10 Huge Wrestling Moments That Played Out To Silence
4. Edge Announces His Retirement
So as not to overdo WrestleMania 36 mentions, Edge's triumphant WrestleMania return has been omitted from this piece. However, his most recent high-profile moment before that - the night cervical spinal stenosis forced the Hall of Famer to retire - played out before silence of a different kind.
While his entrance on the 11 April 2011 Raw was greeted by a huge pop, and his farewell was met with a monstrous "Thank you, Edge" chant, the second that Adam Copeland announced his retirement was one of those rare wrestling moments where you could hear a pin drop.
At that point, there was absolutely zero indication that Edge was injured or had major niggling issues, let alone that he was one bad bump away from ending up in a wheelchair. So, when he strutted out on Raw a week after WrestleMania XXVII, World Heavyweight Championship over his shoulder, it was presumed that we'd see the start of the next rivalry for the Rated-R Superstar.
Instead, Edge's tone soon became one of raw emotion as he struggled to compose himself. And it was then that the audience went completely silent as they hung on the Canadian's every word.
The silence on that Monday night was initially one of confusion, then one of shock, and ultimately one of sadness. But from there, Edge was given a hero's send-off as the Bridgeport, Connecticut crowd paid its respect to one of the greatest to ever do it.