In an interview with ESPN, Edge spoke about his return at the Royal Rumble this year and when he knew he was able to wrestle again. Here are highlights:

On his return at the Royal Rumble: “Once the music hit, and that reaction … I mean, I truly feel like I could have beat King Kong’s ass. It was all surreal, kind of like a dream sequence, but everything’s so focused and hyperfocused that I can’t really explain it. But I think when you look at the video of me walking out, I think you see it in my eyes.”

On when he knew he could wrestle again: “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.'”

On being in the Rumble match: “What was incredible about it is Beth got asked to do the women’s Rumble four days before it. All of a sudden, it goes from, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m getting ready for the Rumble after nine years,’ to, ‘Oh, man, we’re both doing this. Holy crap.’ But it was so much fun. What a moment that you’ll never have again. As husband and wife, both retired, both Hall of Famers, we had really just assumed it was all done, and for it to suddenly be back in our laps, we both love this.”

On Wrestlemania: “For so long, I never thought this would happen again, right? What that taught me is to appreciate it all and no matter what it is, you pull the positives. That’s all you can do. The positives are always there. … And it’s a strange time, but it’s also a time where we can hopefully help people for a few hours enjoy themselves. And for me, as a performer, that’s an honor and a privilege, and that’s not lost on me after not being able to do this particular form of entertainment for nine years. Is it disappointing that it’s not in front of an audience? Of course it is. I’m not going to lie. But at the same time, I look at the challenge, and I go, ‘OK, how do you tell a compelling story?’ And in my mind, I picture everyone at home and how they’re going to react and how they’re going to come out of their chairs and how they’re going to get angry and just get lost in it. And if we can do that, then that’s all we set out to do.”