7 Great Talkers WWE Didn't Let Talk

2. Edge

The eloquent, yet somehow sinister, beats to Edge's promos as the 'Rated-R Superstar' will live on forever. Before that, the Canadian had been a goofy prankster in a tag-team with Christian, and had played the straight-ahead smiling babyface role after that. 'Rated-R' was his chance to let loose and explore his personality.

It rocked.

That period also makes it more confusing that the WWF's initial plan for Edge was to make him voiceless. Vince Russo, who was the head writer when Edge debuted in 1998, has been credited for this. His idea was to make the character a "deaf mute" (so said Edge on Chris Jericho's podcast in 2014). Russo didn't think the young star could talk, and he was trying to ignore his supposed weaknesses.

The only problem with that is that they weren't actually weaknesses. Edge could talk, he just needed the opportunity to prove that instead of being saddled with a speechless gimmick. On the same pod, Edge revealed he and Val Venis almost became 'The New Midnight Express', so it could've been worse.