As noted, WWE Hall of Famer Edge vs. Randy Orton in the Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36 was the second-longest WrestleMania match in history at almost 37 minutes, second to the legendary Iron Man match between WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.
The match received criticism from fans and others on how long the match was. Edge discussed the criticism during his recent “After The Bell” podcast interview with Corey Graves, saying he didn’t know the match would be as long as it was. He also revealed that Bret called him to praise the match and that was the only opinion that mattered.
“It wasn’t even anything that we realized we were just going, and again, just it just ad-libbing and fighting,” Edge said. “By the time it was done, someone told me it was like 42 minutes long. I was like, ‘really? Okay. Well damn, cool. My wind is good,’ but I am very very proud of it. And you know, I heard there’s feedback that it was too long and it’s this and it’s that. Listen to me, all of the feedback I’ve gotten personally to myself or to my social media feeds has been all positive.
“When I have Bret Hart call me and tell me that he loved it because it looked like a fight, well, I don’t care what anybody else says from that point on because his opinion to me has more weight than absolutely everyone anywhere. Nobody’s going to top this opinion to me, and if he liked it and he thought it was a fight, good. Mission accomplished.
“I mean everyone’s entitled to their opinion. It’s wrestling. It’s art. it’s subjective and whatever blows your hair back, but Randy and I have broad shoulders, and we can weather the weight of a minuscule militia of malcontents who will just want to complain about everything. [They] complain about the length of a wrestling match during a pandemic. Like really? Come on, but they’re also the same people are going to complain that Bill [Goldberg] and Brock [Lesnar] went for 4 minutes. I just think there’s a segment of people that enjoy not enjoying things and dwell on negatives.”
(H/T to WrestlingInc)