Edge Talks About Being Forced To Retire, His First WWE Contract

As noted earlier, former WWE Superstar Edge was a guest on Chris Jericho’s new “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. During the interview, Edge discussed how he was forced into retirement from the company back in 2011.

“I really thought I would relax whenever that is (when he retired), but with it being sped up a couple of years with the last injury, it was then like, ‘Now what?'” Edge said. “(WWE TV producer) Kevin Dunn called the ‘Haven’ people because they had been looking to have a tie-in with Smackdown. ‘Listen, we have this guy retiring. I think he could fill a good spot on your show.’ That’s kind of how that fell into place.”

Edge also revealed details of his contract when he first signed with the company.

“I got called up to J.R.’s office and he goes, ‘We have a deal for you.’ It was for $210 a week,” Copeland recalled after trying out at WWE headquarters. “Because after the currency exchange, that worked out to 300 Canadian.” Edge added: “They said just keep working. There was no farm system; they said, ‘Keep getting booked.'”

“I got signed at the end of ’96 and then I kept working,” Copeland said. “They said, ‘We’ll call you when we’re ready for you.’ And I kept going wherever I could. But now, I had $210 or 300 bucks to at least eat. It was like, ‘Here’s a little morsel so you can keep doing your thing.'”

Edge then mentioned that that when he signed his first real “deal” with WWE, Jim Ross decided to pay Copeland’s college education bills, which added up to $40,000.