Edge's 5 Best WWE WrestleMania Moments

The surrounding circumstances are a little less ideal now, but the fact remains: Edge is on the verge of competing in his first WrestleMania match in nine years. After ceding his career due to a spinal condition in 2011, it appeared that Edge's successful World title defense against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 27 was the final round for "The Rated R Superstar".

Here in 2020, Edge is now healthy enough to resume his career at age 46. A hate-filled feud with one-time tag partner Randy Orton has put the two on a collision course for WrestleMania 36, perhaps the most intriguing match of the lot. It may not be the same without 70,000 or 80,000 screaming fans on hand, but no matter: it's still a beloved and decorated superstar getting to enjoy at least one more WrestleMania match.

Before that match with Orton comes to pass, let's take a look back at Edge's storied years as a WrestleMania regular, specifically which five moments from his previous 10 'Mania matches are his greatest.

The surrounding circumstances are a little less ideal now, but the fact remains: Edge is on the verge of competing in his first WrestleMania match in nine years. After ceding his career due to a spinal condition in 2011, it appeared that Edge's successful World title defense against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 27 was the final round for "The Rated R Superstar".

Here in 2020, Edge is now healthy enough to resume his career at age 46. A hate-filled feud with one-time tag partner Randy Orton has put the two on a collision course for WrestleMania 36, perhaps the most intriguing match of the lot. It may not be the same without 70,000 or 80,000 screaming fans on hand, but no matter: it's still a beloved and decorated superstar getting to enjoy at least one more WrestleMania match.

Before that match with Orton comes to pass, let's take a look back at Edge's storied years as a WrestleMania regular, specifically which five moments from his previous 10 'Mania matches are his greatest.

5. Winning The Triple Ladder Match (WrestleMania 2000)

The match is most remembered for setting the template of future ladder matches, be they standard, TLC, or even Money in the Bank.

All six men involved (Edge, Christian, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz) are forever synonymous with the match type. But what's forgotten is that the match marked Edge's first on-camera title win in WWE.

The previous year, Edge won the IC belt from Jeff Jarrett at a house show, reigning for only one day. At WrestleMania 2000, Edge finally scored his first televised title victory after he and Christian sent Matt Hardy spiralling to his doom from a makeshift ladder-and-table platform.

4. Winning Money In The Bank (WrestleMania 21)

At first glance, the inaugural Money in the Bank ladder match kinda felt like a way to just shoehorn six wrestlers without feuds onto WrestleMania somehow. While that's partially true, the end result was arguably the greatest briefcase-based Ladder Match ever, with some truly inventive moments (like Shelton Benjamin's hands-free ladder ascent).

But it was Edge who ended up with the briefcase, seizing the moment after cracking Chris Benoit's injured arm with a steel chair.

With the victory came the transmogrification into the "Rated R Superstar", the opportunistic villain that took advantage of any sign of weakness in his rivals, exploiting them for championship glory. Nine months later, Edge finally reached WWE's summit.

3. Getting To The Main Event (WrestleMania 24)

Between 1985 and 2007, 28 different men had worked the final match of WrestleMania, a fair number of them for their first and only time. As it stands today, Edge himself has only gotten to go on last once in WrestleMania, but for the skinny kid from Toronto that watched Hogan vs. Warrior at the SkyDome up close, once was a dream plenty realised.

He defended the World Heavyweight title against a previous headliner in The Undertaker, becoming the 16th notch of the increasingly-impressive WrestleMania Streak, after submitting to the Hell's Gate of the "Deadman". Not a bad thing to have on your resume at all.

2. Air Spear (WrestleMania 17)

The sheer number of crazy spotfests that followed this match have maybe desensitised us a bit to crazy stunts, but this one truly astonished us all.

In what was arguably the greatest Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match of all time (rematching the three trios from the prior WrestleMania), Edge caught a suspended Jeff Hardy with a move that overqualified as highlight material.

After Bubba Ray Dudley pulled the ladder out from under Jeff, the young Hardy remained clinging to the skyhook, just as Edge propelled off another ladder, spearing Jeff like a surface-to-air missile, sending both men to the canvas from a great height. Still an unbelievable sight two decades later.

1. Fire Spear (WrestleMania 22)

His brush with the WWE championship felt all too fleeting. After dropping the gold back to John Cena after a matter of weeks, Edge was earmarked for an upper-midcard match at WrestleMania 22, albeit a showcase one: an anything-goes brawl with Mick Foley. Determined to prove WWE wrong for ending his title reign prematurely, Edge ensured that his match would have a literal "blaze of glory".

The grim, blood-laden melee between Edge and Foley gradually built to a shocking finish, in which Foley, standing on the apron above a table that had been lit ablaze, was speared off the ring by a charging Edge, sending both men descending into the flames. If you thought the ladder spear was something...