After almost nine years away from wrestling and triple-fusion neck surgery, Edge made his seemingly impossible return to in-ring action last January at the 2020 Royal Rumble.
Even when reports of a WWE comeback began circulating, it seemed improbable. When he got himself in fantastic shape and posted it on Instagram, precious few linked that to an in-ring comeback.
When Edge walked away from his very successful podcast with Christian - E&C's Pod of Awesomeness - he said it 'wasn't that fun' and many thought talking about wrestling had become difficult for him.
When talks of a new contract with WWE surfaced, many convinced themselves it was merely a legends deal. When the Rated- R superstar speared Elias on the pre-show for SummerSlam 2019, people said he did it softly and it was just to create a moment in his hometown.
The truth was staring us in the face all along, but given how miraculous it would be for Edge to return, nobody thought it was even an option.
Edge is now 47 - his birthday a day before Halloween - and his injury record would give anyone nightmares. He is in the midst of recovering from a torn tricep, a recovery that according to some reports hasn't been smooth sailing.
He picked it up during 'The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever' with Randy Orton at Backlash and was only Edge's third outing in a ring since his return.
The Canadian grappler has done it all in WWE. He's an eleven-time world champion, was part of one of the greatest tag-teams of its era with Christian - and a 12-time tag team champion - he won the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, King of the Ring and held both Intercontinental (five times) and United States titles.
For years, Edge had maintained there was no chance he could ever return to wrestling, almost to the point of beating a dead horse.
When Daniel Bryan returned in 2016 and Edge was flooded with more questions than ever about his status, he reaffirmed his position, but was almost agitated by the idea and/or people's unwillingness to accept his limitations as he had been forced to do so himself.
After years in the wrestling wilderness where the void was filled with acting and podcasts, a chance accident spawned the idea of a comeback.
"It started dawning on me that this could be a possibility when Sheamus came to town, and we were filming an episode of his Celtic Warrior workout show. He wants to do different challenging things that he hasn't done before, and I love to mountain bike. ... In the process of doing that - this stupid competitive thing - I'm flying down a mountain, I hit this one jump, and I wiped out.
"It's a pretty gnarly wipeout. I was going probably 20, 25 mph, landed on these stones, rolled right up to my feet. But I'm fine. I was all cut up, but my neck was fine. Couple that with doing all of these fight scenes over the years on sets - some pretty physical stuff, especially with 'Vikings' - and I thought, 'OK, I feel really good.'"
Edge saw multiple doctors - the best in their fields across America - before even having the chance to get cleared by WWE's medical team.
Once that eventually happened, WWE sent him a ring to work out in so he could prepare for his comeback and he got to work with his WWE Hall of Fame wife Beth Phoenix and FTR, then known as The Revival in WWE.
talkSPORT was at the Royal Rumble in Texas and Edge's return was like a morale shift. We spoke to WWE employees that night and one even said 'he's back - like really back!' and we begun to hear about how excited WWE were to bring back a legend.
While many would think it might be a formality to bring back someone like Edge who spent nearly all of his career in WWE - it was not.
Edge has admitted he fielded an offer from another wrestling company first - all but certain to have been AEW - and he told them he had to take that offer to Vince McMahon before accepting.
Naturally, McMahon matched it and then some and Edge's return to the company was said to have left both he and Phoenix delighted with the deal they were able to secure.
Edge's deal was for three years at $3 million-a-year. He gets paid in full as long as he competes three times in a year, which he already managed to this year.
The dates Edge has committed to is five matches. On top of that, he will make 25 appearances per year.
Edge's time in WWE has been hindered by another injury, but it's widely believed he will return to the fold and when he does, he and Randy Orton are both committed to finishing the story that they started.
He's said it publicly: Finishing his story on his terms is what matters most to Edge at this juncture and his remarkable, even miraculous, recovery will be defined by the work he puts in now.
Considering he wants to craft stories with a whole host of superstars he's never been able to touch before, it could be the greatest comeback in the history of wrestling.
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