Edge reveals how a mountain bike accident led to his WWE return

WWE Hall of Famer Edge made his return to WWE at the 2020 Royal Rumble PPV, after almost a decade-long hiatus. He is all set to take on Randy Orton in a marquee match at WrestleMania 36.

Edge recently sat down with ESPN and discussed several aspects of his in-ring return. The former World Champion revealed that a mountain bike accident planted the seeds for his return.

While shooting an episode of the Celtic Warrior Workouts show with Sheamus, Edge was involved in a mountain bike accident. That was when he realized that he felt "really good", followed by which he consulted a spine specialist. Soon, it dawned upon Edge that a return was possible, and the rest is history.

"It started dawning on me that this could be a possibility when Sheamus came to town, and we were filming an episode of his Celtic Warrior workout show. He wants to do different challenging things that he hasn’t done before, and I love to mountain bike. In the process of doing that — this stupid competitive thing — I’m flying down a mountain, I hit this one jump, and I wiped out. It’s a pretty gnarly wipeout. I was going probably 20, 25 mph, landed on these stones, rolled right up to my feet. But I’m fine. I was all cut up, but my neck was fine. Couple that with doing all of these fight scenes over the years on sets — some pretty physical stuff, especially with ‘Vikings’ — and I thought, ‘OK, I feel really good.’

"My family doctor just said, ‘Let’s get some pictures on it, just see where you’re at, and we’ll see a spine specialist here in Asheville.’ [I] did that, met with [the specialist]. He said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing. Obviously, it’s working for you,’ and that’s when I floated out the, ‘But what about wrestling?’"

Edge is regarded as one of the greatest in-ring competitors in WWE history. He won his first WWE title by cashing in his Money In The Bank contract on John Cena at New Year's Revolution 2006. He went on to win several WWE and World titles. Edge successfully defended his World title against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 27.

On the RAW after WrestleMania, Edge announced that his injury could put him at great risk if he decided to continue wrestling. He retired from in-ring competition, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a year later.

Edge made his shocking return during the 2020 Royal Rumble match and had a strong showing. He was eliminated by Roman Reigns in the closing moments of the match, moments before Drew McIntyre eliminated The Big Dog to win the annual free-for-all. The next night on RAW, Randy Orton viciously attacked Edge and the rivalry will culminate at The Show of Shows in a Last Man Standing match.