Best: John Cena v Edge (TLC Match for the WWE Championship; Unforgiven 2006)
John Cena and Edge made the Ruthless Aggression Era a success. It was one of the era’s top rivalries, with every match imaginable being contested. Every contest had its own allure, but it was their TLC finale that topped the bunch.
Taking place in Toronto, the crowd was firmly in heel Edge’s corner. It was a rabid atmosphere for John Cena to walk into, and that atmosphere amped the match’s intensity all the way up. It gave the match the big-fight feel that was fitting for Edge and John Cena’s last dance.
The creativity with which the tables, ladders, and chairs were used was a great way to keep the match fresh in the audience’s mind. One-on-one TLC matches are hard to keep exciting from start to finish, which makes it all the more impressive that Cena and Edge were able to do so. It was a near-perfect match with a perfect ending, showing us a spot that no two other men could have pulled off.
Worst: Extreme Elimination Chamber (Elimination Chamber for the ECW Championship Match; December to Dismember)
This match has been torn apart so much that it has become a thing of legend. A legend that keeps growing about how terrible this match was, and how it pretty much ruined the ECW brand. This was WWE’s first and only ECW-branded PLE, and for good reason. The entire night was a debacle, which was capped off by a train wreck of a main event.
There was no story to be heard of heading into this match. WWE had given up on the ECW brand and just threw these men in the ring with some weapons. The violence was fun to an extent, but not enough to save the match. This wasn’t the best way to connect with fans and strengthen the hardcore brand; it was one of the main reasons for its decline. Paul Heyman was soon gone from the company, and ECW became a shadow of its former self.
