WWE Backstage (June 16th, 2020) - 5 Takeaways from this week's episode

#4 Thoughts on "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever"

Edge and Randy Orton

WWE promoted the match between Orton and Edge as "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" and this episode of WWE Backstage couldn't proceed without analyzing it. There have been many great matches in WWE history but none promoted like this one. Mark Henry was brief in his analysis, claiming that he "thought it was a great match and that they played the hits" but "for it to be the greatest match of all time, I wanted to see a ref bump. I wanted bells and whistles." WWE and pro-wrestling in general is filled with many matches that are great for one reason or another.

Two-time WWE Hall-of-Famer Booker T claimed that "on the merit, the match was excellent and throwbacks to the greats. It's all about the marquee when it came to this match." Because of the hype "when you call it the greatest match ever you want to see it whether it is or not."

Of the moniker for the match itself, Punk claimed that "if you're Randy and Edge, you ignore that. It's too subjective." He felt that way because "everyone's going to have a different opinion but that's what makes wrestling great." Punk also added that "I think they had a great match, but I've seen better Randy Orton matches. I've seen better Edge matches. I feel like it was a lot of unnecessary pressure, especially on Edge after not wrestling for nine years."

Booker T and Renee Young both liked the added crowd noise that WWE piped in as Booker claimed that he thought it added to the match. Hart also gave some thoughts on the contest, saying that "it's almost impossible to name one match as the greatest of all time. Wrestling evolves and changes."

Since he knows about great matches in WWE, Hart also claimed that "there are always matches that you remember for the hype." He added that the one missing ingredient was "that there wasn't an audience and unfortunately, the limitation was there and there was nothing they could do about it." The Hitman went on to praise it, saying that "it was very realistic and very intense" and that it reminded him "of a tennis match watching two great tennis players going back and forth at such a fast pace."

The former WWE Champion also claimed that it's "probably the difference between my era and the era today - they don't take a lot of time to slowly build the story like 20 years ago. You couldn't ask anything more for them. They have great chemistry and they're two of the better wrestlers or any era or all time."

Hart did reveal that he spoke with Edge before the match, claiming that he "tried to give him some advice" because "he (Edge) was a little bit uncomfortable with declaring that he's having the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever before even having it." The advice he entrusted to Edge was that he always "thought about sitting in the front row watching myself. This match is for me. I was always a fan of a great match and the psychology and working the angle."