10 WWE Gimmicks Wrestlers Refused
6. Edge Was Meant To Be Deaf And Unable To Speak
Many long-time wrestling fans may well remember that Edge was initially depicted as a brooding ball of rage who would quietly sit in the shadows. What those same fans may not realise, however, is that the future Rated-R Superstar was initially meant to be deaf and unable to speak.
Like so many garbage ideas of the time, this was of course an idea conjured up by Vince Russo.
Russo didn't think that Edge had any charisma, couldn't cut a promo, and likely wasn't going to make the grade in the wrestling business. As on so many other occasions, oh how wrong Vinny Ru proved to be.
This was at the time when Edge had just been signed by the then-World Wrestling Federation, and so the Canadian grappler has to be commended for standing his ground on this proposal and outright refusing this awful gimmick. After all, many other relative rookies in that situation would've just nodded and agreed with whatever was on the table for fear of pissing off those in creative.
As Edge revealed on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, he believes that the reason Vince Russo offered him this gimmick was because Russo was miffed that the young wrestler had not seemed too keen on Russo's initial idea - of teaming Edge and Val Venis together under the names of Adorable Adam and Sensual Sean as the New Midnight Express.