The Better Face: Chris Jericho or Edge

April 2024 ยท 5 minute read
I thought that this would be an interesting discussion as both guys have made great heels but rather mediocre faces.

If it were ever to come up as to who was the greatest heel of the 2000's, I am sure that both Chris Jericho and Edge would feature prominently in the discussion. However the point of this thread is to compare them in their roles as faces and decide who was better as a face.

Without further ado, here is a summary of their careers as faces only.

Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho played a face for the first time in his career when he debuted in the WWF in 1999. He debuted by interrupting The Rock's promo and got a pretty nice face reaction considering who he had interrupted. He had several short feuds as a midcard face with the likes of Road Dogg, Ken Shamrock and most notably Chyna. As odd as it may sound, it was his allaince with Chyna that effectively cemented his face turn. His other notable feuds that followed were against Kurt Angle and a short one with Eddie Guerrero which led to Chyna turning on Jericho.

Thereafter Jericho went on to feud with Triple H as a face. This was the zenith of his popularity and it also led to him winning the WWE Championship for a while. His insulting of Stephanie McMahon was a real highlight during this time. All this lead to a Last Man Standing match against Triple H at Fully Loaded 2000 which Jericho lost.

Thereafter Jericho had several feuds as a face with the likes of Kane, Benoit and William Regal. Among those feuds the Benoit one was the most notable for its matches but the story is nothing worth remembering. He also feuded for a brief while against The Two Man Power Trip consisting of Austin and HHH. He was face for a brief while in his feud versus The Rock but then he eventually turned heel.

Jericho then turned face in late 2003 after saving Trish Stratus from Kane. This led to a feud with Christian, his former tag team partner. This also led to Trish eventually turning on Jericho and siding with Christian. The feud was a really good one but once the feud ended Jericho got stuck in the midcard until he turned heel once again in 2005 by siding with Bischoff against John Cena.

After losing his feud against Cena in 2005, Jericho took a two year break. He returned as a face to save the WWE Universe from Randy Orton who was the heel champion during that time. His face turn was unsuccessful though as his feud with Orton as well as JBL was pretty boring and he had to eventually turn heel following WrestleMania 24.

Edge

Edge debuted as a mysterious face who used to enter through the crowd in 1998. In fact it is not clear what he debuted as but he turned heel soon enough by siding with Gangrel and ultimately Undertaker's ministry. He then turned face for a short while when the Brood rebelled against the Ministry when they saved Christian from being punished by The Undertaker. Edge also won his first Intercontinental title from Jarrett as a face but he turned heel once again soon after the formation of E&C.

Edge then turned face soon after he won the KOTR. Christian grew jealous of Edge's success and turned against him. They feuded over the IC title. Edge then had a feuds with the likes of William Regal and Booker T before moving on to a feud with Kurt Angle which ultimately caused Angle to lose his hair. This was the peak of Edge's popularity as a face and he was also rumored to win the Elimination Chamber that year. Unfortunately Edge suffered a neck injury and missed a year of competition.

Edge returned of Raw in 2004 as a face and challenged Evolution that he would take them all out one by one. However Edge suffered a groin injury shortly after winning the IC title from Randy Orton.

Edge then went on to cement himself as a heel after returning in 2005. He had to wait till 2010 to turn face again. He turned face against Chris Jericho with whom he had been tag team champions with prior to getting injured. He won his feud but was unable to win the World Heavyweight Championship. He then got drafted over to Raw and turned heel soon.

Edge then went on a crusade against stupidity and his first target was the anonymous Raw GM who operated by sending e-mails through a computer. Edge turned face by destroying the computer and got drafted to Smackdown. He is a face currently and has had feuds with Kane and Dolph Ziggler and seems to be heading towards a feud against Del Rio.

My Opinion

It is really tough to decide between the two as they have never really set the world on fire as faces but I would have to go with Chris Jericho. I chose him because he has had two very good feuds as a face against Triple H and against Christian. Edge, in my opinion, has only had one very good feud as a face and that was against Kurt Angle in 2002. Edge probably had more potential to play a better face than Jericho but that is something that we would never know due to him getting injured at critical points in 2002 and again in 2004. He was really very hot in 2002 and hotter than Jericho has ever been as a face. But as far as their careers go, I will have to give the nod to Jericho.

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