Edge Claims WWE Is Still His First Love, Talks Helping Younger Talent
WWE Hall of Famer Edge has had an illustrious career in WWE with an equally impressive track record in external projects.
On a recent episode of the “After the Bell with Corey Graves” podcast, Edge claimed that WWE still remains his first love and spoke about helping younger talent at this stage of his career.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On being at this stage of his career: “Yeah, I mean, this is my first love. Always has been, always will be. Nothing will ever be able to say that. I love acting, not as much as I love being a wrestler and performing for the WWE. It’s just — for whatever reason, you can’t really explain it. It’s just there the first time you see it. And that’s it, you’re hooked. And now, the fact that I got this thing back, right? After nine years. Because after nine years, that ship has sailed. And it’s not on the horizon, it is gone. So to get it back — but one of the things, there’s a few things, so I had a list of guys that I was like, ‘Okay, I’d love to work these people. And if I can help some of these people along the way to again try and push the future forward.’ And I’ve been able to check off a lot of those names on the list. And a lot of those names really don’t need my help, but if they can pick up something, well, then great.”
On being able to helping younger talent with advice: “Honestly, more than anything, I feel like the mentorship in the locker room. You know, I feel like the locker room knows I am a safe guy to go to, to pick my brain. I’m not sequestered in my own locker room. I change with everybody else. I put myself out there to say, ‘Hey, if you’re thinking of something, just come ask me. Whether you wanna try it after you ask me, that’s up to you.’ But again, like the other day, sitting there with Carmelo [Hayes] and [Mustafa] Ali, and we sat there and talked for an hour, and they just picked my brain, and I loved it. It was so much fun, and so nice to see these guys at that stage of their career.
“I remember being at that stage and being just oblivious as to what to do. ‘How do I get a foothold here? How do I make this work here? I mean, I can wrestle. I can do moves, but that’s not gonna cut it. So, what is it that I need to do?’ There wasn’t really anybody — I mean, I’m sure if you asked guys would’ve helped you, but the environment was a little different then. The locker room was a bunch of great whites, and it forced you to figure it out. But I feel like, why not try and give some helping hands if we can, right? And I love just being in there. And that was one of the things I missed, being away, was the locker room. And just sitting there, and having great conversations, and kvetching or making fun of each other, busting each other’s chops. But this layer of being able to maybe throw some pearls of — [chuckles] I don’t know if wisdom is what I have. But experience, at least, at this whole new era. ”
On his longevity in wrestling: “For me personally, gosh when I think back, like this is kind of my fourth generation of people that I’ve faced in a way. Because I can still date back to — like, I wrestled the Missing Link. [And the Road Warriors], it wasn’t until I saw a clip on Instagram, and it’s like me and Gangrel versus the Road Warriors in Puerto Rico, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God! Oh yeah, that happened!’ So to go through all of that, Terry Funk, I took a pile driver in Memphis from Jerry Lawler, I wrestled Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I hit him with his two by four. But I’ve also been in there with The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair, Triple H and Randy Orton, and John Cena. And now Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, and it’s just really fun. It’s really, really fun. I don’t know how else to put it in, except that I know I got the best job in the world, for me. And I don’t take it for granted. I can’t take it for granted, especially after that nine years. It really, really gave me such an appreciation for how much I dig this.”
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