"I wanna thank all of you because this has been one hell of a career"

[Das Publikum begrüßt Edge mit 'Thank-you-Edge'-Rufen]

Edge: "I will never get tired of that. For those of you that may have missed it: it's true, I am being forced to retire. And what it's made me do is really open my eyes to everything again, you know, and really, really soak all of these experiences up. Almost like I'm seeing it all again for the very first time. Like my entrance, I uhh, you know I've been involved in some of the most insane matches in the history of the WWE. Some of the most insane moments whether it was helping to create the TLC Match - tables, ladders and chairs - whether it was 20-foot super-spears, diving into a flaming tables with thumbtacks in my back, whether it was Elimination Chamber matches or Hell in a Cell Matches against The Undertaker. No matter what, every time that I was going into a match like that or I have taken red eye flights and been up all night and two days because of our travel schedule, no matter what: As soon as I came down that ramp with my music playing - which I may be biased but I think is the coolest music in the WWE, so I gotta thank the guys from Alter Bridge for that song - and hearing you guys, all of you just feeding me that energy...

[Wieder 'Thank-you-Edge'-Rufe]

Every time, every time I came out there you gave me goosebumps. And I have to do that one more time. So if you guys will bear with me, I'm going back up there and I'm running out here and I'm going to do that one last time.

[Edge geht zurück in den Backstage-Bereich und wiederholt unter dem Jubel der Fans seinen Einzug.]

Man I got out of shape already, that tired me out. Listen, I--Since I announced my retirement, the outpouring from everybody in the WWE Universe it's been insane, it's been awesome. And a lot of people are sad and disappointed that my career is forced to come to an end. But you know what: I think, I think everybody is actually happy and very positive about the fact that the WWE and our team of doctors caught this before I was in a Ladder Match and I landed and couldn't get up. So that's good, that's a positive, I'm happy about that.

I'm happy about looking at the rest of my life from here. I'm happy about the fact that me and my girl are gonna get the dogs and go hiking in the mountains, go surfing down in Nicaragua, I can't wait. I'm happy about the fact that I get to wear my two suits - I'm not much of a suit guy as I can tell, but I thought that when I go out I might as well go out in style. And by the way I bought it for 100 bucks at JC Penney. I'm happy that I got to come to Albany. I really am. And I'm not just blowing smoke here, because Albany, it holds a special place for me, because this is where I won my very first WWE Championship. It's a little known fact but I was sitting in Albany in a rental car when I came up with the name Edge.

And what makes me most happy - and this is gonna be the tough part - is that my mom is with me here tonight. There she is right there. There she is. She is gonna be all shy and timid, but this is the strongest woman I've ever met. That woman right there... [Thank-you-Mom-Rufe] she instilled the strength in me to make it this far, to come through the broken necks, the torn achilles tendons. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be standing here, without her support over the years, I wouldn't have been able to do it. So everybody in here: Maybe give your mums a call tonight, alright?

And I'm happy to be here in front of all of you. You know I don't want it to get all sappy and corny - even though I guess it already has - but to me this World Heavyweight Championship, it has meant everything to me. Absolutely everything. I--I've worked my entire career to hold this. But it's not just mine, it never has been, it's not anyone else's in the locker room. To me, each and everyone of you holds a piece of this, it's symbolic. But now it's time for me to come out here and do what I have to do, and that is relinquish the World Heavyweight Championship. Oh it's cool, it's cool, I gotta do it, man. In closing, I really really just, I wanna thank all of you because this has been one hell of a career, it's been one hell of a ride. Thank you. Thank you very much."