Edge Discusses Giving Advice To Younger WWE Talent
When you consider his experience level, it makes a lot of sense for Edge to give advice to younger talent and the WWE Hall of Famer is happy to do it.
When Edge made his WWE debut in 1998, he was in his mid-20s and considered a future main event player. It took about eight years, but he reached that main event level and became an 11-time WWE World Champion that won over 30 championships in his career. Edge is highly regarded as one of the best heel characters in WWE history that also has the respect of the fans and his peers.
Edge retired in 2011 due to a serious neck injury and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012. Miraculously, his neck felt better after surgeries and not bumping in a wrestling ring for many years, so he came back at the 2020 Royal Rumble. A comeback after nine years is very rare, but that’s exactly what he did.
Since coming back to WWE, Edge has had some memorable matches and moments with the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and of course his long rivalry with The Judgment Day group (Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley) over the last year.
While speaking to WWE’s After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves & Kevin Patrick, Edge talked about his current role as a mentor to younger talent in WWE.
“This is my first love, always has been, always will be. I love acting, not as much as I love being a wrestler and performing for WWE. For whatever reason, you can’t really explain it. It’s just there and you’re hooked. After nine years, to get it back. I had a list of guys that I was like, ‘I would love to work with some of these people, and if I can help some people along the way,’ to push the future forward.”
“I’ve been able to check off a lot of those names on the list, and a lot of those names don’t need my help, but if they can pick up something, great. More than anything, I feel the mentorship in the locker room. The locker room knows that I am a safe guy to go to, to pick my brain. I’m not sequestered to my own locker room. I change with everybody else. I put myself out there to say, ‘if you’re thinking of something, just come ask me.’ Whether you want to try it after you ask, that’s up to you.”
As he continued, the 49-year-old Rated R Superstar talked about speaking to NXT’s Carmelo Hayes and Mustafa Ali of Raw.
“Sitting there the other day with Carmelo (Hayes) and (Mustafa) Ali, we sat and talked for an hour and they just picked my brain. I loved it. It was so much fun and so nice, to see these guys at that stage of their careers.”
“I remember being at that stage and being oblivious as to what to do. How do I make this work here? I could wrestle and do moves, but that’s not going to cut it. What is it that I need to do? The environment was a little different then. The locker room was a bunch of great whites. It forced you to figure it out, but I feel like, why not try to give some helping hands?”
The 49-year-old Edge will go face to face with Finn Balor next week on Raw, which should lead to the official announcement of their WrestleMania 39 match.