WWE: You Think You Know Me? The Story of Edge DVD Review

May 16, 2012

Generally speaking, I always get excited when these documentary sets come out. Usually, they consist of some of the WWE’s best work, as you not only get a collection of great matches, but an inside perspective on the star or stars that are meant to be the focus of the set. I have yet to see one of these sets that I didn’t enjoy, and thankfully, Edge’s new collection does not break that chain.

You Think You Know Me? takes a look at the hall of fame career of Adam “Edge” Copeland from start to finish, and honestly, this is one of the better sets that WWE has put out, in my opinion. There are a lot of appearances from various stars of all types here to discuss Edge’s career, everyone from his trainers Ron Hutchinson and Sweet Daddy Siki, to former friend Matt Hardy, to close friends and current stars like William Regal, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, each providing a lot of nice insight and commentary to Edge’s career.

Throughout the documentary part, you get a lot of details into Adam’s life. From his days growing up in Toronto and the early parts of his career, he talks honestly and frankly about how he got into wrestling and made it into a career. His uncle, who was a hockey player and Adam’s biggest idol, died in a car crash at the age of 17. In order to keep his mind off his uncle’s death, Edge’s mom turned the television onto WWF wrestling, more as an escape and a distraction than anything else. One episode was all it took, and the man who later became Edge was hooked. From that point, he and lifelong friend Jay Reso (Christian) began doing backyard wrestling-as a lot of kids do-until he received the opportunity to earn free training at Ron Hutchinson’s school. He entered an essay contest with the schooling as the prize, and Hutchison & Siki chose his essay as the best. In the DVD, both the trainers say they saw something in Adam and thought that, if he worked hard and kept at it, he had as good of a chance as anyone in making it in professional wrestling.

From there, Edge discusses his early days of his career, working independent shows across Canada and up the east coast, including the “Death Trips” across frozen lakes (you can read his book to hear more about these), until finally getting spotted by Bret Hart, who invited him to Calgary to train a little at the dungeon. A year or so later, after a call from Bret Hart to Jim Ross, who was then the head of talent relations in WWE, and Edge had his developmental deal with WWF, and he eventually made his way to the main roster.

[adinserter block=”2″]The set looks at Edge’s early days pretty extensively, including all of his time with the Brood and the early days feuding with the Hardy Boyz. As you would expect, the “E&C Dynasty” gets a ton of time as most everyone involved pipes in with their two cents on what some consider one of the greatest tag teams of all time. This is possibly the funniest part of the DVD, as Edge and Christian (with the later additions of Kurt Angle and Mick Foley) together equaled comedy gold, but were still so good in the ring that they would never be cast off solely as a comedy act.

The one part I find strange about this set is how his first real singles run is glossed over. While it is discussed here, hardly any time is spent talking about it, except when discussing wrestling Eddie Guerrero, which resulted in Edge’s neck injury and him leaving for a year. Even when discussing his return from the injury, the first part of his return is really overlooked here, and I’m not really sure why. Around this time, Edge began the off-screen affair with Lita, who at the time had been engaged to Matt Hardy. Considering all the controversy surrounding this incident, this is the part I would expect to be glossed over on. Instead, a lot of detail is put into this part, and we hear from all three parties involved. To this day, both Edge and Lita are sorry it happen, and place the blame solely where it belongs (themselves), making no bones about the situation. What’s kind of funny is how this situation worked out when you look back on it, as Edge managed to turn it into part of his angle and lead to the biggest run of his entire career, resulting in numerous WWE and World Championships, while Matt Hardy, despite being the sympathetic figure in all of this, never saw his career really recover.

This is the point where we begin seeing his rise to main event status, winning the MITB match to earn a shot at the WWE title, a match that Edge admits not wanting to be a part of at first, even telling Creative at the time to just leave him off Wrestlemania altogether. He began a lengthy feud with John Cena about a year later, and honestly, until watching this set, I had almost forgotten just how good his series with Cena was. When given the right opponents, Cena can put in some great performances, and I think some of his best were in this series. He also looks extensively at a feud that I legitimately had forgotten about with Batista. Batista is there for an interview, giving Edge a lot of credit and saying how his matches with Edge were some of his favorites, as well as some of his best work.

Another interesting part is when he’s discussing the “Edge Heads”, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. As it turns out, that whole angle was Hawkins’ idea who, with Ryder, was floundering in the company at the time. It’s interesting to hear Edge talk about this, as he considers Hawkins and Ryder more like his kids than friends. He talks about how Hawkins came to him with the idea, and how he was just floored at how good of an idea it was, immediately going to Creative and getting it approved thereafter. Both Hawkins and Ryder discuss this as well, basically saying that, because Edge believed in them and agreed to work with them, he more or less made their careers.

In between all of the regular documentary segments, we see cutaways of Edge both in his home, enjoying retirement, as well as footage from some radio appearances, where he tells some very candid and interesting stories. The DVD eventually ends with Edge discussing his forced retirement, telling us that he was planning on retiring after his contract anyway, and when he was told he had to retire, it was easy because he had no choice in the matter, and not having that choice allowed him to slide into more comfortably than another wrestler might be able to.

In addition to the documentary, there are a handful of special features, one of which I found especially interesting. In this particular one, he talks about his time in WCW, including footage of his one and only match with the company against Meng. Edge says that, while he appreciated the opportunity and the money he made for that, he knew right then and there that he could not work for WCW, because he’d never get the chance to make something of himself in the company, and points specifically to the mishandling of Chris Jericho as proof enough WCW wasn’t the place to be. The set also includes 12 matches, including one of his very first matches, wrestling as “Adam Impact” against Christian Cage. The other 11 cover some of his best feuds, and as you would probably expect, his very last match against Alberto Del Rio from Wrestlemania 27.

Overall, this set is excellent. While the match selection isn’t huge and the special features are somewhat minimal, the documentary makes it worthwhile. Edge has led a very interesting life, only matched by his career. Watching this set, you really realize how diverse of a career Edge had, as it truly spanned pretty much every aspect of wrestling. He mastered the singles undercard, he was a tag team legend, a multi-time World Champion, wrestled as a goth, a rock star, a dork, a sleazebag and pretty much everything in between, and was involved in just about every style of storyline imaginable. Not too many wrestlers can say they had such a diverse career, not to mention being the most decorated wrestler in WWE history, getting to retire as champion and is the youngest still-living wrestler to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Although the matches and bonuses on here are good, this is definitely one you’ll want to buy for the documentary more than anything else, and getting it for that reason is more than worth it. This should be a must-have for anyone’s DVD collection, and I encourage you to add it to yours, if you haven’t already.

DISC 1

It’s All Over

A Childhood Obsession

The Winning Essay

Paying to Wrestle

Worth the Struggles

Nothing Happens Overnight

The Silent Mysterious One

Best Friends United

A Variety Package

Spring Boarding into Singles

Teaming with his Idol

A Grounding Halt

A Lifestyle Change

A Fire Inside Explodes

Personal Drama Exposed

Shocking the World

An Even Bigger Chip on His Shoulder

Off and Running

Enjoying the Time Off

Seizing Each Moment

Uncle Adam

My Favourite Moment

Energized and Reinvigorated

The Master Manipulator

Something Didn’t Feel Right

A Champion Retires

Next Challenge

Appreciation Night

Days Gone By

Special Features

The Ninja Star

P.T.A.

Working in WCW

Credgeley

“Real Emotion”
Raw – 8th August, 2005

DISC 2

Adam Impact vs. Christian Cage
South Indian Lake 1995

4-Team Elimination Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. T & A vs. Too Cool
King of the Ring 25th June, 2000

No Disqualification Match
Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero
SmackDown 26th September, 2002

Intercontinental Championship Match
Edge vs. Randy Orton
Raw 19th July, 2004

Loser Leaves Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Edge vs. Matt Hardy
Raw 3rd October, 2005

Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for the WWE Championship
Edge vs. John Cena
Unforgiven 17th September, 2006

DISC 3

Street Fight
Edge vs. Shawn Michaels
Raw 22nd January, 2007

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge vs. Undertaker
WrestleMania XXIV 30th March, 2008

Pick Your Poison Match
Edge vs. Christian
Raw 17th May, 2010

[adinserter block=”1″]Fatal 4-Way TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Edge vs. Kane vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 19th December, 2010

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match
Edge vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show vs. Kane vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Wade Barrett
Elimination Chamber 20th February, 2011

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio
WrestleMania XXVII 3rd April, 2011

BLU-RAY EXTRAS

“One Foot in the Grave” Tour

Achilles’ Heel

Squared Circle Essay Contest 2011

Edge’s Dogs

WWE Championship Match
Edge vs. Jeff Hardy
Royal Rumble – 25th January, 2009

Edge Announces His Retirement
Raw – 11th April, 2011

Edge Appreciation Night
After the Show – 13th September, 2011

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