Before even reaching WWE, the World Heavyweight Championship already had a legendary and star-studded lineage in the wrestling world, with it formally living in NWA and WCW. The ‘Big Gold Belt’ is one of the more fondly remembered belts in history, with its time in WWE being full of brilliant champions too. At times, the title suffered from a lack of focus, poor booking, and disrespect, and one of the biggest examples of this was in the build-up to Wrestlemania 25, with perhaps Mania’s worst-ever World Title feud.
The World Heavyweight Championship Is A Highly Respected Belt In Wrestling
The World Heavyweight Championship was brought into the company in 2001 when WWE bought out WCW. It was still treated like a World Title, representing either Raw or Smackdown as the years went by. Each year, having a world title match at Wrestlemania is a huge accomplishment, with those matches usually feeling like the most significant.
At times, this isn’t always the case, with feuds sometimes lacking from heat or star power, such as in 2013 when Alberto Del Rio faced Jack Swagger, or sometimes poor booking and fan disapproval, such as Roman Reigns challenging Triple H at Wrestlemania 32. It is a shame when championship feuds don’t have the desired interest or buzz, but with WWE’s track record of inconsistent booking, it is of no surprise that certain feuds have been lacking. When it came to the triple threat match between Edge, John Cena, and Big Show, it wasn’t a case of not having star power involved, but rather a poor build which came from a lack of logic, and not treating either the competitors or the title seriously.
The Feud Was A Soap-Opera Mess
After returning from an injury at the end of 2008, John Cena won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. A few months later, he walked into the Elimination Chamber to defend his title, but in an infamous moment, Edge took out Kofi Kingston on his entrance to the ring, taking his spot, and winning the entire match. On paper, this looked to set up a match between Edge and Cena at Wrestlemania. Instead, Smackdown General Manager and wife of Edge, Vickie Guerrero announced that Big Show would be the challenger.
The fans were rightfully baffled, and completely disappointed with this direction, which had come out of left field. In the contract signing for the match, Cena appeared and whispered into Guerrero’s ear. Following this, she ran from the ring and the signing was canceled. Guerrero announced the next week that the title match would be a triple threat instead. It was later revealed that Cena had somehow gotten hold of CCTV footage from the GM’s office which showed Big Show and Guerrero having an affair behind Edge’s back, with Cena using this as leverage to gain a title match. Yes, that is correct; ultra-good guy and the face of the entire company was blackmailing his boss for his own gain, and then released the footage anyway.
This would cause a soap-opera style drama between Edge, Show, and Guerrero, with the three going back and forth with emotions and anger. The World Heavyweight Championship, meanwhile, was an afterthought to all of this. The love triangle was truly terrible and completely below every person involved. Other poor points of the story included Edge inadvertently knocking Guerrero off the apron, which is an overly used trope where the victim never has the logic to see that it was a complete accident.
Fans Were Robbed From Seeing Edge Vs John Cena At Wrestlemania
The true disappointment from this rivalry isn’t even the terrible love angle – it’s the fact that fans could have had Cena and Edge go one-on-one at Wrestlemania for the World Heavyweight Championship yet didn’t get that matchup. Edge and Cena are two of the more storied rivals of all time, with a great feud at the start of both men’s main event runs in the company, becoming the top face and heel, battling over the WWE Championship.
Their feud was personal, full of moments that will live forever, including Edge’s Money in the Bank cash-in, for example, with classic matches on PPV, including a stunning TLC match. After a couple of years away from each other, picking up where they left off on the Road to Wrestlemania was such an exciting prospect.
If it were just a singles match, it had the chance to be a classic, and even the main event the entire show. However, with Big Show shoehorned in, the match was much shorter, and felt like a house show match, with poor comedic spots, a predictable Guerrero bump, and the tired and used trope of Cena overcoming the odds to win the match. It was a slap in the face to the performers, and a dent in the history of the World Heavyweight Championship – but hey, at least we got that one spot of Cena carrying both men on his shoulders.