Major WWE superstar retires through injury

[Egg Shen]

that speech was genuinley quite moving, i don't follow wrestling anywhere near as much as some you guys on here so i had no idea that he had any kind of injury problems, so i actually thought they were brewing some kind of angle but that seemed fairly genuine. It's probably not the last we'll see of Edge altogether but i thought it was a classy and moving way to go out. I've never been the guys biggest fan, but still you can't knock his resume.

[Egg Shen]

*double post

[slashlover]

Is Hogan really holding up himself, Flair and Hardy as something to aspire to? He's had numerous surgeries and can barely move, Flair is a joke and Hardy is a complete mess. As upset as I am, I'd much rather Edge disappeared forever (although he's surely HOF next year) and lived a happy life than had 'just one more match' and ended up in more pain and hooked on pills.

 

A lot has been made about premature deaths in wrestling so someone doing the sensible thing should be applauded.

[The King of Old School]

Would probably make sense to make Edge the headline inductee the next time Mania is in Canada, WM29 maybe?

[DebbieHardy]

Really sad news. Haven't seen RAW yet but I did think he had another or year or two to go before retirement. Glad he has found out the severity of his injuries now though rather than when it was too late.

 

Edge has always been a favourite of mine and I agree with what another poster said in that he would be a good addition to the commentary booth.

 

Thank You Edge!

[The King Of Swing]

Major kick in the teeth.

[jobberinho]

37's too soon to have to give up your livelihood. I'll miss him but we've seen too many lives in too many fields ruined because performers thought their career was more important than their health and props to Mr Copeland for making the sensible decision.

[Ant]

37's too soon to have to give up your livelihood. I'll miss him but we've seen too many lives in too many fields ruined because performers thought their career was more important than their health and props to Mr Copeland for making the sensible decision.

 

I genuinelly don't know the answer, but I'd guess most sports people hang up the boots/rackets/balls et al by the time they're 40 and move onto coaching.

 

Vince can call it entertainment and media all he wants, but WWE is an athletic pursuit.

[Super Cena]

A pretty obvious Smackdown spoiler, but I'll spoiler tag it anyway in case the advert wasn't broadcast in the UK (I watched ad-free online):

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

"It was announced during a commercial on RAW that Edge would surrender the World Heavyweight Championship this week on SmackDown."

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close();

[matbro1984]

Would probably make sense to make Edge the headline inductee the next time Mania is in Canada, WM29 maybe?

 

This would have to be a cert. Having Edge as anything other than the headline HoF inductee would be a crime. For that reason, I'd be most annoyed if they put him is as the undercard to Rock's induction next year (presuming that's what pans out). Much the same as when Guerrero was second to Hart, you feel he should have been the headliner for his own HoF class.

[Super Cena]

I've just read this:

 

"Edge announced his retirement on Monday's RAW. After discussing things backstage, WWE management just gave him a microphone and told him to go out and retire however he wanted. Nothing was really scripted or planned for the segment."

 

To be fair, he came across as if it wasn't scripted but even so, it's nice to know that they did actually give him the reigns and allow him to say what he chose.

[Reznor]

Sad to hear, and a bit of a shock at first, but you have to put it into perspective. He's crammed a lot into his 13 years in the WWE, done about all there was to do, and his prime was actually after an injury which could just as easily have retired him 8 years ago. It would obviously be a whole lot worse if he paralysed himself in the ring or worse. At least now he can live a relatively normal life having already made his millions, it won't be the last we see of him on our screens, and he's left a legacy of over a decade of good stuff that us fans can always go back to - about 8 years of it you could consider a 'bonus' that we might not have had.

 

In terms of the quality of the shows, it's a massive blow and as a fan i'm really disappointed. I missed a whole load of the WWE in the 00's, only really getting back into it around 2008, yet it was still the old favourites like HBK, Jericho, Edge and Rey Jr who entertained me the most. Now most of them are gone, and i don't see anyone in the new breed who are likely to reach similar heights. It just seems to be getting weaker and weaker. I can probably see myself drifting away again....

 

Without going all "still real to me dammit", you sometimes lose track of just how much they fuck themselves up in doing what they're doing. Go back to the tail end of last year to that 4 way TLC match for example, i remember Edge bumping around like an absolute maniac. You think it would be nutty enough for a fit & healthy guy to be busting himself up like that, but for someone with such serious problems who's already banged up, it really is something else.

[Trout Stain]

Sad news - Edge is without a doubt in my top five favourite wrestlers of all time, from the his early tag days with five second poses and chicken suits right the way through to his constant come backs and sneaking of the title on multiple occasions

 

Think the company will definitely miss him, and I imagine they are going to have to have a draft ASAP now in order to shift a top face across to Smackdown. Can definitely see Christian getting a title run out of this though, even if it's just the one short run for sentimental reasons which he probably deserves.

 

As for Hogan, well, I always had him down as being on that border line between prick and cunt. That comment though has definitely shifted him over into the latter category. Thank fuck Edge hasn't become somebody who can barely walk, a pensioner who bleeds for a living or a bloke with so many issues he turns up to work massively off his face on drugs. Does he seriously think that himself, Flair and Hardy are beacons for wrestling? He must be going senile

[Loki]

Mark me down as someone who never really bought Edge as a world champion or even main eventer, no matter how many titles he won. For me, he just never really had anything style-wise in the ring to get excited about. Say what you like about guys like Batista, Rey, Cena, but they have attributes in their style that make for interesting matchups. Edge has always been the ultimate bland wrestlers - bland, generic finisher, generic WWE moves. He's been great at talking, but I'm not sure he's ever reallu drawn a dime above what the card would have drawn anyway.

 

Still.. glad he's getting out before he fucks himself up any more. Sensible lad.

[Fatty Facesitter]

One of my favourites over the past few years. I actually thought recently since the turn of the year he was gradually getting less stale to watch and that his performances were picking up a little after a pretty stagnant 2010.

 

For my money, he should absolutely be in the Hall of Fame one day. He's had some great matches over the years, has genuinely been one of the most watchable WWE personalities over the past ten years and if Wrestlemania was his last match, then I'm chuffed to say I was there to see it. Good luck to him and all the best for the future, and it's nice to see someone who gave so much to the business from a physical standpoint walk out of it healthy enough for him to live a good life outside of the company. I imagine he'll stick around as a road agent or something to that affect with the company.