Four years ago, Christian had achieved the title as one time Light-Heavyweight Champion, and more importantly, multiple time champion as an accomplished tag team wrestler with his scripted brother Edge. They had all that a tag team should have; tag skills, a gimmick, good pure wrestling skills, similar backgrounds....the list is endless. Also they were given storylines and worked well together, which is more than I can say for tag teams today. But at King of the Ring 2001, Edge seemed to be standing in the spotlight as he won the King of the Ring Tournament. He seemed to be breaking away as a tag team wrestler and receiving the status as a singles wrestler. Sure enough, soon after, Edge became WWE Intercontinental Champion and Christian seemed to be floating in the background. So just before Unforgiven 2001, it became official that Christian had turned away from his brother and had joined the Faction of the WCW/ECW Alliance.

At Unforgiven, Christian defeated Edge to become the IC Champion. But his first IC title reign did not last long, for Edge regained it in a ladder match at next months No Mercy. So the feud ended and once again Christian got demoted down to lower-middle class calibre, whilst Edge would soon be rising to compete with names such as Chris Jericho (who was Undisputed Champion at the time), Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar. Meanwhile, Christian became European Champion, and was competing with Al Snow, The Hurricane, and other low calibre superstars. It did not look to good for Christian.

For a long time it stayed like that, until Edge became injured around No Way Out 2003, meaning he would have to stay out of the spotlight for over a year. This incident could lead to the push Christian had been waiting for. Sure enough, at Judgement Day that year, Christian won a battle royal which included names such as 5 Time WCW Champion Booker T, Former WWE Champion Kane, the 1st Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho, and many more, to win the reinstated Intercontinental for the Second time. Although his reign lasted until just after the next WWE Pay Per View Bad Blood, were he lost it to Booker T, he quickly regained it a few weeks after. This time his rain lasted for six months, until November, he lost it in a ladder match against Rob Van Dam. A six month IC title reign is a great feat for any superstar, and it seemed that Christian had finally risen up from the ashes and achieved the status he deserves.

At WrestleMania 20, Christian got pushed into a big storyline involving himself, Chris Jericho and the now 6-Time Women's Champion, Trish Stratus. It all happened when Christian def. Chris Jericho at the Showcase of the Immortals, with the help of the newly turned heel diva Trish Stratus. She and Christian 'betrayed' Jericho, as they were supposed to be his girlfriend and once best friend. The WWE created the storyline that Christian and Trish became boyfriend and girlfriend, which brought their new 'Problem Solver' Tyson Tomko into the scene. This 'PS' gimmick turned out to be a failure, as Tomko turned out to be just another big man. But despite this, Christian was still being pushed, and was almost at the point where he could reach up, and get to that ring of the ladder which was the World Heavyweight/WWE Championship division.

Soon after Tomko's debut, Christian faced of against Y2J in a cage match, and received an injury, causing him to be out for roughly four months. But just before Unforgiven 2004, Christian returned to attack Y2J during the Highlight Reel, along with a brand new gimmick, Captain Charisma. At Unforgiven Jericho defeated the Captain in a ladder match meaning that he would be the new IC Champion, which before that was vacant. But Christian had bigger goals. He wanted to become the next world champion.

In the midst of the 2005 Draft Lottery, Christian received his first shot at the WWE championship in a triple threat match along with Chris Jericho and the new Raw draft pick, the WWE Champion John Cena. Although Christian lost this match, Christian was drafted to Smackdown! and made an immediate impact when he came second in a Six Man Elimination Match to become No.1 contender at the Smackdown!'s new main title belt, the World Heavyweight Championship. Although he lost this match, he is still facing big names on Smackdown! and I hope that soon Christian will become World Heavyweight Champion.

by Tiarnán McMeekin ..