Edge's heel promo on Jim Ross was delivered with such conviction, the viewer at home felt the angst of the live crowd worrying that once again, Good Ol' JR was going to get slapped around in Oklahoma.

Edge's range was amazing, too. From the frothing-at-the-mouth-anticipation of JR screaming "Edge wins! Edge wins! Edge wins!" to the envisioned-orgasm as he described "the love of my life" - dramatic pause, then emphasis - "Vickie Guerrero," Edge's promo was, as they say, one for the ages.

He had such heel heat by the time he punked out everyone from Ross to Undertaker to the Raw program itself, people were salivating at the mere thought that someone, somehow, someday would just smash this bastard.

Batista came out and delivered a ferocious beating to Edge, and the live audience came unglued.

No amount of punishment would truly serve justice. Edge deserved a heinous beating, and that's exactly what Big Dave delivered.

Only one Terry Funk-like swing and a miss from Edge, and the rest of the physicality was Batista annihilating the world champion.

Not a chance. Edge's heat was still intact. That says something about the way he set that heat, the intensity with which he got the audience to believe in his character, to live that moment with him.

Edge, barely conscious, a pulverized quivering lump lying on the canvas, was still worthy of the audience's desire to see something bad happen to that character.

And for that character, things went from bad to worse when " Mr Money in the Bank" CM Punk came out, and hoisted Edge up on his shoulders for that fateful moment before hitting the GTS.

You could see live crowd going nuts not only because they knew history was about to be made, but because they simply wanted to see Edge get smashed in the face again. For Adam Copeland, this is everything he worked for.

This is when the heel gives of himself and MAKES a babyface.

Punk wins! Punk wins! Punk wins!

And just as importantly, Edge loses. See, that's the part that Adam Copeland understands better than anyone else in the industry today.

He's the best heel in the world, because even though he didn't touch one person, he had scorching heat on Monday night.

He didn't slap JR. He didn't shove down Lilian Garcia. He didn't set fire to a Sooners flag. He didn't do anything but deliver a heel promo like a true villain should.

And he had such heat for his words and the manner in which he presented them, that a beating from Batista, and the subsequent loss of his world title didn't even begin to take that heat off of him.

The beaten, battered, humiliated, and no-longer-champion Edge is still the main event heel on Smackdown, and he should be.

People are still clamoring for him to get beat ... or beat up.