HJH’s Favorite Rivalries #RivalriesOfWrestling

Welcome WA Community to another classic blog & submission into this months Community Event by your favorite leader, HJH. :grin: I’ve really been wanting to cook up this blog & tell you about a few of my absolute favorite Rivalries in Wrestling that I grew up on, and i hope yall on WA will do the same & tell us yours, so lets do it. #RivalriesOfWrestling

John Cena vs Edge

This, this right here man… This was the first real feud that i REALLY got invested in as a kid. This feud will forever be my absolute favorite due to the sweet-spot it holds in my heart. Edge & John Cena got me absolutely hooked on the world of weekly Wrestling, PPV’s & everything in between. Cena was the superhero, Cena was MY GUY back in 06-08, & Edge was the biggest piece of shit villian & the guy that at some point between 2005-2008, shattered every little kids’ (including mine) heart & dreams, Edge was the true supervillains of the Ruthless Aggression Era.

Now I had already hated Edge as a kid, he was already a piece of shit as a character & he was the first wrestler i genuinely hated. Edge was the guy who took Matt Hardy’s girl in real life, whooped his ass & sent him packing to SmackDown, every week I had to bare witness to Edge & Lita swallow each others faces whole & I couldn’t stand it, either of them. So how did this feud with Cena even start? In 2005, the year I started watching Wrestling; Edge won the first ever MITB match which gave him a guaranteed WWE/World title match, what made this so unique is nobody knew how this MITB briefcase exactly worked, so nobody knew what to expect, he just sort of carried this briefcase. Fast Forward to Jan. 8th, 2006; New Years Revolution. John Cena survives a crazy Elimination Chamber match to retain his WWE championship; the champion is absolutely exhausted, beaten & bloodied but he survived & kept his championship. Vince McMahon then comes out & personally announces that Edge, that god damn slimey piece of shit Edge is cashing in his Money in The Bank contract, he rushes down to the ring, hits Cena with a few spears, 1..2..3. Edge is your New WWE Champion & every little kid (including me) is now living their worst nightmare. Edge officially becomes “The Ultimate Opportunist”.

Next night on RAW & the shenanigans already fuckin begin, casually watching RAW in the living room, and what opens the show? A god damn Live Sex Celebration on Monday Night RAW between new WWE Champion Edge & his homie hoppin girl Lita. I was like 7 at the time & genuinely terrified one of my parents were going to walk in & see the wrong type of Wrestling, all the more reasons to hate Edge. He has a short villainous run with the title before dropping it back to Cena, yay little HJH is happy. Things eventually escalate when Cena is defending the title against RVD at ECW One Night Stand 2006, the problem wasn’t Cena losing, I loved RVD. The problem was that slimey piece of shit Edge once again getting involved & costing Cena the championship, furthermore getting involved in the title picture & walking away with the championship once again. Cena as WWE champion? nope. RVD as WWE champion? nope. I was stuck with the absolute menace that was Edge parading around with the WWE Championship. This is where the feud REALLY heats up & as a young Wrestling fan, it was the first time i was seeing MANY things, which fueled the love & ion i had for Wrestling, i was officially hooked.

This feud had me in for a WILD ride, Cena invaded Edge’s hotel room & whooped his ass all over that room, it was the greatest thing i’ve witnessed up until that point, but somehow it got even crazier. Never in my life did i witness a home invasion storyline until Edge straight up broke into Cena’s house, made himself comfortable, went through his wardrobe & even confronted Cena’s own damn father. Edge disrespects Cena Sr. straight to his face, and to top it off he slapped the absolute piss out of him before leaving the Cena household. It was a different level of disrespect & thats what made Edge such a special heel, he was genuinely evil & gave no fucks, something I truly appreciated as i got older. Cena & Edge have the feud of the summer, leading up to one of my favorite matches of all time, Edge vs John Cena, TLC match @ Unforgiven 2006 in Edge’s hometown. Crowd was hot, match was brutal & entertaining as fuck, and the finish is one of my favorites of all time, Cena with an FU (AA) off of a ladder through 2 tables, putting Edge to rest & re-capturing the WWE Championship.

Even after 2006-2007, Edge & Cena would continue their feud further down the line in 2009, and every time they competed against each other wether it was singles comp, multi-man matches, promo battles, It hit every damn time. Even in 2009 when the two are on different shows, Cena could not escape this menace. Edge loses his WWE championship in the Elimination Chamber, only to enter the 2nd chamber match of the night for the World Heavyweight Championship, a match Edge had absolutely NO part in, and bro walked out the champ I couldn’t stand this mothafucka. One of my favorite & most underrated promos of all time is a promo Edge cuts on a 2009 episode of SmackDown, the infamous “I hate you” promo, these two were destined to beef forever & I couldn’t have grown up on a better rivalry, it will forever be the greatest in my eyes, thank you Edge for being the ultimate villain & traumatizing me as a kid, “You think you know me” will forever serve as PTSD.

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Jeff Hardy vs Umaga

If you’ve been living under a rock, i’m the #1 Jeff Hardy fan around here & nobody can say otherwise, which poses the question; what is my favorite Hardy feud? There’s lots to choose from; Punk, HHH, Edge, Edge/Christian & The Dudleyz. Those are all great, but the one I have a softspot for is none other than The Samoan Bulldozer Umaga, most notably over the Intercontinental Championship.

Now back in 06-07, Jeff Hardy absolutely owned the intercontinental championship, that was HIS title & whenever I think of my goat Jeff Hardy I immediately picture him with that beautiful oval IC title belt. Jeff was putting on weekly bangers & i was absolutely on the Jeff Hardy hype train, i invested my stocks as soon as he came back & confronted that piece of shit Edge. Jeff was putting on classics with the likes of Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, Johnny Nitro, etc. Those all are individually great mini feuds, but the feud I think of when it comes to Jeff Hardy & that IC title, of course it has to be the legendary Umaga. I don’t know what it was, but i used to think Umaga was so damn cool, even as a kid, i loved monstrous heel Umaga, he had such a dope presentation, moveset, & every time he stepped into the ring with Jeff I was genuinely concerned for my goat. These motherfuckers went to war with eachother every single time, and I love hearing modern day stories told by Jeff about how close they were to each-other, they crafted the perfect chaotic mid card feud without needing promo battles or story progression, just straight beating the hell out of eachother for this belt.

In 2007, their feud over the Intercontinental Championship began & the dynamic between the 2 was everything we needed, Umaga was a pure killer in the ring, everything the samoan bulldozer did was intended to destroy whoever he was in the ring with, he had such an intense moveset for such a big guy, & that was the perfect opponent for Jeff Hardy who would sell his ass off for whoever he was against. Great American Bash 2007, Umaga defends against Hardy in what was ultimately just an extended squash match. Hardy had his moments of comebacks & the crowd was eating that shit up, but every single time Umaga would just straight up murder Jeff Hardy & thats what happened, my goat got decimated at Great American Bash, sad times. Until a measly 2 months later, Hardy wins the IC title back in an unexpected title change upset on RAW & from here we were off to the races as Umaga wanted Jeff’s head on a platter.

The pinnacle of this feud begins when Hardy defends his IC title against Umaga in a steel cage match, again on Monday Night RAW; damn we were spoiled. This match went exactly as you would expect, Hardy was trapped in a cage with a borderline wild animal, and Umaga made him his bitch. There were some nasty spots & you wouldn’t expect anything less from these two, the finish is also iconic, where we see Jeff climb up to the top of the cage, and instead of just hopping over & winning the match, this batshit insane man Jeff Hardy hits a WHISPER IN THE WIND off the top of the cage, absolutely dunking on Umaga & putting him away for the win. A fun classic on a random monday night, it can’t get any better right? WRONG. Fast forward to One Night Stand 2008, one of my favorite Hardy matches of all time. Falls count anywhere, Umaga vs Jeff Hardy, not even a title involved; just two men who want to beat the absolute shit out of eachother. This match gifted us with 2 of the coolest & most unique spots in WWE, one being in the middle of the match; Jeff & Umaga are brawling all throughout the arena, they end up on a staircase & Jeff slides all the way down the railing, catching crazy speed & putting Umaga on his ass with a clothesline. After a well paced beatdown between both men, they end up outside the arena & in a parking lot near production trucks, Hardy starts climbing up a truck & Umaga follows, but Hardy kicks the big man repeatedly until he falls off the truck & onto the floor. Jeff climbs up to the top of the truck & in classic Jeff Hardy fashion, he hits an insane swanton bomb off the top of the truck, beating Umaga clean & putting this feud to rest, absolute masterpiece & as a kid I was in awe at the shit Jeff would do.

This is an under-appreciated rivalry that will never ever bore me, the place in my heart that this specific rivalry holds will forever be held close to me. Prime Jeff Hardy was absolutely different, Umaga was an underrated gem of this era who never got to show his full potential due to a short run. If you’ve never seen Hardy vs Umaga @ One Night Stand 2008, i suggest giving it a watch, its a fun chaotic match & it has the GOAT Jeff Hardy in it. Its real life monster vs underdog, no emotional investment, story, just 2 hungry dudes looking to one up each-other & leave the other in absurd amounts of pain. Bravo to these two, rip Umaga.

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Rey Mysterio vs Everyone He Trusts

Thought this would be a fun one, I think over the years it’s become pretty clear that nobody in the wrestling business likes Rey Mysterio, the guy gets betrayed & absolutely killed left & right. Friends? nah. Best friends? hell nah. His own son? Forget about it. Maybe we need to open our eyes & recognize the real problem here is indeed… Rey Mysterio himself. His biggest rival? Keeping friendships & healthy family relationships.

What better way to start it off than talk about in my opinion, Rey’s actual greatest rival; Eddie Guerrero. The history between these two go back to the 90’s where they tore it up in WCW together, all the way to the years of “The Smackdown Six” which if you’re uneducated, PLEASE educate yourself on The Smackdown Six. It was always friendly competition between these 2, because they were friends with very competitive motors to be the absolute best, especially between the two. Rey Mysterio & Eddie Guerrero put on countless classics together, but one thing never changed. Eddie could not get the best of Mysterio, that was the catalyst here & Eddie was fed up with all of it. Eddie infamously had turned his back on Rey, and not just turned on him but Eddie had evil ass intentions to tear Mysterio’s life apart from the inside out. Eddie made it personal & next thing you know we have a ladder match at Summerslam for the custody of the future greatest luchador in history, Dominik Mysterio, but we’ll get to him later. Not only Eddie, but following his ing; even Chavo & Eddie’s widow Vickie Guerrero turned on poor ol’ Rey, generational hating right there. An all time classic feud of Eddie vs Rey is what kicked it all off, and was the beginning of Mysterio being allergic to healthy relationships.

Okay, surely something was in the Guerrero’s water right? I mean what could Rey Mysterio possibly do to harm anyone? He’s been nothing but loyal to his friends around him, good thing he’s surrounded by great friends right?… Right??? 2009 Bragging rights, Batista had enough of being pushed aside for little Rey Rey, so he wrapped his animal hands around Rey’s neck & choked the life out of him before throwing him around like a ragdoll. “but what about Eddie” Rey pleads; “Eddie is dead Rey”. Absolute savagery that cannot be forgotten from Batista. Okay, just has to be a coincedence, Rey can’t be that bad of a friend. Just look at how his friend/mentorship to Santos Escobar turned out.. eerily similar, choking the life out of Rey before beating the shit out of him. Then what, a year later Carlito turns on him as well. Seriously though what the hell Mysterio, how are you so bad at maintaining friendships, buddy is 0/4 on keeping friends, maybe he is the problem, like the wise Batista once said “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY FRIEND!!”

Okay okay, kind of crazy that he’s lost so many friends all for the same reason; he’s selfish. But that doesn’t matter, nothing outweighs the relationship between father & son.. right?? Nope, even his own son that he fought custody for in a brutal ladder match turned on Rey. At Clash at the Castle 2022, Dominik did the unthinkable & layed his pops out dead on the mat & its done wonders for his career ever since. For good reason, because I mean, its obvious at this point right? Rey is the problem, the deadbeat, he didn’t even get Dom a Mercedes for his 16th birthday, he got him a damn BMW; pathetic. If your own son betrays you & beats you down, you have to be doing something wrong, Rey isn’t fooling me anymore & thats why Dominik is now the greatest luchador to ever step foot in the ring, following the footsteps of his REAL father Eddie Guerrero. Keep doing you Dominik, forget that damn deadbeat & keep cementing yourself as the greatest Mysterio in the history of Mysterio’s.

In all seriousness, through all the giants & obstacles Rey has faced in his career, it seems nothing has bested him better than keeping healthy relationships; whether it be friends, family, hell maybe his dog will turn on him next. Even his colleagues backstage didn’t seem to care about this dude, i back in like 2010 watching Jack Swagger attack Rey in the trainers room & put his injured ankle in an ankle lock for like 3 minutes straight. Swagger straight up dragged this dude around the entire arena in an ankle lock & not a single roster member, security guard, producer, NOBODY stepped in to help Rey. What about when he finally achieved his dream of being WWE champion, only for the ultimate good guy John Cena to come in & crush those dreams for him, taking the title the same exact night. Do the writers hate this man too? 20+ years in WWE & he’s never caught a break, which begs the question.. What the fuck did Rey Mysterio do?

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There ya have it, this is a blog i’ve been itching to write for a while now, Rivalries make the wrestling world go round & these were just a couple of my favorites. Might do a part 2 at some point, maybe even a little series in the future. Appreciate everyone who participated in this event as well (absolutely nobody except Camach :pensive: ) thats all from yours truly, your agent HJH. :pray: 🏽