WWE Hall of Famer Edge recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about a number of different topics including throwing praise to his three potential WrestleMania opponents, Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, and Finn Balor. Highlights from his interview can be found below.
Getting his first love of wrestling back:
I’ve been pinching myself for the past year. Wrestling was taken away from me nine years ago. I think I transitioned away in a healthy manner. I fell in love with acting, and I’ve had a lot of fun doing that. But to get my first love back? And once again craft stories within the confines of the wrestling world? I am savoring every moment of it.
On Christian’s return:
He got cleared a couple of months ago, and I was among only a few people who were privy to that. We didn’t know for sure that he was going to be in the Rumble until the Friday before. I was driving to his place to stay with him for the weekend, and that’s when we found out this was going to happen. We looked at each other and I said, ‘We’re both going to do this together again.’ We’ve had this fairytale friendship. I remember talking with Chavo [Guerrero], and he mentioned thinking that I’d met Christian and become friends with him while in wrestling. No, we met in the sixth grade. We grew up together saying we were going to do this. And no matter what we’ve done separately, it’s always circled back to the two of us together, just like it did at the Rumble.
Says Finn Balor is operating at an entirely different level:
You need to start with Finn Bálor. He’s operating on an entirely different level in the ring right now than I’ve ever seen him perform. I love what he’s doing. With Finn, the story would be two guys who have wrestled all over the world, but never been in the same place at the same time. That’s very appealing to me.
Says there’s a great story built in with Drew as well:
And Drew, he’s taken such a rocky road to get where he is, but he fought through everything to get here. A character like Edge would really respect Drew, so that type of match would be a different story and emotion, one based on mutual respect and who is the better man.
On Roman Reigns:
Roman has really found his groove. This is the guy I always knew he was. The handcuffs have been taken off, he’s being allowed to let this side out. Now you can see it and you can feel it. Knowing the kind of story we could create, I salivate over that. So look all those three options. I’m in a position where I feel like I can’t go wrong.
How’s he ready to start telling some emotional stories:
I want to craft the kind of story that everyone will understand and relate to,” Copeland says. “That’s what I want to be involved in. When there is truth involved, the people can sense it. I never thought I’d have this opportunity again. That is true. I fought back to be able to do it, which is a struggle at my age—and that’s all true, too. I’m not trying to hide anything. I’m not trying to act like I am better than I was when I was 35. I do know that mentally I am better than I was at 35. That will allow me to tell the type of story I’m looking to tell. And when I get dance partners like Finn, Drew, or Roman, I’m just chomping at the bit to get started.
