10 Most Inspiring Wrestling Transformations
5. Edge
Unlike several on this list, Edge's story is one not of a body seemingly destroyed by drugs and alcohol due to the rigours of the industry, but mostly just the rigours themselves.
His tearful 2011 retirement was seen as one of the decade's biggest shockers, but anyone need only watch a handful of his classics to see how likely that outcome had been for years. Raising the bar for expectations of pro wrestling at a mainstream level in the early 2000s (and beyond), Edge was part of some of the most high risk matches in company history.
Alongside partner Christian, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz, the future 'Rated-R Superstar' engraved himself in wrestling history with Tables, Ladders & Chairs wars fought at the height of the industry's mainstream popularity. He paid the penalty just a few short years later when he lost virtually all of 2003 and half 2004 to a neck injury and the subsequent surgery. The aforementioned post-WrestleMania XXVII farewell was as much a reveal that the rest of his career had been a ticking clock as a result.
As with Daniel Bryan's 2018 return, Edge's 2020 Royal Rumble comeback was a tremendous victory for spirit, force of will, and the restorative powers of the human body. It'll have given rise to fellow younger retirees, should they ever want that one last hit of wrestling's other intoxicating fix.