Edge reflects on the early days of Paul Heyman’s SmackDown.
Once upon a time, long before he became a multiple-time world champion and WWE Hall of Famer, Edge was just beginning his singles run as one of the booming young WWE Superstars on Paul Heyman's SmackDown in 2002.
A major part of this early run was a grouping of Superstars commonly referred to as the “SmackDown Six.” Consisting of Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, this grouping of immensely talented Superstars helped establish the legacy of the WWE Tag Team Championship, the current recognized WWE Raw Tag Team Championship, and consistently put on critically acclaimed matches on free television in an era where that was not commonplace.
Reflecting on this era during an appearance on The Kurt Angle Show podcast, Edge recalls beginning to find his groove in that era and was certain that the ease of matches between the six was something that Paul Heyman, the head writer of SmackDown at the time, was considering as well.
“When we started that idea of the SmackDown Tag Titles, I knew with those six, with those six talents -- and I'm sure Paul thought this as well, ‘I can mix and match every week.’ No matter what mix or match it is, they're gonna crush it. Whether it's Eddie and Edge one week, and Benoit and Rey, or [Kurt Angle] and Chavo, and then flip them the next week, and then flip them again. I mean, there are so many scenarios, you can go with that to me that, again, so much fun.
“I think back to No Mercy [2002] and that tag match we had for the inaugural tournament, and it was [Kurt] and Chris against me and Rey, and it was just to be in there with three other guys like that and just performing at that level, you know, you can't really explain it. It's hard to put into words when stuff like that is just bam, bam, bam, and it's exactly how you envisioned it and then some. There's a great sense of relief, but also, because you, damn, we just crushed that and that was the feeling every night when we're going through that whole series, it was just like you just knew going in. So you walk in with a sense of confidence that goes so far in making sure that the match will be good because if you walk in with that kind of confidence, it's pretty tough not to have a match like that.”
Speaking specifically about his tag team chemistry with Rey Mysterio, Edge would say it was such a relief to work with someone so naturally gifted and receptive to the ideas that he would pitch.
"Man, it says it was a recurring theme through that whole time, you know, and then to also for Rey and I to click the way we did because we'd never teamed before, you know, and I'm like a mad scientist, you know, so when you say Rey's gonna be my partner, immediately I started. ‘Okay, we could do this. What if we did that? Then what if we did this?’ Then my mad scientist brain starts doing these things. I go, ‘Hey, Rey, what do you think if you rolled up and I got you in a power bump, but I flipped you in a moonsault on the floor onto those guys.’ He would say, ‘Okay, Edge-o.’"
Now, Edge and Rey Mysterio are back on the SmackDown brand. Edge is getting ready to wrestle Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio is still in the tag team division, but now he's coming with his son, Dominik.
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