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[[caption-width:330:Captain Charisma]]
'''Christian''' (real name: William Jason Reso, born in 1973) is one of the popular upper-mid-tier [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestlers]] in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. His career started in 1995.
Referred to as ''Captain Charisma'', Christian gained fame in WWE first as a member of The Brood with Gangrel and {{Edge}}. Later on, Christian found superstardom as he teamed with Wrestling/{{Edge}} and the team feuded against the Dudley Boyz and the Hardys for the latter half of the Wrestling/AttitudeEra in many memorable matches, chiefly Ladder Matches and TLC Matches. When the team broke up, Christian initially fell to the wayside while Wrestling/{{Edge}} [[BreakupBreakout found more immediate success]], though Christian remained incredibly popular among the fans. The WWE eventually recognized his popularity and raised him to the Upper-Midcard, though not enough to give him a title, and in 2005 he didn't renew his contract with the WWE, jumping ship to Wrestling/{{TNA}} where he wrestled as ''Christian Cage'' up until the end of 2008 when his contract expired. Christian re-signed with WWE in 2009, returning at ECW, where he would win the ECW Championship twice, holding the longest reign with the title under the WWE before the show was discontinued.
He finally won the World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules 2011, only to be [[ScrewedByTheNetwork booked to lose it to Randy Orton 2 days later on Smackdown!]]
You can learn more about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_(wrestler) Christian's career]] at ThatOtherWiki.
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!!Tropes associated with Christian:
* AgentPeacock: Edge & Christian as a post-Brood heel tag team.
* AlliterativeName: "Captain Charisma" Christian Cage
** And his stable in TNA, the Christian Coalition
* ArchEnemy:
** Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys & the [[MattHardy Hardy]] [[JeffHardy Boyz]] whilst teaming with Wrestling/{{Edge}}.
** Edge & ChrisJericho during his first solo run in the WWE. He saw JohnCena as this during his time as Captain Charisma, [[UnknownRival but it was fairly one-sided]].
** KurtAngle & JeffJarrett during his time in TNA.
** Since his WWE return, Jack Swagger, RandyOrton & {{Sheamus}}.
* ArcFatigue: An in-universe example. Christian vs. RandyOrton for the WWE title has happened about [[strike:three or four]] five times and some of the announcers—not to mention other members of the roster and especially RandyOrton himself—are getting tired of him.
* AwesomeButImpractical: His finisher, The Unprettier/Killswitch, whilst impressive looking, is hard to hit. It requires a whole rotation of the opponent to pull off, which causes a lot of potential counters from various opponents.
* BatmanGambit: How Christian won his second World Championship. Two weeks before the Money in the Bank PPV Christian had RandyOrton sign a contract with the stipulations that the title can change hands if Orton gets disqualified or if the referee makes a bad call. The following week Christian does things to piss Orton off like vandalizing his luxury bus, gambling his money away in a casino and costing him his match that night all in an effort to enrage him to make it easier for Orton to lose at PPV. At the PPV in the match's climax Christian spits at Orton's face causing him to go off the deep end and delivers a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on Christian which ends in a GroinAttack and Orton losing his championship.
** And two maniacal [[FinishingMove RKOs]] on the announce table afterward. Pretty sure it was WorthIt, though.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The {{Kayfabe}} reason why RandyOrton faced Christian on Smackdown and got his title? Because the WWE Universe wanted Randy to be Christian's first Title opponent. Oops.
** And the contrived method in which he won his second World Heavyweight Championship. Yes, he did piss RandyOrton enough for him to snap and get himself disqualified. His reward for this was taking a kick [[GroinAttack downstairs]] and then getting the crap beaten out of him, ending with him getting RKO'd on the non-SpanishAnnouncersTable. Twice.
* BigDamnHeroes: Returned from his pectoral injury at Elimination Chamber, saving {{Edge}} from Del Rio and possibly reforming E&C.
* BlondGuysAreEvil: Heel.
* BitchInSheepsClothing
* ByTheHair: He ''loved'' grabbing TrishStratus by her hair.
* BreakupBreakout: Not as much as {{Edge}}, but he's been fairly successful.
** Possibly averted with his second World Heavyweight Championship reign, which went categorically better than reign #1 by just lasting the week.
*** Christian accomplished the one feat Edge never did: become a Grand Slam Champion.
** Both [=Edge=] and Christian are this in regards to the Brood.
* CanadaEh: Part of the chorus for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J8tX2SJ23k&feature=related This One for My Peeps"]] (a song written about Christian) is just the singers chanting "O Canada! O Canada!"
* CanonDiscontinuity: When Christian and [=Edge=] started in WWE they where referred to as brothers, this was however downplayed over the years, until they referred to each other as best friends.
* CatchPhrase: Towards the end of his first WWE run (And early in his stint in TNA), he had "Because that's how I roll!"
** In TNA, he adopted "If you don't know, now you know."
** During his run with [=Edge=], the two would often end a conversation with [=Edge=] going "[[Place whatever here]] rules!" and Christian going, "YEAH, it does!"
* ChairmanOfTheBrawl: One word. CON-CHAIR-TO.
* CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown: He and Edge revived the Conquistadores gimmick in 2000 as a way to get a shot at the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Titles]]. At times, they would appear as themselves with two other guys in the costumes. Those guys, named "Rick" and "Sparky", were, respectively, Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels and Aaron "Jesus" Aguilera.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Christian turned on pretty much EVERY partner he's ever had, until Wrestling/AJStyles & [[TheBrute Tomko]] turned on him to join the Angle Alliance and Christian underwent a HeelFaceTurn, which carried over to his second WWE run. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] early in his TNA run, as Jeff Jarrett pointed out to Wrestling/{{Sting}} that Christian couldn't be trusted, and Christian retorted that {{Edge}} & ChrisJericho would vouche for his loyalty; before immediately remembering that he ''did'' betray them and remarking that calling them wouldn't be a good idea.
** Subverted at ''Wrestlemania XXVII'': everyone and their mother was expecting Christian to turn on {{Edge}} during the match with AlbertoDelRio and yet amazingly, this wasn't even hinted at during the match. Christian never turned and pretty much everyone was rather surprised and happy with the MetaTwist.
* [[WeakButSkilled Comparatively Weak, but Skilled]]: Christian's no flyweight, but he tends more toward a speedy, elusive style with a few high-flying moves. He does have a couple of power moves in his arsenal, but he just doesn't use them very often.
* CostumePorn / InTheHood: The old Captain Charisma / Instant Classic jumpsuits he wore to the ring for six years. (Usually kept the hoods off for the Instant Classic ones.)
* CuteMute: A shy, long blond haired, silent 'psuedo-vampire' in the Brood.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DemotedToExtra: Has unfortunately been one of those guys that WWE doesn't seem to know how to use if he's not in a title feud. Consequently, often times he's left to do absolutely nothing.
* {{Determinator}}: Christian is ''quite'' determined to get one more match. A title match that is. TripleH and Teddy Long have used ExactWords on him and put him in matches against opponents he'd faced before, just not the current title holder.
* ExactWords: TripleH used this against him during the September 26 episode of Raw, after he interrupted TripleH, wanting more one match. He got it. On that edition of Raw he had to face Wrestling/JohnCena, in a non title match, then he was booked on the following episode of Smackdown in a match against Wrestling/RandyOrton and then against Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} on the ''Hell in a Cell PPV''. Christian [[VillainousBreakdown wasn't pleased at all.]]
* FinishingMove: The Unprettier / Killswitch, his signature inverted double underhook facebuster.
** ShoutOut: He actually changed the name of the move (to Killswitch) because he's a fan of [[KillswitchEngage the band.]]
** His former finisher was the Impaler. Or possibly the Implant DDT. Or possibly those are the same thing. The commentators never seemed to call it the same way twice. This became a RunningGag to the point that the original [[CollectibleCardGame CCG]] card for the Impaler just had a picture of Christian shrugging.
** He's now worked the Spear into his moveset to pay homage to his best friend Wrestling/{{Edge}} after Edge was forced to retire due to a GameBreakingInjury.
** If he's a face, he'll finish off a match with a [[Wrestling/EddieGuerrero Frog Splash]] on occasion.
** Sometimes - especially when facing a larger opponent - he'll use the Tornado DDT to finish them off.
* FiveMovesOfDoom: Since his return to WWECW
* ForeignWrestlingHeel: The "Un-Americans", with Wrestling/LanceStorm.
* GratuitousItalian: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvItr7ZR6nU His]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USuNB3kojyE themes]] when he and {{Edge}} broke up in 2001.
* GreenEyedMonster: Why he turned on Edge in 2001.
* GroinAttack: Was the victim of one by RandyOrton, which was [[WorthIt how he finally won the World Heavyweight Championship the second time.]]
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Maybe somewhat to be expected given the length of his career, but unlike a lot of wrestlers nowadays, he seems to turn fairly often. It's gotten to the point where it's actually ''[[DiscussedTrope discussed]] [[http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/christian-con-job-on-wwe-universe in storyline.]]''
** HeelFaceReturn: Returned from a six-month absence at Over the Limit 2012, turning face and capturing the Intercontinental Championship in the process.
*** HeelRealization: When Cody questioned Christian on his seemingly odd HeelFaceTurn, Christian explained that it came to him in a "moment of clarity" when inducting {{Edge}} in the Hall of Fame, saying he'd rather try to build up a great career like his friend rather than be the whiner always asking for "one more match."
* HeroicBSOD: When he lost the World Heavyweight Championship.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Adam Copeland ({{Edge}}), former tag-team partner and best friend since childhood.
* HumiliationConga: At ''SummerSlam 2011'', Christian received one, first at the hands of {{Edge}}, whom he expected to be in his corner for the No Holds Barred match against RandyOrton. Edge would tell Christian off for the winning the World title via DQ and called him a "whiny [[PrecisionFStrike bitch]]" before leaving the arena. Christian would then face Orton and would attempt to spite in Orton's face again, a CallBack to the spit that provoked Orton to get [=DQed=] and lose the title. For that, Christian would take many of Orton's signature moves with a twist. Orton would deliver the rope assisted DDT into a trash can and a snap powerslam into a table. Orton would then attempt his signature Garvin Stomps with Christian laying on the steps, but Christian would use a kendo stick to stun Orton. Christian would then spring off the second turnbuckle only to get [=RKOed=] in mid-air into the steps, another Call Back, this time to the finish in their first match in the series. This would cap off the Humiliation Conga of the slimy, cowardly Christian that tormented Orton for months over the World title.
* ImportantHairCut: In 2003, as his singles career started to take off.
* KindheartedCatLover: Has four cats.
* LineOfSightName: Took his original ring name from his two favorite actors, ChristianSlater and NicolasCage.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He was ADORABLE from his debut till the end of the E & C days with his long blond hair.
* MadEye: Not as good as Wrestling/{{Edge}}'s, but you don't see it as often, either. If and when you do, he is pissed, and whoever he's attacking is screwed.
* ManipulativeBastard: His recent heel run.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: The Brood defected from the Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness for the sake of Christian, whom Wrestling/{{Edge}} and Gangrel were ordered to help nail to the "symbol" after he [[YouHaveFailedMe failed]] TheUndertaker.
* NeverMyFault: He blamed it on Wrestling/{{Edge}} that he lost the World Title at SummerSlam, after Edge called him out on all the stunts he played to get the title back, and thus lost focus during the match.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Got a ''nasty'' one from CMPunk (who was in full-on UnstoppableRage mode). He ate the announcer's table about a dozen times in a row, then took a GTS - except Punk abandoned his left knee in favor of ''the steel ring stairs.'' Then Punk put him in the Anaconda Vice for about 45 seconds.
* OhCrap: Christian's face on the 7/29/11 ''Smackdown'' when he watched RandyOrton RKO R-Truth into the announcers' table. TripleH had ordered Randy Orton's rematch at Summerslam to be [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown No Holds Barred]] - which pretty much means that Randy (whose recent loss has made him [[UpToEleven even more unhinged than he was already]]) can do anything he wants to Christian.
* OneOfUs: Christian is a pretty big gamer - He was once #52 in the ''Top Spin 2'' rankings on Xbox360, and in 2008 was colomnist at GameTap (Unfortunately, all links to the blogs are now dead).
* OverlyLongGag: "One More Match."
* PermaStubble: Overlaps mostly with BeardOfEvil.
* PowerTrio: The Brood, with Gangrel and {{Edge}} (1998 to 1999)
** Team ECK with KurtAngle and {{Edge}} (2000 to 2001)
** In TNA, he led the Christian Coalition, which featured [[TheComicallySerious Tomko]] & AJStyles (2007 to 2008)
* PutOnABus: Alarmingly often. He's been hurt at points during the latter part of his career, but there have also been occasions where he's simply disappeared with no given explanation.
* TheQuietOne: His debut in the WWF during his time in the Brood. The first time someone put a microphone in his face, he merely stared at it with disdain. (Nowadays, it's getting him to ''shut up'' that's the problem).
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: ''Maybe'' Christian would have gotten a legitimate WC shot soon anyway. But the ''Extreme Rules 2011'' match where he won the title was supposed to be {{Edge}} defending his championship against Del Rio. But then, of course, {{Edge}} retired. This was even [[LampshadeHanging touched on]] by MichaelCole during the actual match - and he might have been doing it just to be stir things up, but [[StrawmanHasAPoint he was actually telling the truth in a way.]]
* RedBaron: Captain Charisma (WWE) and the Instant Classic (TNA).
* RedemptionPromotion: The page for this trope lists Christian as perhaps the ultimate example of it. After turning his back on the WWE fans, he simply got more and more pathetic and boring. In 2003, it seemed like he couldn't win a match clean if his life depended on it, even against 150 pound Spike Dudley. After returning to ECW, many new fans were shocked to see he could actually escape from an armbar and with the crowds behind him, tag teams had to cheat to beat Christian in two on one matches.
** A similar thing seems to be happening with his recent feud with RandyOrton, although not as dramatically.
* RedOniBlueOni: He was the blue oni to {{Edge}}'s red, especially when they teamed together. Christian was pushed as the more calculated and calmer of the two, while Edge...well, he often got by on just being [[AxCrazy batshit]] [[CrazyAwesome insane.]]
* TheRival: The Hardys and the Dudleys when he tagged with {{Edge}}.
* RuleOfFunny: {{Edge}} and Christian circa 2000 ran on this.
* [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Screwed by the WWE]]: Dropping the World Heavyweight Championship to RandyOrton 2 days after Extreme Rules.
** The WWE eventually took the storyline in this direction, with RandyOrton getting preferential treatment from ''SmackDown'' GM Teddy Long & Christian turning heel because of it.[[note]]Five days after ''Extreme Rules'', Christian is forced into a title match that night against Orton by Long, after a quick poll of the fans showed they wanted Orton to get a shot more than two other superstars. Fast forward a month, and we have the exact same situation, only with Christian & Orton switching places; this time, however, Long ignores that Christian was the fan's choice & makes a triple threat with the winner getting a shot the next week, meaning Orton is getting a week to prepare for the defense, and when the triple threat match happens, Christian loses due to the referee not counting a pinfall that would have won the match for Christian. Long then does ''nothing'' about this, and refuses to let Christian make the title match a triple threat.[[/note]]
* ShoutOut: Has started to use the Spear occasionally (usually in PPV matches) since {{Edge}} retired.
* SmallNameBigEgo: His WWE character, from 2001 to 2005. Played for laughs.
* TalkShowWithFists: "The Peeps Show"
* TokenWhite: At Survivor Series 2009, Christian competed in a team featuring Kofi Kingston, MVP, R-Truth and Mark Henry, each of them black. Initially subverted when Christian was initially nervous about teaming with them for being the only one in the team to be from ECW and Canada (R-Truth was on Smackdown, and Henry, Kingston, and MVP were on RAW at the time). Lampshaded when Christian then proceeded to rap:
-->'''Christian''': Team Kofi Kingston, looking for a fight. Four of us are black and one of us is white. What's up? WHAT'S UP? ... [[DefensiveWhat What's up?]]
* UnrelatedBrothers: Christian (Jason Reso) and {{Edge}} (Adam Copeland) were initially referred to as brothers when in WWE; after they stopped teaming (And feuding), this was dropped rather quickly.
** The fact that they are childhood best friends and have several photos together as kids surely helped a lot. The fact that their birthdays are exactly one month apart does not help as much[[note]] Edge was born October 30th, and Christian on November 30th[[/note]].
* UnstoppableRage: At ''Elimination Chamber 2011''. {{Edge}} had just won the chamber match and retained the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber match when [[ForeignWrestlingHeel Alberto Del Rio]], who was to face {{Edge}} for the title at Wrestlemania XXVII, ran into the chamber and started beating down on a tired and vulnerable {{Edge}}. Del Rio locks in the [[FinishingMove Cross]] [[GameBreakingInjury Arm Breaker]]. Cue [[BigWordShout loud "GO!"]] from out of nowhere. Cue [[MostWonderfulSound fan markout]]. Cue Christian, who (kayfabe) missed six months of action due to Del Rio using the same move on him, running down to the ring and handing Del Rio his ass on a platter.
* VampireVannabe: Christian and {{Edge}} were arguably this as the Brood. Edge lampshades this in his retirement speech as he was a 'psuedo-vampire' during that time. To this day it's still uncertain as to the 'relationship' both Christian and Edge had with Gangrel.
* VeryPunchableMan: Has been zigzagging this recently. He seems to end up booked in a lot of matches where he's an outlet for someone else's pent-up frustration about something completely unrelated.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: When [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder you betray pretty much every tag team partner you have]], this is to be expected.
** Naturally, his first big feud after going solo was with Wrestling/{{Edge}}. Interestingly, this was a factor of their on-screen relationship for just over ''9 years'', with the pair reconciling when they were both face, and fittingly a few months before Edge's retirement.
** And then the start of his big solo run at the start of his "Captain Charisma" gimmick started off with a feud with the newly [[HeelFaceTurn face]] ChrisJericho.
** And his FaceHeelTurn in TNA started off with him betraying Wrestling/{{Sting}} & a violent feud with Rhino.
** And ''then'' his HeelFaceTurn in TNA saw this happen with long-time enforcer Tomko.
* WeaponOfChoice: The good ol' steel chair.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Christian's TNA departure & WWE return - on ''both'' sides. If he had stayed in TNA, he would have become the mouthpiece for the faction opposing the Main Event Mafia; when he returned to the WWE, he was initially slated to be the person sabotaging JeffHardy's life, before everyone figured it out fairly quickly & the role in the feud was instead given to Jeff's brother Matt.
** With {{Edge}} retired due to GameBreakingInjury, we'll have no more {{Edge}} and Christian reunions.
** Had Edge's body held out one more year, he would have had his retirement match at WrestleMania XXVIII, against Christian.
* WouldHitAGirl: Defeated [[Wrestling/MollyHolly Mighty Molly]] for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-hc.html WWE Hardcore Title]] at ''WWE [[Wrestling/WrestleMania WrestleMania]] X-8''.
** After being booked in a match with TrishStratus (LoveInterest of Christian's partner, ChrisJericho) in 2004, Christian told Trish he would [[BlatantLies just lie down for her, so she wouldn't get hurt]]. He proceeded to instigate a CurbStompBattle, and cross the MoralEventHorizon again.
** But with the way the angle played out this was more of a gambit on Trish's part, as in the end [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Trish turned]], they became the couple, and Jericho became a clear face.
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'''One More Trope'''
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