Edge Looks Back On How His Body Felt When He Retired: I Had A Headache For A Decade
Photo Credit: WWE
In what is arguably one of the most shocking returns in recent member, “The Rated R Superstar” Edge made his triumphant return to WWE at the 2020 Royal Rumble, so he got a rare second chance to end his pro wrestling career on his terms.
Edge was recently a guest on The Kurt Angle Show to discuss a variety of subjects. When asked how his body felt when he first had to retire, Edge admitted he didn’t realize how sore he really was. He noted that he consistently had a headache for a decade due to the bumps he was taking in the ring every single night.
“When you’re doing it night in night out, you just kind of fall into this desensitized [state],” said Edge. “You’re always limping, and you’re always kind of bent over, and you’re always kind of like sideways or like the letter S as you walk, you get used to that, right? And it wasn’t until I had the second neck surgery, which I didn’t have until about 2012. And it was in Pittsburgh, Dr. Maroon, and I woke up in the hallway on the stretcher. And Beth [Phoenix was] standing there, and she goes, ‘How do you feel?’ I was like, ‘I don’t have a headache.’
“The thing about it is that I didn’t realize I had a headache for like a decade until it was gone. And I went, ‘Oh my god, I felt like sh-t,’ but I didn’t fully grasp it until that. Because for however long I don’t even know the pressure on my cord, my spinal cord is being pinched like a straw. So I’m working Batista, and I’m working Kane, and I’m working Undertaker, and I’m taking chokeslams and powerbombs and all of these things. And I didn’t grasp it until that second surgery, and from that point forward, man, life got so much happier.”
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Edge also looked back on the incident that led to his realization that he could potentially return to professional wrestling. He recalled how getting in a bike accident kick-started his journey back to the ring, as the subsequent appointment with a doctor led him to wonder whether wrestling again was possible.
“And from that point forward, I’m acting, right? And I’d have to do stunt scenes here or there, or whatever, and they’d always use the excuse that they couldn’t find a stunt double for me, so I was like okay, so I ended up doing it, and I’m like, I feel great! I’m driving people through walls and like, taking bumps on concrete floors during fight scenes and stuff, and wiping out my mountain bike, and then it finally is where everything just started that to happen.
“I wiped out my mountain bike when Sheamus was up here. And I went, I better go to a doctor and just find out exactly where I’m at for everyday life, and that was the goal, just to find out in terms of everyday life. What do I need to avoid because I didn’t have a checkup from that surgery in 2012 until like, 2018, and went and had the checkup, and everything was good, and that’s where I went. So what about wrestling?”
From there, the rest is history. Recently, Edge competed in the main event of both WWE WrestleMania 37 Night Two and, a few months later, WWE Money in the Bank.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Kurt Angle show and leave a link back to this article for the transcription.