Edge Hints at Upcoming Retirement During Post-Raw Promo

In January of 2020, the “Rated R Superstar” Edge shocked the world by coming out as an entrant in the Royal Rumble, making his official in-ring return to the WWE after 9 years of forced retirement due to severe spinal stenosis. While the entire run hasn’t been exactly all peaches for Edge, it’s undeniably wonderful for him to get another chance at ending his career on his own terms, and after last night’s RAW he cut a promo off the air that revealed we may not be too far off from just that.

Edge prévoit dire son dernier au revoir à Toronto l'an prochain ? (2/2)#WWERaw #WWEToronto pic.twitter.com/cnBgcVOFmV

— Audrey Moreau (@audreymoreau99) August 23, 2022

After RAW went off the air last night, Edge cut a promo to his hometown of Montreal, Canada. He remarked on how the WWE usually comes to Montreal in August every year, and that with any luck they would be back again next year in 2023.

“And I can’t wait to come back, hopefully, one last time, one last time here in Toronto.

I’m looking at the calendar, and we usually come here in August. So next August, I plan on seeing each and every one of you. And in a perfect world, we all say goodbye to each other that night.”

While nothing is concrete as of yet, it definitely seems that the next time Edge comes to his hometown, he wishes to be his last, and he would like it to be in August of next year. There isn’t even confirmation yet on if WWE is coming back to Montreal next August, but if they did for a big show, and Edge is up for it of course, then it wouldn’t be surprising to see Edge in a possible retirement match at such an event. The question of course though, besides being if any of this will actually happen next year, is who Edge’s possible opponents could be.

There are two answers that spring immediately to mind that would make perfect sense to retire Edge in Montreal, and each is different for him depending on if he wants to retire as a babyface or a heel.

Sami Zayn vs. Edge (with Edge as a heel)

While he’s been a heel for the last 3 or 4 years, it’s becoming clear from WWE TV that Sami Zayn’s days as such are numbered, and a babyface run is not too far down the pike. Zayn, aligned with the Bloodline, is seemingly beginning to get on the nerves of certain members of the faction, such as Jey Uso, due to Sami’s lack of championship gold, and the faction’s leader Roman Reigns, whose displeasure stems from Sami’s friendship with Kevin Owens. In any event, soon enough the Bloodline will turn on Sami Zayn, and will thus launch his babyface turn and subsequent feud with them.If WWE wishes to keep Zayn a babyface long enough and Edge wants to retire as a heel, a role he’s famously comfortable in, then this would be the smartest way to do it. Sami has been amazing in the role of the underdog babyface in the past, both as El Generico before his WWE career, and during his time in NXT from 2013-2015.

There are multiple ways the story can materialize. One such way would be to have one of them, preferably Edge, win a championship of some sort, maybe even a world title. Then, not too long afterward, Sami Zayn beats him for said championship clean, in Edge’s first defense of the title. Edge can become enraged by this, promptly attack Sami and injure him, and build up to a rematch where either Edge can vow that he’ll retire if he can’t defeat Zayn, or Zayn can force Edge to put his career on the line as penance. Both men would be sure to get star reactions in Montreal, have a good-great match, and the victory could potentially do a lot of good for Zayn’s WWE career. A no-brainer really.

Kevin Owens vs. Edge (with Edge as a babyface)

Of course, there’s always the strong possibility that Edge stays a babyface. After all, it’s hard to convince a crowd to boo someone whose story is so uplifting. If this is the case, Sami Zayn’s good friend Kevin Owens would be a wonderful choice of opponent. Owens has recently re-adopted his “Prizefighter” character from his ROH and NXT days, a ruthless man who has no qualms about injuring people in order to get his own way, or just because he doesn’t like them. It’s hard to actually think of a better opponent for a babyface Edge not just match-wise, but story-wise as well.

Edge obviously has a lengthy and troubled history of neck and spinal issues. It’s what forced him to retire in the first place back in 2011. A story where Kevin Owens exploits such an injury, prompting a blood feud between the two, is not beyond the realm of belief.

Say, hypothetically, Edge announces his retirement prematurely on an episode of RAW. He says that he got to come back for one last run and do everything he wanted to do and that he’ll have one last match in Montreal before leaving. Kevin Owens comes out, and maybe says a few words about how Edge was an inspiration to him as a Canadian wrestler. As he goes in for a hug, he attacks Edge and powerbombs him on the apron, reinjuring his spine. Boom, perfect setup for a grudge match. Unlike Sami, Kevin Owens doesn’t necessarily need to win the match. Edge could conceivably win the match to give the story a happy ending. In the end, though, it wouldn’t really matter. Much like the Zayn match, both men would get star treatments being in Montreal, and could surely have a fun brawling grudge match with one another.

Why There are No Better Options

While there’s no telling what the roster will look like in August of 2023, WWE still suffers from the roster cuts of the last three years, which was seen under a different team of management of course. There are other reasons though, why these two would be perfect options. If Edge is to retire in Montreal next year, then his opponent would need to be someone who could get an equal reaction from the crowd, otherwise, they run the risk of the crowd not caring about them at all. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are both from Montreal, and as such would get monster reactions in their own right, as evidenced by the last couple of WWE shows done in Canada just this last week, where both men got huge reactions.

It also probably wouldn’t hurt ticket sales for whatever show they should choose to do the match at, if the marquee match was headlined by two Canadians.

Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.

Jarrod Sullivan

Jarrod Christopher Sullivan is a 23-year-old writer for the Pro Wrestling section of Last Word on Sports. His home-state is Connecticut, although he was born in Pennsylvania on February 23rd, 1999. He likes to be known for his open-mindedness when it comes to all different styles of wrestling, and for an honest, if not somewhat verbose writing style.