WWE Mid-Year Report

The Sports Courier evaluates WWE's first six months of 2011.

The year 2011 has gone by rather quickly in the wrestling business.

It’s still WWE and everyone else--a status that won’t change for quite some time.

Thanks for making things uninteresting, TNA. I mean Impact Wrestling...Wait...What’s their name?

Here we’ll examine the biggest WWE stories, developments, and surprises of the first six months of 2011.

Biggest WWE Story: Edge forced into retirement

Honorable mentions:

-The Rock returns to WWE
-”Macho Man” Randy Savage dies in car accident
-CM Punk disinterested in WWE, possibly leaving

The tragic death of “Macho Man” Randy Savage certainly affected fans and wrestlers alike, including wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page.

While Savage’s death transcended wrestling, he had been retired from full-time activity for over a decade. Adam “Edge” Copeland’s premature retirement was a bigger deal in the WWE world--both creatively and financially.

Edge suffered more neck problems than usual earlier this year, stemming from surgery he had in 2003. He passed various medical exams en route to successfully defending the World Heavyweight Title against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania XXVII. Unfortunately, no one could have predicted it would be Edge’s last match.

Smackdown’s longest tenured wrestler got more tests done, only to find out that he had spinal stenosis, defined as:

The narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord, or narrowing of the openings (called neural foramina) where spinal nerves leave the spinal column.

Symptoms include numbness and weakness in arms and legs. If Edge continued to wrestle, he would risk paralysis. Just like that, one of WWE’s most decorated champions and reliable performers in history was forced into retirement. WWE honored the homegrown star and gave him a chance to say goodbye to fans on both RAW and Smackdown.