I started to watch WWE because my Mom did and I was generally too lazy to leave the room. She was into the Rock in a deeply disturbing way. I still remember watching the first TLC match between The Hardy Boys, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian. It was sickeningly mindblowing. One of my favorite memories from watching wrestling was during Wrestlemania 17, where Edge jumped off a ladder to spear Jeff Hardy, who was hanging from the belt 20 feet in the air.

I stopped watching a long time ago, but hearing about Edge’s retirement is truly saddening. Especially because, not only is it involuntary, but he’s 37 and suffering through something that could’ve ended up paralyzing him if he hadn’t gone for an MRI. If he’d pushed through the pain and numbness like a lot of the guys in that industry do, he wouldn’t be walking away from the ring.

I don’t care what anyone thinks about wrestling, or the people that watch it. This guy broke his neck, had his throat moved over to put a plate in, and got back in the ring until it finally caught up with him last week. Respect.