Edge and Randy Orton are set to have what is billed as The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever this Sunday at WWE Backlash.
Only, Edge isn't sure that's even possible.
"I'll preface all of this with saying there's no such thing as the greatest match ever," Edge told ESPN. "You're not going to be able to say definitively, what is the greatest song of all time? What is the greatest painting of all time? What is the greatest movie of all time? What is the greatest band of all time? It's impossible, because there's no general consensus -- you can have great matches, but what is the greatest is going to be different to almost everybody."
Despite wrestling being subjective and the label "greatest" being up for debate, WWE have gone full bore with the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever promotion.
"Vince [McMahon] is a promoter, and he's promoting, but it's like hyperbole. I mean, to me [the greatest match is] not possible. So that takes that pressure out of my mind immediately," said Edge. "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."
Edge made his return after nine years away due to a neck injury at WWE Royal Rumble 2020. He had his first singles match in nine years at WrestleMania 36, defeating Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing bout. Now, he'll have his first proper singles match at Backlash with what would seem to be unnecessary pressure.
"If I were to look at it on paper and go right, first proper wrestling match back in nine and a half years and they want to bill it as the greatest wrestling match ever ... I mean, that's pretty pressure-filled," Edge said. "But I can't look at it that way, I really can't. I just have to understand that it's promotion and it's hype. I always go out with a mindset to try and have the best match that I've ever had. So I don't look at it in terms of a contest -- will it measure up to Steamboat vs. Savage or will it measure up to Shawn [Michaels] and [The Undertaker]. All I can do is measure up against myself, and especially at this juncture in my career, I'm just happy to be out there. This shouldn't even be happening. Let alone for the company, and let's call it straight, Vince, to think that he can bill this the "Greatest Match Ever." Would I have preferred they not billed it as that? Absolutely. But I also know there are times where heels get dug in the sand and there's no changing it."
As previously reported, the bout between Edge and Orton has already been taped. Fans can find out if it lives up to the hype this Sunday at WWE Backlash.
Fightful will have live coverage of Backlash beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday.
