Edge: Backlash Match Was One Shot & Four Pick-Up Shots, Not Seven Or Eight Hours
Following WWE Backlash, fans and critics knocked The Greatest Match Ever between Edge and Randy Orton because it was edited and reportedly took all day to film.
Though the match was universally praised for how it was put together and the quality of the action, some felt the “Greatest Match Ever” tag couldn’t apply to a taped and edited bout. But just how edited was it?
“We had Backlash and I was happy with how that turned out,” Edge told Busted Open Radio. “Contrary to the experts, it was not taped over seven or eight hours, it was once, straight through, and then we did four pick-up shots. I’ve seen people complain about the (under the rope) shot of the DDT. That’s a total of two seconds, if that ruined the entire match for you then you have bigger issues. I get it, everyone needs something to complain about, but that was a huge test to see where I’m really at in this new incarnation of how I want to wrestle going forward. I know some of our audience is conditioned to 52 superkick, 82 flip matches. That’s not going to be me. It was never me, but especially not now. I want the match where Bret Hart, Undertaker, and Gerald Brisco are gonna text me after. If that takes a re-education of the industry and fanbase, then so be it.”
Edge circled back to the editing of the match, revealing that the pick-up shots were his idea.
“Those pick-up shots, I hated them, and it was my idea. I saw the first cut, without any of that in, and I was like, ‘We don’t need them,’ but Vince loved it. I was like, ‘Damnit, damnit, damnit, now they’re going to be in there,'” he joked.
Edge said he wanted the match to feel old school and different from WrestleMania, which is why they used the Madison Square Garden intro and Charles Robinson wearing the throwback referee shirt. Edge called the match “a love letter to wrestling” and that he wants to finish the trilogy with Orton.
He also noted that he hopes the director’s cut gets released.
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