me... "mass appeal".

[Bo Rida]

I think the biggest problem was that most (many/some?) people thought he'd turn heel again once WM was out of the way.

[Big L]

Success but cut short IMO

[Perpetual Nirvana]

Oct 2, 2010 11:08:28 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Edge has always been a pretty lackluster face

I disagree. He was awesome in his feud with Kurt Angle.

The problem was they gave him...nothing really other than chanted "Spear" over and over.

[cobrafan]

They didn't even give it a chance really. As much as some didn't like the "Spear!" chants...it was working. Fans were getting behind him and wanted to see him beat Jericho for the belt. They were still behind him when Swagger was the champ and it looked as if he would be challenging him for the belt.

Then for some God-unknown, asanine reason he was brought over to Raw to begin a feud with Orton and it went nowhere. They had 1 match on PPV and that was it, wasn't it? Sad thing is: babyface Edge does work. It worked years ago on Smackdown before his injury in 2003 and it worked in 2010.

The idiots in creative are so bankrupt of ideas that they can't let him just be a good babyface like he's shown he can be. Oh no...they have to scrap things that are working in favor of things that go nowhere.

[rnrk supports BLM]

This has been such a weird year for Edge, and the fact that they haven't killed his heat through all the twists and turns and aborted feuds he's been through is a testament to his talents as a performer.

I can't see his current tweener character lasting forever; presumably this is segueing into a face turn down the line, but since the bookers were evidently unsatisfied with the face reactions Edge was getting earlier in the year, they're going to have to be careful with how they go about it.

I do think this is working better than the "spear" chants, at least.