Edge. A Final Year Possibly Wasted
Author: Jesse Rucinski
When Edge shocked the world and made his return at the 2020 Royal Rumble, I can say That I couldn’t have been any happier. The look on his face before he made his way to the ring was something that I will never forget. Every time I see his entrance that night, I still get goosebumps. The thoughts of all of the possibilities were endless with the roster that they had and the people he could work with. I think that we can all honestly agree that it started out so good and was going great until the last year or so.
Once he started up after the Royal Rumble, all things were doing great and on points. That is even including what was going on in the world with Covid and the difficulties that the company had because of it heading into that WrestleMania and beyond. He started his return with a program with his former Rated RKO partner Randy Orton and it was the program that made sense coming out of the gate. Even with the torn triceps that happened because Vince wanted him to redo a spot as they were recording everything and wanted it to look better. He started his comeback with exactly what we all wanted it to be.
Once he returned from the injury, we got to see many great feuds that worked out amazing. He came back and won the Royal Rumble from the number one spot and got a guaranteed spot in the Main Event of WrestleMania against Roman Reigns. The addition of Daniel Bryan added even more to the match and story in my opinion. He might not have won, that might have pissed off a lot of people, but it was a great match and story no matter what you say. It delivered what we all wanted and didn’t give Edge a title which is what he wanted.
After that we also got so many gems out of his feuds. We got to see him verse Seth Rollins which I liked because of how they did it. Was it all perfect? No, but they brought some real-life stuff into it and got an element we didn’t get to that level in a while story wise and in anything else he did since he returned. We got to see a trilogy of matches that delivered as well and continued to grow as the feud went. It also continued the story from while Edge was still retired, and Seth threatened to break his neck from years earlier. Taking something from there and being to use it in long term story telling is something we don’t get to see very often so I appreciate those moments greatly. We also got to see him work with AJ Styles which was a feud that we were all hoping to see. Especially after his selling of a Spear from that comeback Royal Rumble that injured the shoulder of The Phenomenal One. Sadly, that is the feud where it all stopped for Edge. The feud where he turned heel even though no one wanted to see him turn heel. The feud where he started The Judgement Day.
This was an angle that started off as a chance for Damian Priest to finally do something meaningful in many of our eyes. Sadly, it only lasted a few months before they had Finn Balor join the group and the group turn on Edge. That ended up being the end of it all sadly. It turned into almost an entire year of the same thing. Edge comes back, they take out Edge, Edge vanishes for months on end. That is not the end of the story that we all wanted or that Edge deserved. No matter them bringing in the angle with Rhea and Beth or even the Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 39. I don’t think I am alone when I say I wish they moved on so that he could get a few more dream matches and feuds in before it is all over. More than likely in August at that.
I’m on the side of hoping that this isn’t it for his Hall of Fame career and we get to see a few more dream matches and feuds before it might possibly be over in August. Regardless, I am on the side of being thankful that we got to see him come back after the way his first run ended on the terms of his neck and not his own. Whenever I heard him say he was happy that it ended that way I didn’t believe it fully and his comeback proves that. I just hope that he is on the road more towards the end if it is the end and that he feels accomplished when it is all done because he has earned and more then deserves that much in the end.
