10 Wrestling Matches Which Quickened Edge's Retirement
9. Edge & Christian Vs. The Hardy Boyz (No Mercy 1999)
The earliest bout on this list also happens to be one of the most innovative. Tag-team wrestling in the then-WWF wasn't exactly buzzing in the latter months of 1999. Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boyz changed that fact, producing an absolute stunner at No Mercy in October.
So enthused were fans by the action that they gave the quartet a standing ovation the next evening on Raw. It was well-deserved, but there's an alternative way of looking at the match. Whilst there's no denying it was excellent in terms of quality, it was also a brutal indication that the envelope was being pushed further than ever before.
More so than in previous Ladder Matches, the actual ladder was used as a weapon. These men were taking real risks, and Edge was no different to anyone else involved. He took several nasty falls from the top of the ladder, and the bumps looked especially stiff.
Even with knee and elbow pads, colliding with the steel can't have been painless, but it's the effect big falls may have had on Edge's neck that posed the problem later on.