10 Unbelievable Wrestling Coincidences
4. The Amazing Symmetry Behind Edge's Debut And (First) Retirement Match
Edge started using the Spear far earlier than you might remember, and that might be because he experimented with several, not exactly iconic finishers before settling on the one that was most over (and because nobody really remembers the finish of most Attitude Era matches and he won the memorable ones by retrieving belts from a karabiner).
There was the Edgecution, a nice impaler DDT that had a cool, delayed effect that allowed fans to get up for the pop, but was introduced during a time in which the DDT had been normalised. His Edgecator Sharpshooter variation was decent, but he wasn't known for his submission prowess, so it wasn't credible enough, and the Edge-o-Matic was a cooler way of reversing the momentum in a match than winning it.
The Spear prevailed, despite, strictly speaking, it being the worst variation of a move better deployed by hoss characters - but Edge was so good at crafting matches that it worked on a when-to-do-it basis.
The Spear wasn't just something Edge always did; after taking some punches from Jose Estrada on the June 22, 1998 Raw, it was the very first thing he did - which, prior to his 2020 return, was the very last move he hit in a successful World Heavyweight title defence against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania XXVII.
It goes deeper, too: Edge injured Jose's neck in 1998 and was working through the injured neck that retired him for nine years in 2011.
Also, the difference between Edge's retirement and comeback was nine years - the same amount of years that separated the ages of Estrada and Del Rio in those matches.