WWE Edge - A Decade of Decadence (DVD, 2009, 3-Disc Set) Boxset -NEW+SEALED

Chapters – Disc 1

• A Boy and His Dream
• Edge v Owen Hart – Breakdown (27th September, 1998)
• Terri Invitational Tournament Ladder Match: New Brood v Edge & Christian – No Mercy (17th October, 199)
• 8 Pounds of Gold
• Triangle Ladder Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship: Dudley Boyz v Hardy Boyz v Edge & Christian
• WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Lance Storm v Edge – Summerslam (19th August, 2001)
• Championship Unification Match: Edge v Test – Survivor Series (18th November, 2001)
• Singles Superstar
• Mr. Perfect v Edge – Sunday Night Heat (3rd March, 2002)
• Hair v Hair Match: Kurt Angle v Edge – Judgment Day (19th May, 2002)
• Steel Cage Match: Kurt Angle v Edge – Smackdown (May 30th, 2002)
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Edge & Hulk Hogan v Billy & Chuck – Smackdown (July 4th, 2002)
• Edge v Eddie Guerrero – Unforgiven (September 22nd, 2002)

Extras

• The Totally Awesome Best of Edge and Christian

Chapters – Disc 2

• Injury – Return!
• WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Randy Orton v Edge – Vengeance (11th July, 2004)
• Street Fight: Shawn Michaels v Edge – RAW (28th February, 2005)
• Gold Rush Tournament Final: Kane v Edge
• Love Triangle
• Street Fight: Matt Hardy v Edge – RAW (29th August, 2005)
• WWE Championship Match: John Cena v Edge – New Year’s Revolution (8th January, 2006)
• Overrated
• Hardcore Match: Mick Foley v Edge – Wrestlemania 22 (2nd April, 2006)
• 6-Person Tag Team Match: Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah v Mick Foley, Edge & Lita – ECW One Night Stand (11th June, 2006)
• WWE Championship Triple Threat Match: Rob Van Dam v John Cena v Edge

Extras

• Adam Copeland v Christian – Cornwall, Ontario (10th November, 1997)
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett v Edge – House Show from Toronto, Ontario (24th July, 1999)

Chapters – Disc 3

• I Equal Ratings
• WWE Championship Match: Edge v John Cena – Summerslam (20th August, 2006)
• I Persevered
• Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Rob Van Dam v Edge
• Randy Orton v Edge – RAW (30th April, 2007)
• Money in the Bank – Again!
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Undertaker v Edge – Smackdown (11th May, 2007)
• Last Chance World Heavyweight Championship Match:Edge v Batista – Vengeance (24th June, 2007)
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge v Rey Mysterio – Royal Rumble (27th January, 2008)
• My Specialty
• Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match for the Vacant World Heavyweight Championship: Undertaker v Edge – One Night Stand (1st June, 2008)
• Hell in a Cell Match: Undertaker v Edge – Summerslam (17th August, 2008)
• What’s Next – Sequel?

Extras

• None

As it is, you get Edge (in character) linking over twenty matches spanning his WWE career. There is nothing from his time outside WWE (even though the company own footage of the few matches he wrestled in WCW) and very little to cover the tandem with his on-screen brother, Christian. You have to think that, with Christian’s recent return to the fold, there would have been more E&C matches if the set was being put together now.

The set starts with a brief look at the history of Edge becoming a wrestler (about two minutes) before we’re into the first match; a decent encounter against Owen Hart that is basically there to further the Edge/Gangrel angle and introduce Christian.

It’s a mildly disappointing start, but the second match more than makes up for it as it’s the one that put both Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy on the map; the No Mercy Ladder Match, a contest that has lost very little in the near ten years since it first aired.

With the abundance of ladder matches over the years, it’s right that this match is considered the one that revolutionised the stipulation. I know that HBK’s followers will claim he was the one who deserves that honour, but, in my opinion, he was the one who (along with Razor Ramon) introduced the match to WWE television… it was E&C v The Hardys that revolutionised the match into what it has become today.

The action and the innovation on show is astounding and, with hindsight, you can see the evolution of where ladder matches would end up in front of your eyes. This has been on many collections, and deservedly so, and easily takes the “Best Match” honours for the first disc. Rarely has a standing ovation been so richly deserved.

The No Mercy Ladder Match revolutionised the concept by adding two more wrestlers and making it a tag-team situation and, not to be outdone, the next match on the first disc ups the ante once more by adding a third team to the mix.

The tag-team ranks in WWE had stunk for years, but with the three-way rivalry between The Dudley Boyz (who look anorexic compared to their current incarnation), The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian re-ignited the division and gave the tag titles arguably their last great run.

The Three-Way Ladder Match from Wrestlemania 2000 (incidentally, the first Wrestlemania appearance for all six men), the precursor to the more established TLC match that is synonymous with Edge, is a brutal and hard-hitting encounter (with great high-spots from all three teams) that really shows how great the chemistry is between the three teams and how well-matched they all were.

The only down point is that there is nothing else from this feud on the DVD and that the rest of the matches on Disc 1 just aren’t as good. To be fair to them though, the match with Lance Storm is a smooth little bout and the two against Kurt Angle are fantastic (just not quite good as two ladder matches – close, but slightly inferior). The Test match (outside some nice moves – Test’s spear for one – and the Jim Ross/Paul Heyman commentary) is forgettable, v Mr. Perfect is a throwaway TV match (with a really poor finish), the bout against Eddie Guerrero is good (with a stunning finish), but sadly, would be much, much better if Eddie was alive and they contested it today, while, lastly, the WWE Tag Title win with Hulk Hogan is a passable match, but is more about the story of Edge teaming with his hero.

The one thing I will say about Disc 1 is that you can really see a mid-card act develop into what would become a top-line main-event talent.

Disc 2 starts off with a match between the two hottest heels in the company today… at a time when they were just about ready to crack out of the mid-card ranks and move up into the main-event slots. The match, which is decent enough, is fought before a mostly quiet crowd (something that would never happen today), but the fans do come alive for the last few minutes. The finish is a nicely-worked to-and-fro that, if you don’t know the result, is exciting.

Things pick up for match two as the rules are thrown out the window and Edge takes on HBK in a Street Fight. Disc 2 should have been called “Edge – The Hardcore Years” seeing as how five of the eight matches are fought under various No Disqualification stipulations.

The first thing that stands out is both men wearing street clothes (which is how all Street Fight matches were fought in the old days – usually to preserve the wrestlers’ ring gear), which adds some credibility and allows the match to feel different to a standard wrestling contest. There are some brutal exchanges and Michaels bleeds a gusher after an Impaler DDT onto an open steel chair. The fans are really into the action and it is a real testament to how Edge was growing as a performer.

This is one of those matches that is forgotten until a collection like this brings it back into your conciousness. It deserves to stay there and is one you will watch more than once. The same can’t really be said for the next match; an OK encounter between Kane and Edge that is more famous for being the bout where Lita joined Edge on-screen after starting an affair with him in real life. It’s also the night where Edge won a shot at the World Title to go with his ‘Money in the Bank’ briefcase.