WrestleMania 36: 7 things WWE got right on Night 2

#4 The Rated-R Redemption

Edge’s nine-year journey to return to the ring saw him face one of his former best friends, Randy Orton. Edge entered the arena with the same look of disbelief in his eyes as we’d seen during his return at the Royal Rumble. But Orton wasn’t going to go easy on the veteran.

He posed as a cameraman and attacked The Rated-R Superstar out of nowhere, taking him down with consecutive RKOs. The match went all over the Performance Center from thereon, and we saw the two men show no mercy. They unleashed hell on each other and delivered some powerful moves while using all the weapons in the arena to their advantage.

Orton seemed to have injured his ribs at one point, but that did not stop The Viper from carrying out some vicious attacks on his opponent.

The final moments of the long match saw Orton set Edge up for a Con-Chair-To to end it all and pick up the victory. However, he took way too long to deliver the move while teasing it, and Edge took Orton down into his new submission hold.

After Orton struggled to breathe due to his injured ribs, Edge set him up for the vicious maneuver himself. A Con-Chair-To ended it all as the referee counted to 10 and The Rated-R Superstar picked up the victory.

After the match, a regretful Edge placed his head on his opponent’s almost apologetically. Even though this match was a bit too long, maybe it was what was required to end this huge rivalry with just one single match.

The storytelling was spot on, and Orton being violent but succumbing to his injuries was the highlight of the match. This was emotional, yet brutal, and delivered everything the WWE Universe would have wanted from a return match for an Edge who had retired due to a career-ending injury.