Out of all of our This Day in Wrestling History segments we’ve done, we haven’t had a lot involving Sting.
He was the Franchise in NWA and one of the greatest wrestlers in history that led to many dream match scenarios for fans throughout the 1980s and some of those culminated in the 1990s in WCW, then in WWE.
He’s made his mark and will always be remembered for his accomplishments and exciting matches, and all of that almost came to an end on September 20, 2015.
Though he made a successful return earlier this year, the injury he suffered was life altering and he had to step away because of it.
It happens
Accidents happen whether it’s in daily life, sports, or entertainment.
People can trip or slip at any point and injure themselves, but injuries take on a different angle in professional wrestling as each competitor relies on the other to keep them safe.
Such was the case at WWE’s Night of Champions where Seth Rollins had two championship matches.
The first he lost the United States Championship to John Cena, but his second title defense is where Sting’s story comes into play.
While Rollins went on to win the match, Sting suffered a neck injury and was later operated on to correct the issue, and he announced his retirement in April 2016 at his WWE Hall of Fame induction.
The injury
Sting was reportedly slated to win the WWE Championship that night, but fate took him down a different path.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
“The referee, the doctor, they’re all in there talking to me: ‘Are you OK? What’s going on? Can you continue? Are you all right? Tell us what’s happening.’ And the whole time, I’m just thinking, ‘Oh, man, not now.’ I mean, I want this to be good, you know? And if it ends up being the last thing I ever do in the ring, I don’t want to go out like this. God help me. I’m trying to just shake it off, you know? C’mon, c’mon.
“I’m stamping my feet or moving my toes, just trying to get a feel back, get my legs back underneath me. It started to kind of clear up a little bit. My fingers were still tingling and all that, but my legs were not at that point. I said, ‘Let me try to continue, let’s just try it.’ So I just stood up and walked away from them and we continued.” – Sting, WWE.com interview September 22, 2015.
We hate to see careers end due to injury and we’re grateful that Sting was eventually able to come back to do what he loves, but this day in wrestling history is one of those we can’t help but wonder “what if?”
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