Oct 21, 20205 min read

Nerd Watch Wednesday: Christian vs Edge (No Mercy 2001)

By Ross Casey

"For the foreseeable future, Nerd Watch Wednesday's will feature a match that fell 'on this day' and this week I have picked the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship between former teammates Edge and Christian at No Mercy 2001."

For the benefit of those with flash photography, let's get to it!

LADDER MATCH: CHRISTIAN (C) vs. EDGE (No Mercy, Oct 21st 2001)

Christian is interviewed before the match by Lilian Garcia and he is holding his Intercontinental Championship as he tells her that he is like the player that beat St Louis' own Mark McGwire's home run record. He will prove that there is simply someone out there that is better than Edge and the fans will be in no doubt who the better man was in their team.

I included this as it may be the only part that JCH is interested in.

The video package before the match is as epic as you expect for the time and sets the table for what we are about to witness. Christian used a chair assisted low blow to defeat Edge for the Intercontinental Championship at Unforgiven, then duped his brother into thinking that their mum had been in an accident (they were still kayfabe brothers at this point). It is revealed to be a ruse and WCW wrestlers trapped Edge beating him up as christian joined in... joining the alliance in the process.

Edge claims he won't be beating his brother at No Mercy because as far as he is concerned he no longer has one. The promo work from Edge is miles off what he would become but we have a simple story here and a match between two masters of the ladder - just two years after the one that made their name at No Mercy 1999. Bring it on!

YES! Christian has his awesome entrance and theme. It is so good. It fits his persona perfectly for the time where he believes he is better than he is. Edge comes out to Rob Zombie and that is also great.

Christian meets Edge on the ramp and we are straight into it! I'm somewhat surprised they have done that this way around - surely it would make more sense for Edge to be out first and chase Christian from the off after he used his own parents against him?

They brawl in the crowd for a bit and the highlight is when a guy that looks a bit like Tommy Dreamer gives Christian the finger whilst his wife waves at the camera. The first ladder spot looks sloppy and painful before Christian is dropped bollock first on a bridged ladder. Paul Heyman brilliantly quips that ruins Edge's chances of ever becoming an uncle.

Edge snapmares Christian on a ladder whilst trapped in the corner by it and follows up with an Edge-O-Matic on one after. He really wanted to be an uncle, dammit. The pacing of this is far slower that the tag ones they have had before it and an attempt to tell a story is much appreciated.

Christian adds a second ladder to the equation and they both slowly climb to reach for the belt before Edge does a bubba bomb off the ladder onto Christian which I am sure his coccyx won't thank him for.

Edge is next to reach, but he gets dropped off the ladder this time by Christian with a reverse DDT. Christian decides to get two chairs rather than go for the belt which is questionable tactically - even more so when his con-chair-to attempt goes awry.

Edge then splashes Christian through a ladder balanced across the two chairs. The Foley theory that the person who brings the weapon takes the weapon comes to fruition again. A third ladder is brought in to the ring as Heyman says enough of the sibling rivalry, get the title, Christian. He's not wrong!

Christian heeds the advice, but as he reaches for the belt, he gets speared off the ladder by Edge!

There's a scary spot next where they both fall off the ladder and out of the ring. That's a serious fall from top to bottom. Christian is first up and attempts to climb the ladder but he sells the damage brilliantly before Edge low blows him with a chair - just like he suffered at Unforgiven. A ball for a ball.

Edge then sets Christian up for a con-chair-to on two ladders and SLAMS a chair onto his brother's skull in a violent end to the match. Edge claims the belt and celebrates on the ladder as Rob Zombie's voice blasts through the sold out arena. Ah, 2001 - what a time to be alive.

WINNER: EDGE BY LOW BLOW/CON-CHAIR-TO COMBO

THOUGHTS: This was an attempt to create a Razor vs Shawn style ladder match for the Attitude Era and I think it delivered. Whilst it suffered from not having much linking between the spots which made those Razor v Shawn matches so great, this was digestable, made sense and I loved that Christian got his comeuppance in a poetic and violent manner. Both the move that he performed on his brother the month before and finally the move they used to perform together. Good storytelling.

That's all, folks!

PREVIOUS NERD WATCHES:

MATT C - SUMMERSLAM 92

CHARLIE - SURVIVOR SERIES 99

SHAFI - SUMMERSLAM 94

NINETIES MIKE - THE WRESTLING CLASSIC

JCH - WRESTLE KINGDOM 7

DOM - HEATWAVE 98

N/A - SUMMERSLAM 2019

PETE - SAKURA GENESIS 2017

ROSS - WORLD WAR 3 1997

RO - DECEMBER TO DISMEMBER