Thank You Edge: Retirement Thread

damn.

I marked for Edge well over a decade. good to see the ovation, the most crucial superstar of his time. No one begins to scratch the surface of his true greatness, Super ing star

WWE will never be the same after that heartbreaking farewell...
I hope he'll be around the corner soon.

I do respect the man's choice. Such a brave guy !

Thank you Edge ! You were one of those reasons why I got into WWE...

Same here.

Figured I's post this here rather than in a new thread... It's from wrestlingnespamource.com.

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By Justin Henry

“One more match! One more match!”

Edge will hear this the next time he makes a guest appearance on Raw or Smackdown.

“One more match! One more match!”

Edge will hear this at his inevitable Hall of Fame induction, which will be a year or two away.

“One more match! One more match!”

Edge will hear this the next time he’s in any way directly involved with any part of a WWE program or project that has a live audience.

One more match is the last thing Edge needs.

Like all of you, I was caught off guard by the sudden retirement of Edge. While his laundry list of injuries became almost a running gag as years have passed, I don’t think anyone truly thought that Edge would retire now. Wrestling isn’t a young man’s game, but there’s still an inordinate amount of men and women older than “The Rated-R Superstar” still making their living at it.

Ric Flair is 62; need I say more?

But Edge, at 37, got the solemn nod from his doctor, who advised him that the numbness in his limbs, and the narrowing of his spine, are about the breaking point for him health-wise. One more bad bump could render him a cripple, much like Dynamite Kid and Darren Drosdov.

For Edge, the biggest sacrifice is a total shift in his way of living. For several days a week, he donned the tights, put on the heavy duster, waited for Alter Bridge to kick up over the arena sound system, and then hit the ring to do what he’d dreamed of doing since he was a small boy in Ontario.

Edge had a career that few will duplicate. He won eleven World Titles, was part of transcendent tag team with fictional brother/true-life BFF Christian, and was both a slimy heel prone to scheming and philandering, as well as a positive role model for any kid that wanted to be a wrestler for the love of it.

Edge will be giving up all of this to go home.

Maybe he’ll go into movies. Maybe Edge will just sit home and gorge on a ton of ice cream, as he alluded to in his farewell address. Maybe he’ll marry again and finally have children. Maybe he’ll do infomercials. Maybe he’ll host a game show. Maybe he’ll do something totally random, like open a pawn shop and spend his days behind the counter, doing Sudoku puzzles.

Any of that would be better than attempting a comeback.

Now, hear me out. I’ve been a fan of Edge’s since he, Christian, the Hardyz and the Dudleyz broke new ground with their table and ladder wars. I was as gleeful as anyone when Edge knocked off John Cena to win his first World Title, watching the man cry real tears as he was handed the prize of his dreams.

I’ll be a fan of Edge’s forever, and that’s why I don’t want to see him come back.

I don’t even want to see him hanging on to past glory by just being on the show.

Unless he becomes a color commentator and, thus, has no direct lineation to the main storylines, I want Edge to keep his dignity, and he has plenty to spare. Watching his speech on Monday night, and seeing the reactions of the fans, both in the arena and online, there is so much true love and admiration for one of the best overall performers of our lifetimes.

To me, Edge is just as valuable to WWE and its history primers as Stone Cold Steve Austin is and was.

And I want Edge to learn from Austin’s folly.

As a performer, Austin had largely outlived his everyday usefulness by 2002. He’d already redefined the business as its biggest star in years, and was now going through the motions of playing the same ass-kicking redneck tough guy that he was five years earlier. With his match quality dwindling with his own spinal problems, as well as genuine unhappiness, Austin saw himself walking out of WWE in June 2002, after disagreeing with creative.

And then came the domestic abuse.

By the time Austin returned to WWE in February 2003, with his mugshot emblazoned across the internet, he was no longer the cherished anti-hero, but now a broken down relic with a bad back and a widely-known criminal record.

He retired over a month later, and then hung around for a year, playing an authority figure who progressively became more goofy than hardened.

The Austin we knew was gone, and replaced by a watered-down version of himself.

In his book “Wrestling’s One Ring Circus”, Scott Keith reveals that friends of Austin, who was awaiting his abuse hearings, was becoming erratic and fidgety, largely due to not being on the road with WWE. Austin was so used to “being Stone Cold”, that living a normal life was a culture shock.

Chris Benoit was so driven with his passion for wrestling, that he never slowed down. Upon finding out that he needed spinal surgery in 2001, Benoit was said to be inconsolable, freaking out over the prospect of missing a year of work. Nevermind being home with family, resting his body; what about wrestling?

Austin and Benoit weren’t alone. Ric Flair can’t seem to sit home, but that’s mostly due to financial straits. Rowdy Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka and other “legends” beyond their primes can be seen shuffling from independent show to independent show, taking a decent payoff just to relive past glories for a few hours. Dynamite Kid was mentioned earlier, and he worked himself in a wheelchair, with an amputated leg, before he was 40, all because he worked through excruciating back pains for so many years.

I’m not saying that Edge will become a wifebeater or a decrepit has-been. I’m just saying he deserves a happier ending.

Fortunately for Austin, a few years out of the spotlight did him well. Time has washed away his crimes and his horrid run as co-general manager. Now he can make sporadic appearances as a beloved ambassador, and has a decent career making action-oriented B-movies.

Being a poor man’s Bruce Willis is better lot in life than calling yourself “Sherriff Austin”.

Edge has a chance to walk away with no strings attached. As much as he loves wrestling, and as hard as the transition to “civilian life” will be for a self-professed life-long mark for the biz, he owes it to himself to keep his health, and dignity, intact.

Edge doesn’t need to fall off a ladder at age 45 to put some FCW call-up over. He doesn’t need to become a general manager and half-heartedly make matches, speaking with hard-boiled dialogue. Edge doesn’t need to become a real-life Randy “The Ram” Robinson, bleeding on the floor at some armory for an indy kid or may or may not make it in the sport.

And he most DEFINITELY doesn’t need to go to TNA just to recreate some feud with Matt Hardy or Rob Van Dam.

Let Edge be a great example of knowing when to hang it up. Shawn Michaels, one year ago, has provided a great example himself. He hasn’t wrestled in over 365 days. He’s healthy, happy, with his family, and seems to have found the centering every man desires.

After Michaels and Edge, I hope more wrestlers understand that when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. No more wheelchairs, no more panhandling for small dollars, and no more pissing on your legacy to try and replicate some long-passed career highlight. Save your money, and walk away to appreciate financial freedom and a life of as minimal pain as possible.

“One More Match” isn’t necessary. “Thank You Edge” will do nicely. [/ul][/quote]

Sums up exactly what I want Edge to do. He's given us more than enough entertainment over the years, and I just hope he can live happily now, and enjoy that ice cream!

He was one of my favorite heels ever. I am glad he is doing what is best, he is doing the smart thing, realizing that it isn't worth being Dynamite Kid. On the plus side, he got possibly the best sendoff in wrestling history. Win at Wrestlemania, retire as champion, walk out with your head held high, all of your peers cheering you on. He deserved it. He had a great career. He has nothing to be ashamed of. Too many people don't get to see a measure of the success that he has. I assume he is set for life money wise. Edge and Shawn Michaels, one year after another, right after Wrestlemania. It's really incredible. I haven't been a fan of him as a babyface since 2002, but as a heel, I was always, and always will be an Edgehead.

For some reason it just feels weird and it is more sad that HBK leaving!

if you mean his 2010 retirement, i think it's because we all kind of knew it was coming once he put his career up against the streak....

this,with Edge,there was NO warning at all...up until Raw started most people and fans had NO inkling this was going to happen now....i liken it to a relative or friend suddenly dying....

I am not an Edge fan, he has always seemed pretty overrated to me.

Good for him for getting out while he still could live a comfortable life though. That is what is most important here. It's a shame you have to damn near cripple yourself before you can retire and not be called a sell out though.


Really, the only thing sperating The Rock and Edge is a neck injury. Anyways, It is great he will still lead a normal life. I won't miss him at this stage. It is time for the young guys to step up and take their moment.

I am glad Edge did not get hurt to the point of being crippled or worse.

To all the people saying they cried or they have not been the same since they've heard this...


Get over it and grow up. There are more pressing matters in the world today...and your lives then a wrestler retiring due to injurys. Some people take wrestling waaaaaaaayyy to seriously. Well, lost my job, wife/husband, I have cancer and aids and my parents died. But Edge is retiring and I don't know how I will go on. Some people need to get a grip. Yes, it's sad for those of you who favor him, but would it have been sadder to see him in a wheel chair all gimped out like Steven Hawkin because he did not know when to walk away?

Edge earned the right to enjoy the rest of his life pain free. I only wish he could've gotten another year out fo his body to retire in toranto next year if they hold WM there. Now Edge...can you take Rey with you before he winds up in a wheel chair?

Edge was my absolute favorite for nearly 5 years before I recently...admittedly...completely turned against him for Alberto del Río. From 2006-2009, the man was undoubtedly the best in the company. Such an amazing heel. But ever since coming back at last year's Royal Rumble, he's lacked something and I became completely disinterested in him. It can't just be that he's kind of a crummy face now either, because even his heel run from like April-October was forgettable. He completely got lost in the shuffle. I definitely think this was the right time for him to go, as he hasn't exactly been helping his legacy out lately, to me at least.

Will definitely miss him, although I can't say it will feel overly weird, considering he's probably missed a good 30-40% of the last 5 years anyways.