Professional wrestling legend Sting spoke with WWE.com on Wednesday about his injury at Night of Champions and whether or not he’ll return to the ring. Sting said that he was open to wrestling again under the right circumstances, however, it’s looking like the former WCW and TNA Champion may never be cleared to step into the ring again.
On Thursday morning, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer gave the details of Sting’s spinal injury, and he revealed that “The Icon” is suffering from a major spinal condition which has ended several careers in professional wrestling.
“The one thing is that [Sting] apparently has spinal stenosis, and that’s not a good thing. The other thing is that he actually got hurt twice in that match. He was injured early in the match, and kept going. Then there was the second injury, which was the serious one. So, when you’re injured twice and you’re 56 years-old, it is a time of thinking.”
For those who are unaware, spinal stenosis is what ended WWE Hall of Fame Edge’s in-ring career, among others. Furthermore, Edge was nearly twenty years younger than Sting is now when he was forced to retire from being an active WWE wrestler. Since retiring, Edge has said that WWE won’t allow him to wrestle ever again, even if he would want to.
Whenever Edge has returned to WWE television, WWE hasn’t allowed him to do anything physical, with the exception of being held down by Seth Rollins in December of last year.
So, with Sting having the exact same spinal condition as Edge, it’s pretty hard to see WWE allowing him to wrestle again, especially since he’s in his mid-50’s.
WWE has been very hesitant to put wrestlers who are north of 50 in the ring over the last couple of years, and, now that Sting has suffered a pretty substantial neck injury, WWE may require the future Hall of Famer to undergo several physical tests before they allow him to get back into the ring.
Sting’s injury will likely force WWE to change their WrestleMania plans, as Sting was originally scheduled to take on Bray Wyatt in Dallas next year. But, it’s now looking like Sting’s in-ring career is over. So, instead of him competing at WrestleMania next year, expect WWE to make Sting the headline act for next year’s WWE Hall of Fame class, which may have happened even if he wasn’t suffering from a possible career-ending spinal condition.
[Image via WWE ]
