Edge's first arena match in Toronto wasn't for the Intercontinental Championship, the WWE Championship, or even for the WWF Championship, which was the belt's name until the World Wildlife Foundation made Vince McMahon change his company's name. Those belts were defended on the match, mind you, and were defended in one of the most consequential contests in the history of the company originally founded as the WWWF by Vincent M. McMahon, but not by Edge, by “The Rated R Superstar,” or even Adam Copeland, his birth name.

No, the match in question was actually in WrestleMania VI live from the SkyDome, where Ultimate Warrior took the ring against Hulk Hogan in a winner-takes-all match for the IC Title and the WWF Championship, which were the top two titles in the company at the time. Despite coming from a family that wasn't of exorbitant means, Edge's family scraped together the resources to get him to the show and watch from the stands as Hogan, his favorite wrestler at the time, lost what was one of the most consequential matches of his career up to that point.

These stories and more were featured in Edge's A&E documentary – a capstone to a career that long seemed over, to the point where he was literally inducted into the Hall of Fame, but came roaring back to life in a big way at 2020 running of the Royal Rumble.

Since then, Edge has wrestled 17 more matches, including another spot at the Royal Rumble, two matches at WrestleMania, and a match with Randy Orton dubbed the”The Greatest Match Ever.” While Edge did suffer another setback in his match with Orton at Backlash, as he tore his triceps and was out of action from April of 2020 through January of 2021, his return to the ring has been one of the bright spots of the pandemic era of wrestling – a comeback tour that no one saw coming, but was seriously appreciated nonetheless.

So naturally, when Edge took the ring in Toronto for the first time since he successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship in a SmackDown House Show Street Fight against Dolph Ziggler at the Ricoh Coliseum in February of 2011, it was going to be a must-watch affair. When it was announced that Beth Phoenix was going to be at the show, the excitement grew even more, and when Corey Graves let the WWE Universe know that the match was going to be held with limited commercial interruptions, the hype grew to a near fever pitch.

Would Edge and his former Judgement Day disciple, Damian Priest, be able to live up to expectations, especially immediately after another Dexter Lumis segment and the WWE debut of Johnny Gargano? Or would it buckle under the weight of 16,638 local fans watching from the stands and a few million fans watching from home?

Fortunately, Paul “Triple H” Levesque booked yet another fantastic match produced by Michael Hayes, and it was should go down as one of the highlights of Edge's final act.

Edge is gearing up for his curtain call in WWE.

When asked about how much time he has left in the ring by Graham GSM Matthews for a feature with Bleacher Report, Edge opened up about how his forced retirement ruined his career plans and “robbed” him of what should have been the final act of his career.

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Rhea Ripley holding the WWE Woman's World Championship with a text bubble reading "I have to vacate the WWE Woman's World Championship" with the RAW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Damian Priest with a text bubble reading "I’m going to beat the YEET out of you" next to Jey Uso with the RAW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Rhea Ripley with the Woman's World Championship belt and the WrestleMania 40 logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

“My original age was 40 and I screwed that up. “I had to retire at 37, so I feel like I didn't get those last three years of stuff I wanted to do. I was just reaching a position where I was helping teach and I was really looking forward to that because I had so many people over the years help me along the way and I felt, ‘Great, now it's my turn. Now I can do that.'

“This run, I feel I've been able to do some of that. To me, that has been one more layer on this cake that was already tasty anyway. I am enjoying and soaking in every moment with the complete realization that it's going to end soon. I know the end is in sight and I can see it, and because of that, it makes me enjoy it more.”

If that's the case and Edge really is trying to enjoy every last moment of his career, then his match in Toronto very well might go down as one of the highlights of his career. He entered the ring wearing Canada-themed gear, with a very cool white jacket with red accents that mirrors his typical look, and went on to put Priest through an in-ring Masterclass on how to wrestle the ultimate Edge match, with many of his signature moves paired up with a few regionally-specific maneuvers like Petey Williams' signature move, the Canadian Destroyer. While things got a bit testy at the end of the match, with Priest getting the edge on Edge on more than a few occasions, the local kid made good and secured the 1-2-3 in the end, even if he was attacked by Judgement Day at the end of the event and had to be saved by his wife Beth Phoenix.

Will Edge ever wrestle such an impactful match in Toronto again? Only time will tell, but if this was his hometown coda, it was one heck of a way to say goodbye.