WWE Survivor Series 2010: Breaking Down the Kane-Edge Rivalry

In just ten days at Survivor Series, Kane will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against the Rated-R Superstar, Edge. This is not the first time that these men have faced each other on a pay-per-view. In fact, it will be just the fourth time that these two men will meet each other at a pay-per-view.

These men have held many championships throughout their careers and both are future Hall of Famers.

It's time to look back at their history, starting from the very beginning.

Prior To First Encounter

Glen Jacobs and Adam Copeland had some interesting careers in WWE before becoming Kane and Edge, respectively.

Jacobs began his career as Dr. Issac Yankem, the personal dentist of Jerry "The King" Lawler. After that failed gimmick, as well as an appearance as Fake Diesel, Kane was born to become the younger brother of The Undertaker. In real life, Jacobs is actually older than Mark Calaway, who portrays The Undertaker.

Kane was thrown directly into the main event, feuding with The Undertaker from the very start. Kane would gain more and more gold to his legacy as the years went on, culminating with a WWF Championship victory, only to lose it one day later. Kane would be a very successful tag team competitor, winning the championships twice with Mankind, as well as twice with The Undertaker.

Meanwhile, Copeland has been Edge throughout his entire WWE career. Initially portrayed as a loner with a mean streak, he eventually aligned himself with Gangrel and storyline brother Christian to form The Brood. Gangrel would eventually turn on Edge and Christian to form The New Brood with Matt and Jeff Hardy.

Edge and Christian vaulted into the mid-card as a solid tag team. Their matches with the Hardys and Dudley Boyz are some of the most legendary tag team matches in WWE history. However, their path would lead them to the Brothers of Destruction in 2001.

Brothers of Destruction Vs Edge and Christian

At No Way Out 2001, Kane and Undertaker retained their tag team gold in a triple threat tag team match over Edge and Christian and the Dudley Boyz. From that point, Kane and Edge's careers would virtually flip flop.

After helping the then-WWF defeated the invasion of WCW, Kane floated in wrestling purgatory for the next few years. While he would win some more singles gold and tag team gold, Kane could not establish the kind of buzz that he recieved from facing his brother at the very beginning of his career.

Desperate for some more credibility, Kane's mask was removed in 2003 and a push came his way, but to no avail. Injuries to his groin and hand also limited Kane's success.

As for Edge, he was a rising star in the company. Edge was King of the Ring in 2001 and unified the Intercontinental and United States Championships at Survivor Series 2001. Engulfed in jealousy, Christian turned on Edge, beginning the first major singles feud for either man.

Edge would also gain more tag team gold with the likes of Rey Mysterio and Hulk Hogan. However, it was that long overdue world championship that became a buzz for wrestling fans. Then, Edge had the best year of his career: 2005.

Money In The Bank

Edge could do no wrong in 2005. He won the very first Money In The Bank match at WrestleMania 21, a match that also featured Kane. This gave Edge a chance to call for a world championship match at any point for the next year. While he would eventually cash in the chance successfully, he first needed a good storyline to bring relevance to the newly thought up idea. Enter Lita.

Vengeance 2005

The love triangle with Lita actually began in 2004 with Kane and Matt Hardy. Lita, Matt Hardy's girlfriend in both real life and storyline, had said she was pregnant, which was only kayfabe. However, advances from Kane previously helped The Big Red Machine make the suggestion that it was his child. After Kane won a match at SummerSlam 2004, he was given the right to marry Lita, which Lita did not enjoy. The new couple would be seen together with Lita trying to sabotage Kane's matches. An angered Kane could do nothing, though, without jeopardizing Lita's health, who was bearing her child. After an accidental knock from Gene Snitsky to Kane, Kane ran into Lita, knocking her to the ground and stating that Lita had a miscarriage from the incident.

As Lita had seemed to grown soft to Kane's company, she turned heel on him and aligned herself with Edge. This led to a match between Edge and Kane at Vengeance 2005, which Kane won. Following that, on RAW, Edge defeated Kane in a stretcher match, ending the feud.

As this is going on, Matt Hardy is released from his WWE contract. The storyline was similar to the real-life drama between Hardy, Lita (real name: Amy Dumas) and Edge (real name: Adam Copeland). After Hardy's release, Dumas cheated on him with Copeland as the two continued on the road with WWE. Once the real love triangle emerged alongside WWE programming, Hardy was hired back to replace Kane in the storyline.

The Great American Bash 2007

From this point on, Edge became a multi-time world champion, while Kane had various short-term, low profile feuds. It all seemed to change in 2007, when Kane was named the number one contender for Edge's World Heavyweight Championship. This match would never take place, however, after Edge suffered an injury and was forced the drop the championship. The title was eventually won by The Great Khali in a battle royal on Smackdown. Khali's rival at the time, Batista, was added to the card, making the match Kane vs. Khali vs. Batista.

Without a true opportunity to shine in the middle of the feud, Kane lost the match and was left out of subsequent matches.

Survivor Series 2010

Since then, Kane went from ECW to RAW and back to Smackdown. Kane finally won the World Heavyweight Championship after winning a Money In The Bank ladder match and cashing in later on that night. Edge has now come back from various career-threatening injuries.

Now, these two men get to face off at Survivor Series in a match for the title that they should have fought over three years ago. This time, Kane has the strap, while Edge looks to win his tenth world championship.