WrestleMania 26 Countdown: World Heavyweight Championship Match

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Champion Chris Jericho vs. Challenger Edge

How: Chris Jericho defeated Undertaker in the Elimination Chamber to win the World Championship. Edge won the Royal Rumble and chose Jericho as his target.

Heat Check: Back in July, Vince McMahon placed Smackdown GM Teddy Long on double secret probation and told him he had to make some MOVEZ~! to shake things up or else he'd be out a job. Long's first attempt at a shake-up was to insert Chris Jericho and Edge as a team into the Unified Tag Team Championship match between the Colon Bros. and Legacy. Naturally, Jericho and Edge won. A few weeks later, Edge tore his Achilles' tendon. Rather than be stripped of the titles, Jericho was allowed to choose a new partner, The Big Show.

During his partnership with Show, Jericho took random shots at the injured Edge here and there, with the jabs increasing in frequency towards the end of the calendar year. Well, Edge didn't quite take kindly to being poked fun at, so he came back at the Royal Rumble, tossed Jericho out on his ass and then proceeded to win the whole thing. Thanks to some HBK shenanigans that not only helped out his own storyline, but the Jericho/Edge one, Y2J won his sixth World Championship at Elimination Chamber and Edge's choice as to whom he'd face at WM was academic.

Of course, now, the story's all about Edge landing a spear, since the crowd chants for it and shit. I think Jericho's gonna eat a spear, what about you?

Analysis: Honestly, I've been underwhelmed with the tone this match has taken, despite the excellent promo work by both Jericho and Edge to set it up. I didn't think a few random jabs here and there were enough to set up WrestleMania levels of heat. I thought Edge easily eliminating Jericho in the Rumble cooled that heat off well enough for the time being, with Jericho and Edge being a hot program to start up post-WM. For me, Edge vs. CM Punk and Edge vs. Big Show were two more tantalizing options. Edge and Show had the residual heat from Vickie Guerrero last year, something that I don't think was fully explored, and Edge also had a bit of an issue with CM Punk as he was turning heel.

Even then, the focus of the match went from that antagonism to Edge hitting one move, a weak-looking one coming from him at that. I mean, I'm glad the crowd is into it, but... wait, no I'm not. I hate that Edge's spear is over. Still, it's a hot topic, but to me, it just submarines every other nuance to this feud, with Jericho questioning Edge's conditioning and his decision to come back when he did, and Edge's motivation, opportunism and his desire to be the guy who has a WrestleMania moment, not the guy whose expense another wrestler's WM moment comes at.

Still, this is what we have, and I think it'll be a good match. Jericho is one of the best wrestlers in the company, and Edge, finisher aside, is always a good hand. My biggest concern is how he'll play out as a babyface here. He's spent so long playing the opportunistic heel type that I'm not sure how he'll play out as a face. I guess we'll find out Sunday.

Who Should Win: Chris Jericho should win if for no other reason than to eat a Killswitch and surrender the title to a cashing-in Christian right afterwards. Honestly, that's how I'd book things, and bam, you have a hot three-way title feud post-WM which would lend itself to a lot of good free TV matches, a nice triple threat match at Extreme Rules and three guys who know each other, who are comfortable with each other in the ring and who have a shitload of history among them.

Who Will Win: Edge. I see him getting his WrestleMania moment here, which will solidify him in the Cena/Orton/Trips/Batista echelon of elite WWE superstars.

Photo Credit: WWE.com