WWE: Even Edge thought Vince McMahon made a mistake

WWE is billing Edge vs. Randy Orton as the greatest wrestling match in history.

Immediately after Money in the Bank, WWE began the build toward their next show in June, Backlash, and they did so by hyping up a second match between former-tag-team-partners-turned-rivals Randy Orton and Edge.

Orton and Edge had a lengthy – but excellent – Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36 in what was the Rated R Superstar’s first singles match back. (His official return occurred in the Royal Rumble.)

Although Orton suffered a dramatic loss in a match normally used to end rivalries, he got under Edge’s skin by asserting that the returning superstar could no longer win a traditional wrestling match. And then Vince McMahon had Charly Caruso quip that this would be the greatest wrestling match of all time. Thus, a meme was born.

Wrestling fans have been of two minds about this announcement. Some are poking fun at the fact that Orton, whose matches were compared to NyQuil by Tommaso Ciampa, could have anything resembling such a match. Other wrestling fans have noted the clear hyperbole and the impossibility of the task, surmising that the match could be a squash.

But what did the Rated R Superstar himself think when he heard Vince first start to aggressively promote this match as the greatest ever?

He laughed.

Here’s what he told ESPN’s Arda Ocal:

"“I just laughed because I didn’t think it was serious. Then I realized fairly quickly it was. Then my reaction was, is this wise, because anytime you say something the greatest ever beforehand, you’re setting yourself up for failure. And I don’t ever want to think that way. I need to think the opposite of that. I can’t control the court of public opinion. I need to do and be proud of the work that I put in. All I can do is take it as if this is all just a bonus and in a weird way, a compliment. Or it’s a giant rib. I don’t know.”"

As usual, Edge offers a measured, interesting take. His comment about being unable to control what fans say is an interesting reference to the widespread reactions to his match at WrestleMania 36. Some thought, as is common with matches involving Orton, that it went on too long, while others loved it.

In the same interview, Edge remarked that there’s really no such thing as the greatest wrestling match ever, since tastes are so different among fans. And that in itself points to the ridiculousness of billing this match as the “greatest”.

Unless, of course, we’re getting a squash. Then it’s all part of Vince’s booking strategy to troll his fan base. Or, as Edge puts it, a rib.