Edge Announces His Retirement from Pro-Wrestling Due to Neck Injury

[JamesG]

Edge, WWE Champ, Retires Due to Neck Injury
by Aimee Deeken
posted Apr 12th 2011


WWE's Edge (Adam Copeland) had a big announcement to make on "Monday Night Raw" last night:



"You may have to bear with me a little bit, I'm probably gonna ramble and not make much sense so please bear with me.

A lot of people think that the WWE doesn't hurt, that what we do here is just smoke & mirrors, and I wish that were true but anybody who has stepped in that locker room and here in the ring know that that's not the case.









Eight years ago I broke my neck and had spinal fusion surgery, which means that they move your throat over and put a plate in there and screws, it's a real in-depth surgery.

From that surgery I knew that I had been wrestling on borrowed time from that point on. So fast-forward and in the last little while I have been in a lot of pain. I've been losing feeling in my arms.. so I passed strength tests and all of those things and I made it through Wrestlemania.

The WWE wanted me to go and get more tests and thankfully I did because the MRI showed that I have to retire. Trust me this is not my choice the doctors have told me that I got no choice and thankfully they found out because I'm not going to end up in a wheelchair now.









Wow, this is a lot tougher than I thought it was gonna be... thank you guys.

This has been an emotional roller-coaster of a ride for me and, I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling sorry for myself. Until I talked to Christian, and for those who don't know Christian has been my best friend for 27 years, and you see I was angry at myself and angry at my body because there are a lot of people in this company that depend on me and I felt like I was letting them down. I felt that I was letting you guys down.

I was upset because I felt that I was not ending this on my own terms, but he reminded me that I've completed my whole career on my terms.









I'm still like all of you, I'm a huge fan of the WWE. Every month Christian and I would go to Maple Leaf Gardens and would watch all of our favorites, Legion of Doom, Demolition, Hulk Hogan... and just be enthralled.

Then I went to Wrestlemania VI and saw Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior and I said 'I'm gonna be doing this one day'... then fast-forward a whole bunch of years and I'm main-eventing Wrestlemania against The Undertaker.

There's no way I would have dreamed of that. There's no way that if you would have told me that when I was eleven years old that I would win more championships than anyone in the history of this company.. no way I would have believed you.

If you would have told me that my last match would be at Wrestlemania in one of the main events defending the World Heavyweight Chamionship and that I'd be retiring as World Heavyweight Champion, no I wouldn't have believed you.









I started here in the WWE when I was 23, I've been doing this for 19 years and 14 of those were here in the WWE. My first match was May 10, 1996 at Hamilton Copps Coliseum and I feel like I've grown up in front of all of you. I feel like I've made a whole lot of mistakes in front of all of you. I learned from them and became a man in front of all of you.

I've gone from being the silent guy running around the streets of New York City with a trenchcoat way to small for him, to a psuedo-vampire, to one of those funny goofy guys along with Christian.

I became one of the most despised guys in the history of the WWE, as a matter of fact I got thrown in the Long Island Sound. I had a live sex celebration thankfully with Lita and not Vicky Guerrero.









I would hope that through it all that I earned the respect of everyone in that locker room and I hope I have earned all of your respect. Because no matter what I came out here and I tried to do my best every single night and you all gave it right back to me.

So, I'm gonna miss all of this.. all of it. I'm gonna miss getting my reaction hearing my music coming down the ramp . It's like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart from all of you.. it's amazing I can't describe it.

But that being said I don't have to wear tights tomorrow and I'm gonna eat a ton of ice cream tonight.









But if you ask me if I would do all of this again... going all the way back to being hired by JR, travel all the roads, the flights, the sleepless nights, the surgeries, injuries, metal rods in my teeth.. all of it.

You ask me if I'll do it all again.. in a heartbeat. So thank you. Thank you very much."

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/04/12/ed...-orders-video/

[Elvis Fonzie Dean]

I was taken by surprise by this during RAW. Very sad. Glad he's smart enough to end on his career being able to walk with a smile.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by Elvis Fonzie Dean

I was taken by surprise by this during RAW. Very sad. Glad he's smart enough to end on his career being able to walk with a smile.

Yeah I know. Edge is one of my favorities.
You could see the pain in his eyes when he gave this speech.