They had to go to court, where they were prosecuted by JBL and judged by Undertaker. They decided to make a joke of their sentencing and poked fun at how many book deals were being signed in WWE at the time. The locker room laughed and loved their defence, and once they bought Undertaker a couple of gifts to ease their punishment they got off without any punishment at all.
Gewirzt, on the other hand had a much more difficult time in court. He tried to crack a few jokes at JBL’s expense which didn’t go over well. He ended up having to write a 1000 word essay on why he respects the business of professional wrestling and had no issue doing that. He wrote the essay from his heart and Undertaker loved it, giving him an A+ on the essay.
Christian does admit that it was a challenge separating friendship and business. There was a time after he and Edge split up that he was quite distraught over his role in his company, as he felt like he deserved to be higher on the card. He recalls having a discussion with Gewirzt over why he was being forced to cut his hair and wear new gear. Looking back now he realizes that those questions were stupid and immature, as those changes only helped him in the long run.
Edge and Christian admit that it was quite challenging moving away from their tag team’s comedic heel antics, transitioning into single babyfaces that had to be taken seriously. By the time Edge started the ‘Rated R Superstar’ gimmick, he thinks he found what it took to be a successful babyface. Unfortunately, during this time in his career he was a part of what Vince McMahon called ‘the worst thing filmed in the history of WWE’.
