As I'm reminiscing on this reign on the network, and as short as the reign sadly was, how was Edge's first WWE Title reign received at the time? Were people happy that the belt was off Cena? Just always wanted to know as I didn't have internet at the time haha.
Side note, I also have to mention that it's probably my favourite cash-in of a MITB ever.
I don't think Cena was really that hated back then, but Edge winning the title gave him a huge push and I think that Cena's reign lasted way longer than it should have. I don't remember WWE having many suitable champions during that time. Hunter, Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Kurt Angle... mostly former champions.
People were fucking ecstatic that the title was off Cena. Rumor mill said that Edge was to have his own custom belt but that ended up fizzing out and the reign was super short which was a shame, but it was cool at the time. People dug it.
I think he should have replaced the WWE Title with something altogether. It looked like a plastic toy, as opposed to the most prestigious achievement in wrestling.
I was a pre-teen back then and I'm pretty sure that a big part of the crowd got behind Cena for that, Edge (and Lita) were legitimate heat machines back then if I'm not mistaken. That Cena lost it after having just survived a hellacious Elimination Chamber match actually managed to create sympathy for him at a time when the boos were really starting to rain down. You'll probably find that it'd be much the same as nowadays; smarks were behind Edge, casuals were behind Cena, but at that time I think the casual to smark ratio was far more lopsided towards casuals.
I'm going purely off of my memory as a person that was a massive Cena mark as a child so YMMV.
Edge basically began a legend from that moment onwards. The you-know-what celebration will always be in my heart. My creativity sparks because of that.
I was on forums at the time. People were indeed happy, and Edge's performance as champion drew great responses (i.e. The ladder match with Flair). At the time, Edge drew one of the highest RAW ratings since the Attitude Era ended. Accordingly, there was a massive outburst when Edge lost the belt just a few weeks later.
Some people suggested that Edge should have retained against Cena and, thereafter, fought Shawn Michaels at Mania.
I remember watching the match and feeling really annoyed that cena managed to retain it yet again, I believe that was the match that had masters and carlito team up against him yet he still managed to win then edge came out and cashed in so it was a pretty good moment that cena didnt actually keep the title.
the fact that cena won it back at royal rumble always annoyed me, he essentially got two of his 16 title reigns due to dropping the title for 3 weeks, seemed really pointless to take it off edge that soon.
Yeah it awesome. Would browse Yahoo Answers the wrestling section at the time, it was so active, but it was perfect, the whole 3 weeks. Of course Hunter had to have his Mania main Event though.
I remember watching the match and feeling really annoyed that cena managed to retain it yet again, I believe that was the match that had masters and carlito team up against him yet he still managed to win then edge came out and cashed in so it was a pretty good moment that cena didnt actually keep the title.
the fact that cena won it back at royal rumble always annoyed me, he essentially got two of his 16 title reigns due to dropping the title for 3 weeks, seemed really pointless to take it off edge that soon.
I found it somewhat laughable that he won the title, but happy it was short lived. I never have felt Edge was a Main Title guy. Mid card? sure. But not main event.
I was watching in a movie theatre and everyone was ecstatic when he cashed-in and won.
1) it was the first time someone had ever cashed-in so no one expected it
2) It happened at the perfect time. Cena WAS hated by that point. The hate hadn't peaked but he'd overcame the odds agaisnt Angle, Jericho, Michaels and probably a few more wrestlers who were looked upon in much greater light than he was by that point, and quite frankly better. He was running through everything good on Raw. He "retired/got rid of" Chris Jericho. For me personally that was heat right there. Yes, the hatred got way worse. But after nine or ten months of that title reign people had Cena 'nuff already. If we only knew...
3) that was a TERRIBLE pay per view so people needed something to pop for. That Elimination Chamber wasn't very good and people just kind of had their hands in their faces that Cena had won again. People really turned on him when he came over to Raw.
4) I am in Ontario so I'm sure there were a lot of Edge marks in that theatre. I wasn't and never was one though and I was marking too.
It was first-ever MITB cash-in, and that's where his "Ultimate Opportunist" moniker was born.
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