Edge says WWE is "flying blind" regarding potential fan reactions at WrestleMania 37.
Edge returned during the Royal Rumble in 2020 to a monstrous pop. However, by the time WrestleMania 36 rolled around, fans were gone and Edge fought Randy Orton in an empty WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Now, it's 2021 and Edge has won the Royal Rumble and will headline WrestleMania Night 2 on Sunday, April 11, and will be competing against Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns in front of a crowd.
The Asbury Park Press recently interviewed Edge, who talked about the fans reaction that WrestleMania being a potential x-factor because nobody knows how the fans are going to react when it has been a year since they have seen any of these characters in person.
“Right now, as a company, we’re all kind of flying blind because we have these stories and we have this creative but we don’t know what the actual reaction is going to be," Edge said. "When we walk out there, who knows how they’re going to react?
“An audience has never seen this (version of) Roman Reigns, and I think this is the Roman Reigns they’ve wanted to see for a long time. So how are they going to react? We don’t know. How are they going to react to me at this stage and kind of flipping the switch on finding the old Rated-R Superstar? Who knows. I think the bottom line is you’ve just got to hope they react. I’d like to think, as starved as we all are just for entertainment and a walk back into whatever our new normal is, I’d like to think that’s going to be a pretty ravenous crowd, reaction-wise.”
Regarding the narrative of the WrestleMania match, Edge says even though it hasn't been mentioned on camera, the thread that all three men share, being told they'd have to cease their in-ring careers due to medical issues, adds an extra layer of intrigue to the WrestleMania 37 bout for the WWE Universal Title.
“Here’s three guys that have been told they’re not gonna do this again, and here we are," Edge said. "I think that’s a really crazy aspect of this that isn’t really part of the narrative of the story, but you can’t look past it."
"It speaks to bigger issues — to me, it speaks to not giving up," Edge said. "It speaks to having tenacity and determination and not just blindly accepting something and (instead) going, ‘Wait a minute, hold on.’ I think all three people that portray these characters have that mentality.”
Fightful will have live coverage of WrestleMania 37 and all events that week.
