Edge Gives His Take on Triple H's WWE, Judgment Day, Turning Face and More

Edge's return run with WWE has been nothing short of stellar since his shocking Royal Rumble comeback in 2020. The fact that it was never supposed to happen has made it that much sweeter.

The Rated-R Superstar originally announced his retirement from the ring in 2011. He was forced to call it a career due to lingering neck issues that would have damaged his quality of life if he continued to compete.

No one expected him to lace up his boots again, let alone perform at the level he has. Sure enough, Edge has been a recurring highlight on WWE programming in the last three years and shown no signs of slowing down any time soon.

The 48-year-old has had the chance to reflect during this run and soak in every second of it, much like he will in the latest episode of Biography: WWE Legends airing on A&E this Sunday. The following night, he'll wrestle on Raw in his native Toronto for the first time in over 12 years.

Edge sat down with Bleacher Report ahead of these events to discuss how his Raw match with Damian Priest, working with The Judgment Day, the positive change Triple H has already had on WWE, and more.

Check out the complete audio of the interview on the next slide and read on for the highlights.

Although Edge doesn't regularly wrestle on Raw and SmackDown, that's done by design to ensure his matches feel like an attraction. He's been extremely active over the last year by appearing on both brands as well as a majority of WWE's pay-per-views, far more frequently than the likes of Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and others.

Thus, the "part-timer" label bestowed upon him by some fans isn't exactly accurate.

That's what makes his match with Damian Priest on Monday night so exciting. It isn't every day that Edge is in action on the red brand, let alone on his home turf of Toronto, so he pitched the idea of the bout to Triple H when he saw the city listed on the WWE calendar.

"I sat down with Paul [Leveseque] and I saw that Toronto was coming," he told B/R. "We have this storyline with The Judgment Day. It felt like the perfect opportunity to do what we kind of used to do, which was promote a Raw match almost a month in advance. I thought it seemed like the perfect opportunity and a special moment, too."

Edge never thought he'd have the chance to compete in Toronto again. His last televised match there took place on a May 2010 episode of Raw, fittingly against his best friend, Christian.

Priest is an ideal opponent for The Rated-R Superstar not only because of their ties to The Judgment Day but also because of the similarities they share as rock-star personalities.

"Priest is a guy I've said for years I thought was a really underutilized guy and that was part of the reason for Judgment Day," Edge said. "It's the kind of stuff you get in the industry to do, nights like this coming up. To say I'm excited would be a bit of an understatement."

Although he revealed he's had creative input with everything he's been involved in on WWE TV, Edge is as optimistic as anyone about Triple H taking over the creative team. He feels the fact that they both look at things from a fan's perspective will help the product tremendously.

"I've had a lot of creative input and that's having 25 years of equity with the company," he said. "In that regard, it doesn't change a lot, but what's so fun to see is that it's going dressing room-wide now and that's really cool. I think everyone feels super excited and stoked and just ready to see how certain things go. You can already see that's happening.

"I think Paul looks at things like a fan because he still is a fan of this, just like I am. It's bringing back Karrion Kross and Dakota [Kai]. It's a really fun time to be involved with the company."

Following a two-month absence from Raw, Edge made his return at SummerSlam and cost The Judgment Day their match against The Mysterios.

He vowed on the subsequent edition of Raw to kill his own creation after they unceremoniously removed him from their ranks in June and gave the reins to Finn Balor.

Edge confirmed that being booted from the group when he was wasn't the original plan.

"So far, I've had a blast going to work and getting to do a storyline with Priest and Balor and Rhea [Ripley]," he said. "It was kind of floating there for a little while. Now, it's getting a direction and that's really, really fun. We had to make some changes due to injuries and stuff like that, and you just have to adapt."

He's been up for everything WWE has asked of him. While he wasn't initially sold on turning heel with the group in the first place, he made it work to the best of his ability.

"As I've said, since I've been back, I look at myself as a designated hitter, so you put me in where you need me," Edge said. "You need me to turn heel? Alright, we'll give it a shot. I don't know if it's going to work, but we'll give it a shot. Then, 'OK, we've got some injuries, I need you to turn back face.' 'Alright, cool. We'll give it a shot because I've been trying to be an assh--e for two months, so we'll see.'"

Ultimately, he's happy he's back to being a babyface: the role fans wanted to see him in, anyway. There was no point in fighting against it anymore, not to mention that the roar of the crowd when the iconic opening line of "Metalingus" hits gets him hyped more than anything.

"I do think coming back and being where I'm slotted again is where I need to be for everybody's sake," Edge said. "That's kind of what my fans want. They know my story. I'm not even supposed to be doing this. Let's let everybody react the way they want to react and let's have some fun with this thing while it's happening because it's not going to last long."

The WWE Hall of Famer had a lot to say when asked about his heel turn from earlier this year, even though that wasn't the direction he wanted to go in for his WrestleMania 38 match against AJ Styles.

"When I was first approached about turning heel because they didn't want a babyface vs. babyface match with AJ at WrestleMania, I said, 'You kind of do, but OK. Let's try to figure this out,'" Edge said.

"I have to lose the music because people love it. What's a darker Alter Bridge song? [“The Other Side”] is one I've had earmarked if this were ever the case. Then it was going out and getting 30 suits made, which I will now never wear again. It was trying to change every aspect. It was cutting the hair and every semblance of the Edge they've been enjoying and trying to reinvent this thing, which was a big challenge almost 30 years into my career."

His promos received some flak from fans at the time for not having much substance to them. As noted, it was difficult for him to get under the skin of the audience when they were conditioned to cheer for him no matter what.

Just as The Judgment Day started to find its footing as a faction, WWE switched up plans due to Cody Rhodes getting injured and turned Edge back into a babyface by having the rest of the group kick him to the curb.

"I think we were starting to make some headway, truthfully," Edge said. "At Hell in a Cell, I said, 'Oh, OK, they're starting to buy in a little bit.' And then the next day we did the flip. I knew going into that match [at Hell in a Cell] it was happening, so it was bittersweet because in terms of the talent involved in Judgment Day, I believed in all of them. It would have been cool to be a mentor to that, but it's equally cool to be opposite of it and play off of that."

Starting out in WWE nearly 25 years ago, Edge was best known for his time in The Brood alongside Christian and Gangrel. The unique group helped establish him with the audience and gave him a platform to showcase his skills from the get-go.

It's only fitting that a lot of what he's been a part of this past year has been darker in nature as well. From The Judgment Day to the vignettes that aired ahead of his most recent return, he's tapped into his evil roots and it's made for compelling character development.

He even brought back his iconic Brood entrance at SummerSlam in 2021 for his match against Seth Rollins. The Rated-R Superstar admitted there were several things he fought with management over during that feud that he ended up getting approved.

"I truly believe that wrestling fans love history being called back and the layers of story we can add to that," Edge said. "I had to fight to get the Seth Curb Stomp on the briefcase involved in our story and that's just because I mentioned it in live promos. To me, there was history there that needed to be touched upon because it added so many different layers to our story. It didn't just start. This started when I was retired. Now, we can bring it full circle.

"With the Brood thing, it felt like the natural progression of the story and this guy brought out that bad side so let's do this entrance. Some people may not remember, but guess what? We got the best production team in the world to remind them. Now, it's something we can dip into every once in a while. Let's do the entrance and it was just that one-time deal, but Brood Edge is always there to dip into if we need it."

On the subject of Christian, Edge said they keep in constant contact and are blessed to still be doing what they love at the highest level.

Captain Charisma, who is the same age as Edge at 48, is involved in a high-profile program with Jungle Boy in All Elite Wrestling and has been doing exceptional heel work.

"We're both having a blast, man," The Rated-R Superstar said. "I just talked to him today and the fact that we're both back doing this when we were never supposed to, and feel like we're contributing too, that's huge for us because we take pride in what we do. It's just fun. It's still surreal and I don't want to lose that."

Edge's episode of Biography: WWE Legends won't be the first in-depth documentary WWE has put together on the veteran's career.

The three-disc DVD set the company produced shortly after his enforced retirement allowed him to look back on everything he had accomplished and come to terms with his career ending abruptly, but he's coming out of this A&E documentary with an all-new perspective now that he's been cleared to compete again.

Every time he hears his music blast in an arena, the rush of adrenaline he gets from both the song and the fans raucously reacting to it is 100 percent genuine. That enthusiasm and passion he exudes translates to the audience, which is why he's become such a beloved fan favorite.

Edge calls it the best gig in the world, next to being father to his two girls, of course. He looks forward to being a full-time dad when this chapter of his career comes to a close, but until then, he doesn't plan on putting a limit on how much longer he thinks this run will last.

"My original age was 40 and I screwed that up," he joked. "I had to retire at 37, so I feel like I didn't get those last three years of stuff I wanted to do. I was just reaching a position where I was helping teach and I was really looking forward to that because I had so many people over the years help me along the way and I felt, 'Great, now it's my turn. Now I can do that.'

"This run, I feel I've been able to do some of that. To me, that has been one more layer on this cake that was already tasty anyway. I am enjoying and soaking in every moment with the complete realization that it's going to end soon. I know the end is in sight and I can see it, and because of that, it makes me enjoy it more."

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.