Over the past several days, the Academy of Wrestling Arts & Sciences has been inundated with angry e-mails from fans and Superstars outraged over the most recent POWER 25 standings. Without question, this week's polling was the most difficult and controversial in P-25's brief history.

The voting members were completely split over which of the top 3 Superstars deserved the No. 1 position, but in the end it was agreed Edge was most deserving. Although it is against policy, the Academy thought the fans deserve some insight into the reasoning behind Edge's meteoric rise up the chart and why he was most deserving of the No. 1 slot when compared with Kurt Angle and John Cena.

Reasons for Cena being No. 1 -- Incredible performance in the Elimination Chamber, outlasting  five Top 10 Superstars from the starting position, and retaining the WWE Championship. Deserves props for defending WWE Championship against all comers. 

Reasons against Cena being No. 1 -- At New Year's Revolution, through deception, trickery or just plain cleverness, Edge outsmarted everyone in the Elimination Chamber, including the former champion. Possession of the title weighs heavily in the voting.

Reasons for Angle being No. 1 -- Angle is acknowledged as the greatest pure athlete and perhaps the best pure wrestler in WWE history. Showing up on SmackDown to compete in the Battle Royal for the World Heavy Weight Championship was the second smartest move of the 21st century. Defeating 19 other superstars in a Battle Royal is arguably as impressive, maybe even more so, than winning in the Elimination Chamber.

Reasons against Angle being No. 1 -- He was the first man eliminated in the Elimination Chamber. The next night on RAW, he turned his back on Shawn Michaels, received his second superkick in as many days and was rendered unconscious by a Chris Masters' Master Lock. SmackDown aside, Angle had a very rough week.

Reasons for Edge being No. 1 -- Mr. Money in the Bank pulled off the move of the century, and if you think about it, it's been a well thought out plan.  Have you noticed that Edge hasn't been in competition much lately?  Many fans and insiders were speculating that Edge was in fact hiding an injury, and that's exactly what he wanted everyone to think. As a matter of fact, the only Superstar to pin Edge in the last several months is Lita; let's hope it was for longer than a three count. As the competition heated up going into New Year's Revolution, Edge knew every Superstar wanted to be in that match, but he also knew every Superstar would have to beat the hell out each other just to secure a position in the chamber. Then, in the Elimination Chamber match itself, Edge knew they'd beat the hell out of each other and of course the chamber itself would extract a toll as well. To make sure his plan was properly disguised, he secured an Intercontinental Championship match with Ric Flair at New Year's Revolution. It seemed at the time to be a rather stupid move to get DQ'd so blatantly in a title match. But hey, Edge probably realized during the match that taking the title from Flair was a little harder than he thought. It would have been nice to win two titles in one night, but this was no time to get greedy. So Edge made his first smart decision of the night, he saved himself for later, knowing all along he was going after whoever won the Elimination Chamber match. Brilliant ! New Champion, memorable celebration, a deserving No. 1 Superstar.  

Reasons against Edge being No. 1 are the same as the reasons for Edge at No. 1. He hasn't competed much in the last several months. He was DQ'd at New Year's Revolution and he virtually stole the title from John Cena. Brilliant ! Even more reason why he deserves to be No. 1.