Original subtitles

- That's a great question, the why for Edge and John Cena.

[soft dramatic music]

For me, it was just this, "Why am I doing this?

"Because I'm good.

And I'm gonna prove to you guys how good I am."

- John Cena was like the modern-day Hulk Hogan.

- You want some?

Come get some.

- Nice job.

[dramatic music]

- Hogan had Roddy Piper,

who was one of the most glorious bad guys.

And Edge was a guy

willing to go to any length to get people to hate him.

- We got put against each other at the right time

for both of our characters.

He needed that villain.

[loud slap] all: Oh!

- And I was fully committed to being that villain.

When it comes to do-or-die situations, I thrive!

- To me, that's what John Cena needed.

He needed that landmark opponent

to put him on the map.

- How do you think

I got that money in the Bank in the first place?

[crowd cheering]

- There is sex,

there is violence, there's excitement.

[crowd cheering] - Edge is about to tap!

Oh, my God!

- What's not to love about this rivalry?

- The champ is here!

- This rivalry has just escalated into a war!

- When two legends collide... [crowd cheering]

Their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

[dramatic music]

This is where we break down the legendary stories

behind the greatest rivalries of all time.

I'm Freddie Prinze Jr., and this is "WWE Rivals."

- It's early 2000s-- 2005, 2006,

and we're talking John Cena

and someone's favorite wrestler, Edge.

At this point in both men's careers,

these two guys needed each other to make each other.

They both were in a position to be the man

but you have to have that perfect foil.

- John was definitely the babyface.

Adam was definitely the heel.

- [chuckling] Certainly.

- These two guys defined those two roles,

you know, to a T and then produced.

[dramatic orchestral music]

- We were both of a similar mindset

to make each other.

When you get two guys with the same mentality

and the same mindset, you can get magic out there.

- You can go all the way back to Edge's debut.

Edge came in with a group of talent,

brought them into Connecticut for a week,

took a look at who may have potential.

Edge was one of those talent that we looked at and said,

"He's got it." Not sure what it was.

And brought him in originally as Edge,

kind of a dark, loner, brooding kind of character.

- I loved how he turned that

into what he did with Edge & Christian.

- Edge & Christian, seven-time tag team champions.

- Especially leaning into their sense of humor.

- For the next five seconds, we will very generously pose

for all of you with the benefit of flash photography.

- He didn't take himself too serious,

but he was serious when he needed to be,

and that sort of fun creativity to stay till the ending.

- No amount of money in the world

worth putting your bodies through this.

- I think Adam had built a reputation up to this point

for being involved in highly dangerous matches,

going through multiple tables,

falling off ladders, spearing Jeff Hardy.

Like, almost all of his highlight reel moments

involved some sort of human body car crash.

- Oh! - No!

Edge pushed Matt right through the table!

Edge & Christian have won it!

- As a tag team, without a doubt,

Edge & Christian were one of the greatest tag teams

in the history of the industry.

But I think that Edge was still looking to break through

and be that singles superstar.

[soft dramatic music]

- First time I met John,

he was still doing the different-colored tights

for every hometown, you know, team kind of thing.

So if we're in Minnesota, he's wearing purple and yellow.

- John Cena wearing the Vikings colors.

That's-- - Well, we're in Minnesota.

- I didn't really think much past that initially.

- You didn't see the humor in John Cena,

you didn't see the quick wit,

you didn't see how smart he really was.

You saw a big jock.

♪ ♪

- John Cena burst on the scene and immediately had energy.

- Ruthless aggression!

[crowd cheering]

- That worked for a little bit,

but not very long,

and the Doctor of Thuganomics was born.

- I know you listening, so I'm about to drop

a heavyweight dose of thuganomics on ya.

- While it may have been a hokey version of who he was,

it really was based in his personality.

- You can't see me.

[crowd cheering]

I've been lucky enough to, like,

take one thing at a time.

Get yourself as presentable as you can,

learn to perform,

be comfortable in talking,

It all comes with failure.

I just wanted to be the best me I could.

[rapping] ♪ The new champ's untouchable like Eliot Ness ♪

- After about a year, there was something about John

that you saw in his eye

that made John stand out from everyone else.

- The character kind of kept evolving

from being this sort of funny guy

to a more serious and relatable hero,

a guy who did everything the right way--

hustle, loyalty, and respect.

These are three virtues no one can have a problem with.

♪ ♪

- Cena by that point,

you could tell, like, he was finding a groove.

I felt like I was treading water.

[crowd booing]

Took me a while to really kind of sort through...

[inhales deeply]

where I was at and how to get where I wanted to go.

I've been here for a long time, paid a lot of dues,

and I'm about due.

I'm a ten-time tag team champion,

U.S. champion, King of the Ring,

five-time intercontinental champion.

Then it became this frustrated, angry,

paranoid, delusional character.

I have waited my entire career for a championship match.

And the fact that I haven't had one is a crime.

Everything about the World Heavyweight Championship--

that's all that mattered to this character.

[crowd booing]

- "WrestleMania 21," Los Angeles, California.

Big time.

And it was a big-time night for two future hall-of-famers.

[John Cena's "My Time Is Now"]

♪ ♪

- JBL versus John Cena, WWE championship on the line.

- I got to work with John

when he got his first, you know, run

into, say, 30-minute matches, you know,

which is a big difference.

You know, anybody can do an eight-minute match.

A 30-minute match is the deep water.

That's where a lot of guys never make that transition.

Vince McMahon came up to me one time.

He goes, "How is John?"

I said, "He's your guy."

And Vince was very pleased.

He said, "Really?" I said, "Yeah."

You can tell right away.

Once a guy got in the deep water like that,

he not only swam, he thrived.

And you could tell from that point forward

he had a feel that was just God-given to wrestling.

[crowd cheering]

- Where did Cena get this from?

Oh! - Here he comes!

- He got him! - FU!

- He got him! - FU!

The cover! Hook of the leg!

all: One, two, three!

- John Cena is the champion!

[John Cena's "My Time Is Now"]

Oh, man!

♪ ♪

- Winning the first WWE Championship

at "WrestleMania 21,"

I still couldn't believe how crazy it was.

There was just a few folks that thought I was all right,

and I promised myself I would respect that

and give it the best shot I had.

Still, at that point, that was way far away

from me hitting stride.

- I think Cena needed Edge. - Mm.

- He's the guy.

But he needs that foil, you know?

And I think Edge was the perfect guy.

- An 11-time tag champion, a WWE record.

- But he's obsessed with becoming

the World Heavyweight Champion!

And he sees this ladder match as his opportunity to do that.

- "WrestleMania 21," it's pretty pivotal, looking back.

You know, it was a real changing of the guard.

I mean, it started before then,

but it was solidified at "WrestleMania 21."

- Only one way to win.

That's to climb the ladder, retrieve the briefcase,

and you have won yourself a world title match

for any time up to one year.

[dramatic music]

Benoit with an injured arm!

[crowd booing] Edge, the opportunistic Edge--

don't tell me Edge is gonna win this thing!

- He's teetering, but he's got it!

[bell rings]

Oh, my God! Edge has done it!

- Edge has won the match!

- You have Edge winning the "Money in the Bank" briefcase,

which gave him a championship opportunity

whenever he wanted.

It gave him and his character

a whole different sort of motivation.

And when he was walking around with Lita and that briefcase,

he was a dangerous man.

- Oh, look at this pair, Edge and Lita.

- She's a home-wrecker,

and you can take that to the bank.

And apparently, that's exactly what

Mr. Money in the Bank has done.

- We started to blur the lines

of reality and storyline.

I was involved with Edge personally,

and they decided to bring it in front of the cameras.

- These two got a hell of a lot of explaining to do.

- To me, Lita made the Rated R Superstar.

- No man that I've ever been with could have satisfied me...

[scattered jeering]

Except one...

the next World Heavyweight Champion.

[crowd booing]

- Lita completed Edge.

Now everybody in the audience

had a reason to hate Edge.

Edge and Lita were just fantastic.

- I mean, not only is that contract money in the bank,

but I am money in the bank.

- Edge had the "Money in the Bank" briefcase for so long

that it became the boy who cried wolf.

You just figured, eh, they're not gonna go anywhere with it.

He made you wait and wait and wait and wait.

[soft suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- John Cena, with everything he's got!

- If we're gonna cash this thing in,

Edge can't do this in a straight-up match.

It's got to be in an instance where

your champion is down and out.

- He got him! - Oh, you're kidding me!

- He got him! He got him!

- Here is your winner, John Cena!

- Nobody goes anywhere! This night is not over!

Raise the cage. [crowd exclaiming]

- John Cena, prone, bloodied, beaten, battered,

but victorious,

is sitting there in the ring after his match.

And...

- You think you know me. [crowd cheering]

- Here comes Edge's music,

and a rivalry is born.

- Edge is cashing in and cashing it in big-time!

[dramatic music]

[Alter Bridge's "Metalingus" playing]

- Are you kidding me?

Edge is cashing in and cashing it in big-time,

when John Cena is at his weakest.

- Because of the way it was done,

because I'm exhausted

and just barely won the Elimination Chamber,

it also doesn't seem fair.

- He can cash in his championship match

any time, any place.

And what better time and place

than after the Elimination Chamber?

- And that's what made the money in the bank so powerful.

Even though it's a legitimate match,

the person holding the briefcase

can really be opportunistic

about when they would choose to have that match.

All that foundation was laid that night.

- Turn around. It's over.

- No, don't turn around.

- Edge is just waiting on him.

He hit the spear! He hit the spear!

Edge hit the spear! all: One, two, three!

He got him! [bell rings]

- Edge is the new WWE champion.

- Cena has his match.

Edge gets to cash in and be evil

in this moment on a weakened and tired John Cena

who just went through the ringer.

And now Edge beats him, and we're off to the races.

- It's one of the most unforgettable moments

that I ever witnessed,

because here's this worker's worker in Edge,

who's had the tag success,

who's also had a couple start-stops as a single.

And to be able to be the one in that moment,

the play and the player doing it,

anyone who doubted it couldn't doubt it anymore,

couldn't doubt Edge anymore.

- Cashing in the money in the bank

felt like a vindication, like, "I knew I could get here."

All of those days of dreaming,

it all, you know, kind of flashes by.

And then you come kind of rocketing into this present,

and you're staring at this thing.

And then I just started headbutting it.

That was my first inclination.

- Edge has shocked the world.

- Well, I'll tell you what he's done.

He's stolen the damn title!

- That "Money in the Bank" was gonna be a catalyst

for, like, a new direction for his career entirely.

And when we've talked about it, you know, he said that

you could just feel the lightning in the bottle.

And this was the moment for him to solidify

that he was gonna be a top player

and he wasn't gonna let anybody's decision-making

or anybody else deny him that.

He made himself undeniable.

- I understand that

some people are calling me a cheap champion.

[crowd booing]

Whether you like it or not, I stand before you

your new WWE champion.

[crowd booing]

- Edge really saw,

once he cashed in and he was the champion,

that we're gonna have a run together,

you know, and really do this.

And we both felt ready.

We're like, "We can do this. We're gonna carry it.

It's time."

[crowd cheering]

- For the 19th consecutive year,

the road to "Wrestlemania" begins at the "Royal Rumble."

- The following contest is scheduled for one fall,

and it is for the WWE championship!

- There was no one more deserving

of being elevated into the position

of being a "WrestleMania" main eventer more than Edge,

with one exception:

John Cena.

[crowd cheering] - And now the STFU!

- Look out! He's gonna tap!

- He did, he did, he did! [bell ringing]

John Cena has done it!

John Cena has regained the championship!

- And that had to burn Edge's ass.

- I think Adam and Edge were both thinking

the same thing at this point.

We were both pissed off.

- The champ is John Cena,

and the champ is here!

- I feel bad that Adam felt that way.

But it's also good because it pushed him to do more.

[dramatic music]

- I wanted to change the plans 'cause we got something here.

Like, the people are into this.

I knew we were gonna have no choice but to come back to it.

And I'm personally gonna give them no choice.

♪ ♪

- It is now time for John Cena to defend the WWE championship

in front of perhaps the most hostile crowd

that any superstar has ever shown.

- ECW, the famed Philadelphia wrestling organization,

had been reborn under WWE,

so because the fan base was so into hardcore wrestling,

the ECW fan base,

they hated no one more than John Cena.

- It was a level of commitment to sit through those boos

and maintain that babyface persona

every day forever.

His level of commitment to that character

was bulletproof. - Yep.

- And no one in that arena sat down.

Whether you cheered him or booed him,

everybody in the arena was standing up

when John Cena walked out.

- John Cena has a match against Rob Van Dam,

an absolute darling to the ECW fans.

So they already hate John Cena.

- Weighing in at 240 pounds,

from West Newbury, Massachusetts,

WWE champion

John Cena!

- Any time you get such emotion out of an audience...

- You said it was gonna be a hostile environment.

I didn't know it would be this bad.

- I could have had a 25-minute contest

with my T-shirt,

and that would have been amazing.

- Taz, have you ever seen anything like this?

- He doesn't belong here.

- The ECW crowd found John Cena

to be the embodiment of everything WWE.

John Cena was not extreme.

♪ ♪

- I'll tell you what. This audience--

- Hold on, hold on!

Cover, cradle suplex, one-count only.

[crowd booing]

Oh, watch-- oh, my God!

- Oh, my God!

- What the-- - What the hell is that?

- Oh, what the hell is that?

What the hell was that? Oh!

♪ ♪

It's Edge! - Edge.

- Then all of a sudden,

after a few months of not seeing

these guys involved with each other,

Edge shows up out of nowhere, spears John Cena.

- Van Dam up top! - Go!

- Five-star frog splash!

What the--Heyman? What the--

all: One, two... - Cover! What the hell?

all: Three! [crowd cheering]

- Rob Van Dam wins the title. Mayhem!

- Rob Van Dam is the champion!

- Now you know we are back to John Cena and Edge.

- Are you ready?

Hold onto your seats, because we are live tonight on "Raw!"

- It's gonna be Cena, Van Dam,

and Edge for the WWE title.

- This is huge, JR.

- What I was excited about was

I knew I would have substance with Adam.

Here I know I bring a certain something to the table,

he brings a certain something to the table.

If we can parlay this

into more than just a one-night involvement,

I think it would be good for the both of us.

- Can John Cena do it?

If he does--yes!

- Got him! - Cena did it!

- Oh, no! - My God!

- Edge was ready

to be the top star in WWE.

He was young, smart.

He was capable.

all: Two, three! both: What?

- Edge! Edge! Edge has just--

Edge is the WWE champion!

- Now you know

we're gonna have the beloved John Cena

chasing the dastardly Edge for the World Championship.

- Cena had the match won,

but Edge used the WWE championship

to snatch the title!

- Edge was certainly a great heel,

and very few guys want to really be a heel.

- Let's not forget one other person--

you. [all chuckle]

You went to Vince and said, basically,

"I don't want them to be able

"to walk up to the merchandise stand

and buy a JBL shirt because I don't want their support."

- You know, if some kid is a hardcore fan

and he's sitting on the front row

and he had a JBL shirt on,

then somebody in that audience is gonna look around

and go, well, "He's got one fan.

He must not be too bad a guy."

I didn't want anybody to think I was a decent guy.

I didn't sign autographs walking into arenas.

Edge was the same way.

- Hey, hey, hey.

I don't want you chanting "Edge."

I don't need you chump stains.

- There's great longevity in that

because with that commitment,

then I'm gonna pay to see you get beat

again and again and again.

And you become a mainstay of the show.

- Screw you!

Screw you!

Screw you!

- What's great about Adam

is he was a bad guy.

He played his part masterfully.

- Welcome to West Newbury, Massachusetts,

the home of the former WWE champion, John Cena.

You see, me and my lovely lady, Lita,

we came up here to see what makes John Cena tick,

and we know exactly where we have to go to do it.

- Always,

when you're trying to heat up the intensity of a rivalry,

you bring in the family, right?

Like, that's the easiest way to get you where it counts.

[soft dramatic music]

- What are you doing here? - Mr. Cena!

John Cena's father. - Right.

I was contacted by WWE

to say that they were gonna be coming through West Newbury.

They knock at the door, they introduced themselves.

And I said, "Okay, what are we gonna do now?"

Get out of my house! Both of you, now!

I don't remember inviting either one of you!

I'm calling the police! Leave now!

Now, I said!

Hey, you can't go up there! Stop!

- We were trying to be more organic with it,

but he was really performing.

He really got a kick out of performing that day.

So I mean, it was--it was--

[laughs] It was hilarious.

- You know what? Did you have a nice visit?

One, you had a real good visit?

You had a good time, right?

Two, take the lady, leave.

- One of the greatest moments of WWE TV ever.

[chuckles] Love you, Dad.

But, whew, man, I learned a lot from you.

What to do and what not to do.

- You know what? I've had enough of both of you.

I'm calling the police. I'm tired of both of you!

- Hold on, hold on. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.

- Hold on a second. Hold on.

- So he walks away, turns around.

It was so quick.

Bye.

[loud slap] Oh!

[grunts]

[Edge sighs] [Mr. Cena groaning]

- It can only be about the championship for so long.

You have to add in layers.

So how do you add in those layers?

Well, you go and slap somebody's dad.

That's a layer.

It's very fitting.

One Cena goes down today.

The other goes down in six days at "SummerSlam."

[crowd booing]

You see, I told John's dad

that I was gonna beat him to within an inch of his life

at "SummerSlam"!

[crowd booing]

[tense music]

And there's not a damn thing that him, John,

any of you people

or anybody in Boston can do about it.

- I want to see Edge get beat up

because if he did that to my dad,

I would go out there and I would fight him,

because my dad would have done the same thing

for me back in the day.

[bell rings]

- The following contest is scheduled for one fall,

and it is for the WWE championship!

[crowd cheering]

If the champion Edge gets disqualified,

he will lose the WWE championship.

[tense music]

- Because it was John's homecoming,

every fan that was there

expected John Cena to take the title.

Boston, Massachusetts. Why not?

He's the hometown man.

When I was there,

people would talk to me and they'd go,

"What do you think your son's chances are?"

I said, "I don't know."

I said, "I'm hoping it's John Cena,

"but you can't rule out that devious snake, Edge.

He's always got an ace."

♪ ♪

- Cena, I think, is trying as hard as he can

to keep his cool.

- WWE title on the line.

- Whoa, look out, look out!

- And now Cena forcing Edge back into the corner.

- We had the chemistry.

The characters were so diametrically opposed.

When you get to that point with a rivalry,

and you can keep going back to it and keep going back to it,

and the audience is into it, too,

that's a huge compliment.

[crowd cheering]

- The WWE champion Edge in control.

Cena, literally, in his hometown here in Boston.

- The atmosphere here is electric.

This place is buzzing.

[crowd cheering]

- I don't ever give up.

It's gonna be tough to beat me,

because you can hit me with your best shot,

but it's gonna take a lot

to keep my shoulders down for three seconds.

[crowd booing]

- Edge and Lita,

arguably the most powerful couple in the WWE.

- When I think of, like, the Rated R Superstar,

it's not just Edge, it's Edge and Lita.

We had amazing chemistry, so Edge-Cena works.

But it works that much better because Lita's out there, too.

- Edge, a step off and knocked Lita--

another roll-up, a roll-up!

Yes!

No!

- We had shown that, like,

I have no boundaries on how evil I would be

on how much I would step into the match.

- Edge is pleading with Lita. Lita doesn't know what to do.

- Edge is about to tap!

Oh, my God!

[cheering and booing]

[dramatic music]

- Lita helped not only by being a great performer,

but she was instrumental.

It's like stacking the odds.

- The referee's got to break the--

wait, what's Lita--

King, those are brass knuckles.

- She put brass knuckles on the hand of Edge!

- There was no looking for cheers on the side of Edge.

He was willing to go as far as it took.

- I think you can't understate, too,

Lita's role in all of this

and how Adam would use Lita

in particular situations

and how well she played the role.

- Look at Lita. She's starting to get nervous.

She's starting to pace.

- It is not easy to stand in the middle of the ring

and have, you know, bottles slung at you

and people calling you every single name under the sun,

especially as a female.

And rather than shying away from that,

she leaned into it.

So, like, there was these moments

that she was such an integral part of.

- It's just two guys fighting without Lita.

- Yeah.

- Referee-- - Ref, check him! Check Edge!

- Oh, God almighty. - Look out, John!

- Well, there-- FU!

The FU!

And Lita's in! Oh, my God.

My God, look at this! - What?

- You gotta be kidding me!

- Lita, FU, double-stacked.

- Edge was so cool in what he does.

Cena turns around, and it's like, bam!

♪ ♪

- The brass knucks in the back of the head!

Damn it, King! Cena's knocked out!

Cena's knocked out by the damn brass knucks!

all: One, two, three! - Come on, ref!

[crowd cheering] - Son of a--

[rock music playing]

♪ ♪

- Here is your winner,

and still the WWE champion,

Edge!

- Everybody, including myself, was like, "Wow.

What an ending. What a finish."

That's the way it goes down with a true villain.

[soft dramatic music]

- We both grew.

I think we both grew as performers together

and understood what we both needed

to do to get to the next level,

which was awesome because we're doing it together

and we're learning it together.

Since I've erased John Cena from my life forever,

I think we should remove the last remnants of John Cena.

all: Cena! Cena! Cena! Cena! Cena!

- With a beautiful burial at sea.

- Did he say burial at sea?

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What?

- Oh, my God!

- Oh, there it goes.

Goodbye! Sayonara!

- Through it all, he kept doing nefarious things.

Edge crashing my house,

throwing the championship into the Long Island Sound.

All of those things add to why I want to root for this person.

I think that's why we worked so well and for so long together.

[bell rings] - Oh, look!

It's John Cena. - Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. - John Cena--

John Cena coming to get a piece of Edge!

Where did Cena come from?

- Oh! Oh, my gosh.

Edge's head smashed through that glass!

- I love going out of the confines of the arena.

I love it.

- Edge trying to fight back right by the dock,

right next to the arena.

- Time to swim, kid!

- What? - No!

- Oh, my God!

[crowd cheering] Oh, my God, King!

- Get help!

- The Long Island Sound is, like,

the most polluted body of water in the United States.

And that didn't fully dawn on me until, like,

the scuba divers were pulling me out

and they're fully covered and I'm in tights.

And that week, I was not feeling that great after that.

But we're outside of the arena.

And now we're doing stuff that I know kids,

people are gonna be talking about.

"He just threw him in the Long Island Sound."

Like, those are things, to me, that wrestling can do

that other industries don't have at their fingertips.

- I just need one thing from you.

And that's one more match.

- You had Edge and Cena, who had very common goals,

and that goal was to be the best.

That goal was to be the main event

and be the reason that people were tuning in to television

and the reason that people were enjoying pay-per-views.

- Look out, the--

oh, God!

[bell ringing]

- It's gonna be "Unforgiven"

in my hometown, Toronto, Canada!

- Oh, my gosh.

- His body just breaking in half.

- And I've decided what match it's gonna be,

a match you've never had, a match I've never lost.

It's gonna be tables, ladders, and chairs!

- We welcome you, ladies and gentlemen,

live to Toronto, Canada,

for the ninth annual extravaganza

known as "Unforgiven."

- "Unforgiven 2006," the story between Edge

and John Cena has heated up.

It's gotten nuclear at this point.

Edge has proven he can get that title and he can hold it.

- You think you know me.

[Alter Bridge's "Metalingus" playing]

[heavy metal music playing]

[cheers and boos]

- ♪ On this day I see clearly ♪

- They were a hell of a crowd.

They were fully invested in this thing, man,

and it felt so good.

Come out, your hometown, main event,

you're the WWE champion,

you're going up against this generation's hero,

and you want to live up to that.

- I love getting in environments

where we are trying to tell a story as a company,

and you know they ain't gonna take any of it.

[John Cena's "My Time is Now" playing]

[crowd booing]

- Well, like him or not, these fans are on their feet here.

[hip-hop music playing]

♪ ♪

[crowd booing]

- Man, they hated me.

It was great.

I'm yelling at Edge, "Take this in, all of it."

I'm the Yankees in Fenway, I'm the Lakers at the Garden.

Let's do that. And that's okay.

Let's give it to them.

all: Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge!

- So these men have been going at it for a while now.

But this is a physical contest.

That pressure has to be times ten.

- Tables, ladders, and chairs are about to come into play.

There's gonna be a lot of pain dealt now.

- No pinfalls, no submissions,

no disqualifications, no countout in a TLC match.

Only one way to win:

climb the ladder, retrieve the title belt,

which is hanging high above the ring.

- A TLC match-- tables, ladders, and chairs.

Anything goes at "Unforgiven."

- Oh!

- It's also an opportunity for John Cena

to prove to fans that he's not just

the happy-go-lucky champion.

He's also capable of getting down and dirty

with the dirtiest man in the biz at the time, Edge.

- We've seen a lot of different strategies utilized

in these matches by Edge.

- There's a lot of things that make a TLC match pivotal.

And because I'm one of the inventors of the TLC match,

there's pressure that comes with that.

Like, you got to be good at this thing

if you helped create it.

- You knew that Edge was not gonna wait long

in introducing the hardware that this match is all about.

- Chair, legal.

- So there's a different layer of storytelling involved.

- Oh! - Oh, God!

- And with that is a challenge.

John had never been in one.

John's afraid of heights.

- Remember the WWE championship

is hanging high above the ring.

- So I have a fear of heights.

But I only did what I knew I could do.

- Cena! - Oh, man!

- I look at it as an artist. I do.

It's this thing that has energy.

Please just let me paint. Just let me paint a little bit.

You know, and I'm out there and I'm feeling the noise...

both: Cena!

- And I didn't want Adam to not paint.

- This whole environment is about taking chances.

- I wanted him to be able to paint whatever he wanted.

- Oh, my God!

- You got two guys in there, a lot of intensity,

trying to bring something to that audience.

And in doing that, sometimes, you know,

there's things that can happen, right?

So let's have me trapped on the ladder.

- Wait a minute, wait a minute.

- Oh, my God!

- Cena has Edge between the ladder!

- Well, that extra distance

because of the ladder and John's meaty wrists

just landed right there.

And I remember thinking to myself,

"This feels interesting. Huh."

And then believing I was in my bed

and there was an alarm going off

and thinking I was late for my Air Canada flight

when it was actually me making the buzzer sound.

Like, this weird, "[imitates buzzer]"

And then coming to

and seeing the Air Canada Center logo above me.

John had no idea. He ran at me...

- Oh, God! - Good grief!

- Creamed me in the face with the ladder.

I got a hand up.

I don't remember doing any of it.

It's strange being choked out.

I wouldn't advise it. [chuckles]

- Man, Cena showing a mean streak here.

- I never knew that Adam was in any sort of jeopardy

and that he passed out.

[cheering and booing]

- This, to me, has always been the most wild part

about wrestling as an art form

because these things happen and the show must go on.

I don't know how you all pull this off.

I take two weeks off if I step on a LEGO in my house

that my kids left on the floor.

- That's a serious injury. - [laughs]

- That's serious business. - Appreciate that.

Only a mother would give me that love.

- [chuckles] - Thank you.

But to me, that's always been

one of the craziest things about this rivalry.

There is no take two.

- Oh, whoa! [crowd cheering]

- You talk about a brutal match.

I've never seen two guys go at it like they did.

- John Cena realizes

this is a tables, ladders, and chairs match.

- Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute, King.

- John Cena behind the scenes is afraid of heights,

but John Cena inside the ring is afraid of nothing.

- He's jumping from near the top of the ladder!

- That's the mark of a great performer.

- This crowd is on their feet!

Edge--my God!

- When he's out there,

he's not John Cena, human being.

He's John Cena, superhero.

- Look at the strength of Cena!

- It's tough because you worry, you know?

And so it's a weird thing when you're in my position...

- Look at Lita! - Lita!

- To be in those high-stakes matches

because the real person

that just cares about the people in the ring

is just, like, just below the surface.

[crowd cheering]

- I don't worry about this moment.

As superstars, we are as plugged in as the audience is.

- Somehow, John Cena is willing himself!

- I learned that from the late Eddie Guerrero.

Give them your effing best every night.

And if you do just good enough, you'll bring back a friend.

- What the hell is John Cena thinking about?

- We just had fun out there together.

You know, we trusted each other

and we both knew that we wanted the match and the story

to be great.

- Cena climbing to the top.

- We threw everything we had at each other,

and me surviving those attacks is me never giving up.

That's my thing.

- But wait a minute.

There's the WWE champion, Edge.

- Edge, with his strength and perseverance,

leads me to believe that, like,

I'm gonna have to do something crazy to stop this guy.

And then when you see what crazy is,

you're like, "I don't want to do this."

- These guys are about to go toe-to-toe

at the top of this ladder.

- John wasn't real big on doing it,

but I had faith in him.

This was the end of the story.

We gotta blow the doors off here.

- Oh, my! Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

John, don't do this, John! - Don't do this!

Come on! [loud thud]

- Oh, God! - No!

[crowd cheering]

- A 16-foot ladder.

This is death-defying, career-ending!

Oh, my God! John, don't do this, John!

Good God Almighty!

Oh, God Almighty! [crowd cheering]

Edge has just been FU'd through not one

but two tables from a 16-foot ladder!

- An Attitude Adjustment through two tables--

his idea again,

brilliant and insane.

That audience helped make that moment

of, like, "I don't want to do this,

but I can't stop this guy."

[soft dramatic music]

- I just remember hearing the audience.

[crowd cheering]

And it was this weird sensory overload moment like that.

I was feeling all of it.

And landing there-- "[sighs] We did it.

We did it."

- John Cena!

- John Cena has won!

He's won!

- The sense of relief that you have

when you pull off something like that

and pull off what I felt

was a fitting end to that part of the story.

- John Cena coming into as hostile an environment

as anybody-- I can ever recall, King,

and leaving with the most coveted prize

in sports entertainment.

- John Cena earned the WWE championship here tonight.

[tender music]

- There's his father,

a man that was physically assaulted by Edge

in Cena's own home.

- Here he is, all sweaty, all gashed up,

he has the belt,

and he just kind of grabbed me and gave me a big hug

and said, "I can't tell you how much I love you."

I said, "I love you too, kid.

You did one hell of a job."

And we just kind of stood there.

♪ ♪

- That's a way for me to tell my dad I love him.

♪ ♪

- I have a child, now a grown man,

who just got beat up and bloodied,

come out and embrace a father and say, "Pops, I love you."

Wow.

That-- that just got me right there.

♪ ♪

It was the end of a great rivalry.

[crowd cheering] all: Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge!

Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge!

- Walking out after that match...

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

This is Toronto's way of saying, "You did it."

[crowd cheering]

- I'm so glad he enjoyed it because I'd like to think

that's maybe kind of where I helped him a little bit,

you enjoying this here and now.

It doesn't turn me bad, it doesn't turn him good.

So many performers ignore the biggest superstar we got,

and that's the people who come in and go crazy.

And I'm so, so glad he felt that.

You can't rob yourself of that.

♪ ♪

[soft dramatic music fades]

♪ ♪

- We knew that he was gonna be the guy,

but nobody dreamed he'd be a 16-time world champion,

a movie star, and all this different stuff.

But to see that and to also see Edge

and to see these guys go out

and carry that company for that time,

it was just absolutely incredible.

And I saw these guys' journey.

And now they're the ones in the sun.

It's a pride beyond belief.

- You know, all of us, I'm sure,

can look back on our careers

and remember an opponent that was super special,

and you felt that magic.

And you think, like,

"How great would it be to feel that one more time?"

I can tell you this with 100% confidence

that Adam would love to do that again with John.

- John Cena would never have achieved the heights

that he achieved in WWE

without the rivalry with Edge and Lita.

[fireworks exploding]

It cemented John Cena as the top attraction in WWE.

♪ ♪

And the same goes for Edge.

[crowd cheering]

♪ ♪

They complemented each other.

They were the classic case

of a rivalry taking a top star and a top star

and making them both the top stars.

[energetic orchestral music]

- When you have that kind of chemistry and dynamic,

I mean, we call each other Shoe

'cause it's like putting on an old shoe.

- We fit as comfortable as an old, broken-in shoe.

And no matter how many days

you have those shoes in your mudroom,

when you need to put them on,

they feel perfect and broken in and beautiful.

- I don't think Cena and Edge get to where they got

without each other.

That kind of says, okay,

those guys are each other's, you know, greatest rivals.

♪ ♪

You put him and I in the ring today...

♪ ♪

I know what it's gonna be.

It's gonna be [bleep] great. [chuckles]