2012 WWE Hall of Famer Edge recently spoke with Aint It Cool News to promote his new WWE Studios film, Bending the Rules. Here are a few of the highlights:
Edge was asked if he thinks wrestling is too scripted today. He said:
“I think to an extent. I think you can tell the guys that do adlib. I was happy with the fact that I was one of those guys and Jericho was one of those guys and Punk is one of those guys. The guys who are good at it you can tell. I do also think that there’s always that little bit of rose tinted glasses. People look back so fondly on it, but if you look back at some of those promos and you almost wished that they could have had someone to reign it in, because a lot of them are rambling and nonsensical. [Interviewer brings up The Ultimate Warrior] Man, like ‘What’s going on?’ But here’s the thing, the programming changed. Okay, so when I’m growing up there’s one hour on Saturday mornings to fill. There’s a whole lot more content to have to fill now, so now you have a lot more speaking. There wasn’t such a thing as a ten minute promo before. There wasn’t. That wasn’t the case. It would be a quick cut back to Mean Gene talking to Sid Justice for 45 seconds.”
What he thinks about John Cena’s role in WWE – and Cena’ responsibility to live up to the spot he’s in:
“I think what it is honestly is he has been told he is the one that’s supposed to take this role. I think there has to be that guy and I think he’s been given that role and he’s making sure that he sticks to it and he’s probably being told to stick to it, like ‘You are going to be the face of this. You need to be the guy that we can take to sponsors. You need to be the guy that’s not dangerous for kids to watch. You need to be that guy’ and in doing that sure it will pigeonhole him and alienate him to a certain audience, but looking at the broader picture a lot of the audience does like what he does. I mean think about it, back when I was growing up Hulk Hogan was this huge hero and if he did what he did then now it’d be the same reaction. He would be getting booed out of the building, so there needs to be that guy and John just happens to be that guy.”
There’s much more to the interview, including a lot of talk about Edge’s budding acting career.
