Edge Talks Who He Wanted To Face In WWE Retirement Match, Wanting To Put Someone Over On The Way Out
On episode 98 of Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast, radio personality Sam Roberts shared a classic interview with WWE Hall Of Famer, Edge. During the interview, Edge said he was relieved to not be wrestling anymore and that he was already mentally preparing to retire when he was abruptly forced to retire due to injury. Also, 'The Master Manipulator' admitted that he distanced himself from professional wrestling following his injury because his health status prohibits any physical touching from taking place and there is no payoff if he cannot be touched. Finally, Edge talked about how he learned how to save his wealth by watching his colleagues squander their money.
Edge indicated that it is a relief to not have to wrestle anymore.
"It's a relief. It is because I knew how I was feeling and I knew how I'd wake up feeling in the morning and all of those things. So it made it easier and it was a bit of relief."
According to the former WWE Champion, he was planning to wrestle throughout 2011 and have Christian retire him in a match. Unfortunately, Edge's diagnosis of cervical spinal stenosis prevented his dream sendoff from happening.
"I was already preparing [for retirement]. I really was mentally. I was ready and physically was forcing me to mentally prepare," Edge recalled. "It was more of a realization, like, okay, mentally, was I tired of travel? Yes, but it was also because physically I was tired of the travel and that lent to the mental tiredness. But it wasn't like I was like, 'I'm done. I'm fed up. I can't stand this anymore.'"
With that said, the master of the Edge-O-Matic suggested that going out on top is a great ending to a career in the squared circle, but that he had no intention of retiring as world champion and would have gladly put someone over on his way out.
"The way I look at it is I had to retire as world champion with my last match at WrestleMania. Oh, that's horrible. That sucks! What are you talking about? That's f–king awesome! Yeah, ah, he wanted to win in his last match! What an asshole! It's like, no, I just [can't wrestle anymore]. What do you want me to do? I'd put somebody over. I've got no problem."
While Edge claimed that he felt he could take a manager bump, WWE would not allow even that degree of contact, given his health status. Edge admitted that he has distanced himself from professional wrestling since retiring because taking on a non-physical role in WWE would be too limiting.
"Like, 'if I'm going to show up, at least have me do something'. 'Nope, you can't'. 'Alright, then don't have me show up because why bother?' That's why I've kind of really distanced myself even from watching the product too much. It's like, 'well, I can't do it.'" Edge continued, "if you want me to come back and cut a promo on all this stuff, it's like, I can't really further stuff along too much because there's no physical payoff. It's like nobody's going to get heat from attacking me because they're not allowed to attack me."
According to 'The Rated-R Superstar' he learned to save his money partly by watching veterans squander theirs.
"Well, I was never stupid with my money because I grew up without it. So when I started to make some, I was like, 'okay, first rule of thumb, I'm not buying it unless I've got the money to buy it', so I have no debt. I own three homes. I drive a Jeep. I'm cool with that." Edge continued, "yeah, I mean, you've got to learn from [veteran professional wrestlers who have squandered their money]. If you don't and you put the blinders on, and don't learn from that, you're pretty much a dumbass. I mean, I've got a watch and that's it. I do and I drive a Jeep and I've got a pickup truck and I'm okay with that. That's perfect for me. I don't need anything more."
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Source: Sam Roberts? Wrestling Podcast