Sting has looked back on his 2016 retirement and why he chose to bring his career to an end at that point.
Following successful runs in WCW and TNA, Sting finally arrived in WWE at Survivor Series 2014 to take down The Authority. Entering a storyline with Triple H, The Icon lost his debut match to The Game at WrestleMania, had 2 matches on Raw and went on to challenge Seth Rollins for the World Championship at Night of Champions.
Unfortunately, Sting suffered a neck injury in the Rollins match and would not compete for the promotion again. Announcing his retirement at his Hall of Fame induction in 2016, The Icon teased that there might be more to come.
Although fans believed that any more matches from the veteran was unlikely, The Icon proved everyone wrong in 2020 when he debuted in All Elite Wrestling, which began a run featuring 28 matches in the promotion before retiring at Revolution 2024.
While speaking with Kayfabe Friends, the Hall of Famer admitted that he does miss the buzz of the crowd but won’t be making another comeback. Additionally, The Icon stated that the reason for the retirement was because Vince McMahon wanted him to retire while with the company:
“Anyone who would say that they would not miss that is a liar, so of course I’ll miss that. But I’m never gonna come back to wrestle again. I know that. I did retire with WWE, but I also said the only thing that’s for sure about Sting is nothing’s for sure. This is just ‘see you later,’ basically. I did leave it open-ended pretty much, I didn’t really want to retire at that time. It was kind of like a mutual deal that I did with WWE at the time.
Vince [McMahon] wanted me to retire under his umbrella, and at the time, I was okay with that. It was five-plus years that I was retired, but I came back because like I said in my little speech there, I got that phone call from Tony Khan and Cody Rhodes, ‘Want to come back and play one more time?’ So I did, and the rest is history,”
What’s Next For Sting?
Following on from his retirement at Revolution 2024, which saw The Icon and Darby Allin defeat The Young Bucks, the former Tag Team Champion has been absent from TV apart from a one-off appearance at All In to save Allin from an Elite beatdown. Also in the interview, Sting revealed that he is still a part of AEW and has elaborated on his role.
Also in the interview, Sting called for the return of more over-the-top characters.
H/t to Fightful.