Tonight, we said goodbye and thank you to WWE star Edge.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown hailed from Toronto this week and carried with it a bittersweet thank you and farewell to a Hall of Fame performer.
Adam Copeland took on the moniker of Edge in 1998 and shot straight to stardom along with longtime friend Jay “Christian” Reso as a part of The Brood trio with the vampire warrior Gangrel.
For the next two and a half decades, Edge remained a prominent fixture of WWE programming. Considered a company man and “ring general,” Edge evolved his character with the expectations of audiences worldwide.
In 2006, Edge won the WWE Championship for the first time, achieving a lifelong dream. After earning the Money in the Bank contract in a Ladder Match at WrestleMania 21, Edge cashed in his opportunity by defeating John Cena at New Year’s Revolution to capture the title.
After years of compounding injuries, Edge was forced to temporarily retire in 2011. At the time, it seemed the WWE Hall of Fame career was over. Through new medical breakthroughs and Edge’s own will to wrestle he returned to the squared circle in 2020 at the Royal Rumble.
Over the last three years, Edge continued to enthrall the fans of the WWE Universe with his charisma and athleticism. A historic career coming to a close in the same town it began for Edge, Toronto.
Edge wasn’t the only wrestler to be featured on the two-hour broadcast. The action was packed inside and outside the ring.
SmackDown! Open
The show began with the Grayson Waller Experience, a sit-down talk show with Aussie wrestler Waller, and the career of Edge was already on everyone’s mind. Waller invited his guests, partners in the LWO Santos Escobar and the new US Champion Rey Mysterio to the ring.
It seemed Waller’s goal was to drive a wedge between the stablemates. He claimed Mysterio had taken an opportunity from Santos last week regarding the US Championship. Escobar would have none of it and directed his entire rage toward former champion Austin Theory.
It didn’t take long for Theory to make himself known and he interrupted the conversation to make excuses. LA Knight showed up right afterward to challenge Theory to a match, the winner becoming the number one contender for the United States Championship.
With General Manager Adam Pierce’s approval, the match was on and it would be the opening contest.
AUSTIN THEORY vs. LA KNIGHT
Before the match, The Miz took a seat at the commentary table.
Theory and Knight went back and forth throughout this contest and took each other to the limit. For every blindside from Theory, Knight was able to come back with a power move or smart reversal. LA Knight was close to capturing the win, but The Miz caught the grappler’s attention long enough to Austin Theory to steal the victory with a schoolboy pin. A new number one contender is crowned.
EDGE MEMORY VIDEO
BIANCA BELAIR & CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. DAMAGE CTRL (Bayley & IYO SKY)
After last week’s attack against Belair and Flair, each team had a lot to prove to one another in this match. At the center of the rivalry is the WWE Women’s Championship which has been won and lost by most of these women since SummerSlam. The chaos of the match ultimately came to a close with a KOD on Bayley and the pinfall win for Bianca Belair.
Damage CTRL, however, was not finished with Belair and attacked her backstage after the match. Belair is Pillmanized by Bayley and IYO SKY, which may take her out of action for some time.
GOOD BROTHERS vs. STREET PROFITS
The Street Profits haven’t made many new friends in recent weeks on WWE Friday Night SmackDown, and it seems as though the Good Brothers of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows were ready for a fight. However, Montez and Dawkins had the better of their opponents this week and took Karl Anderson down with a Sky High/Neckbreaker combination and the clean victory.
PAUL HEYMAN MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT
Advocate to the champion Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman was seen anxiously pacing the arena all night. When confronted, Heyman was less than welcoming. Moments into the interview, he took a phone call, then announced that Jimmy Uso would be at SmackDown! next week!
EDGE vs. SHEAMUS
In one of the hardest-hitting matches of Edge’s career, he and Sheamus took each other to their very limits. Last week when this match was put together, each man praised the other for keeping their boots in the ring. For those familiar with professional wrestling, this was a contest filled with love and admiration.
The action spilled from the ring to the outside and scaled to the top rope before coming crashing back down again. Each man pulled off their signature moves with the crowd invested in every dramatic moment and near fall.
In the closing moments, Edge was able to pick out of the pinfall following a devastating Brogue Kick in order to deliver two deadly Spears to Sheamus for the pinfall win!
With that, Edge celebrates his win with a fireworks display as his family cries in the audience. A hug with Sheamus in the center of the ring brings the show to a close.
After SmackDown! went off the air
Just after SmackDown! went off the air, Edge took to the microphone to address the elephant in the room. Edge thanked the WWE Universe for the decades of support and announced that it would be the last time he wrestled in front of a WWE audience.
A Hall of Fame career came to an end of SmackDown! this week, in front of a hometown audience, across the ring with a dear friend. For those in the wrestling business, there could be no better way to say goodbye.
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