One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY WWE WrestleMania

5. WrestleMania 37 | The Gossip Surrounding The Tweaked Main Event

Edge WWE
WWE

The build to the night two main event of WrestleMania 37 was a typical twilight years Vince McMahon disasterclass. 

Edge won the men’s Royal Rumble match, which wasn’t particularly inspiring. Edge had seemingly spent his wilderness years convincing himself that he was Jack Reacher. His intensity was more off-putting than believable. He wasn’t in great form chasing Roman Reigns. WWE sensed this, and found a convoluted way of adding Daniel Bryan to the match in a bid to save it. The bid worked: the Triple Threat was one of the better main events in the history of the show, and the closing visual of the double stack pin established Roman Reigns as the biggest heel of his era. 

Edge was not the planned winner of the Royal Rumble, which might explain why the Roman feud was so half-arsed; according to the November 2, 2020 issue of the Observer, WWE wanted to revisit Edge’s 2020 feud with Randy Orton, which was set to culminate in an ‘I Quit’ match. Rumours that WWE was anxious over such a match going over 80 minutes cannot be confirmed. 

WWE decided to go with Edge as the Universal title challenger - but a strange reason was cited by one Observer source as to why Bryan was added to the match. Per the March 29 2021 issue, a source told Dave that “[Edge] was looking older each week”. What?!

Firstly, what do you expect when you push a guy in his late 40s? Also: wasn’t the grizzled dude overcoming adversity to return to the ring his entire gimmick?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!