After decades of waiting, “The Icon” finally joined the WWE in 2014. His WWE stint was filled with highs and lows, but it was cut short as Sting suffered a serious injury during a match in September 2015.
Sting made his first-ever appearance in the WWE at Survivor Series 2014 when he helped Team Cena defeat Team Authority in the five-on-five elimination match. It was this appearance that led him to fight against Triple H in an iconic match at WrestleMania 31.
After his Wrestlemania loss, Sting returned in August 2015 and started a feud against Seth Rollins, which was also Sting’s last feud in the company. This feud led Sting to a World Championship opportunity, as he challenged Rollins for a match at the 2015 Night of Champions.
Despite Sting having only had three matches in his career at WWE, the match at the PPV was a great one. Both performers worked pretty well throughout the match, but an unfortunate incident also took place during this match.
Seth hit Sting with two Bucklebombs during the match, and it resulted in Sting suffering cervical spinal stenosis. Due to this neck injury, it became Sting’s final match in the WWE.
Was Seth Rollins the real reason behind Sting’s WWE retirement?
Following the freak injury Sting suffered in his match against Seth Rollins, doctors from the WWE Medical Team refused him to wrestle again. Sting refused to wrestle, but he continued making appearances in WWE and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.
During his Hall of Fame speech, Sting announced his retirement. A lot of people held Seth Rollins responsible for Sting’s injury and considered him the real reason for Sting’s WWE retirement. However, “The Icon” defended Seth during a 2016 interview with Bill Apter.
He said, “It was just a freak accident. I’m telling you, Seth, it is not his fault. I mean, not even in the slightest percentage of anything. It was without question, it was me, and to this day I cannot figure out what the heck I was thinking.”
Sting also revealed that the dangerous landing made him feel paralyzed at that point. However, he reneged on having surgery and revealed that he felt “completely normal” and had none of the side effects of cervical spinal stenosis.
Sting returns to AEW
Despite announcing his retirement in 2016, Sting returned to professional wrestling by making an appearance at AEW’s “Winter Is Coming” on December 2, 2020. Following this, it was announced that he had officially signed with AEW.
“The Icon” made his in-ring return on March 7, 2021, as he teamed up with Darby Allin against the Team of Brian Cage and Ricky Starks in a Streetfight tag-team match at AEW Revolution. After this, they defeated the team of Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page at AEW Double or Nothing on May 30, 2021.
In his pairing with Allin, their team was able to defeat The Acclaimed and 2point0 in their next matches. The team even teamed up with CM Punk, Sammy Guevara, and Shingo Takagi to win six-man tag team matches. Recently, on June 25, 2023, Sting teamed up with Allin and Tetsuya Naito to defeat the team of Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki.
Sting’s professional wrestling return was something no one really expected after his retirement was announced, but he proved everyone wrong with his recent performances. Looking at the way Sting performs despite being 64, it seems he still has a lot of years left in the pro wrestling industry.