WWE shows classy gesture on RAW after Sting’s retirement

Sting had his final match at the AEW Revolution pay-per-view, where he and Darby Allin emerged as the champions. WWE, which had previously remained silent about Sting’s retirement, spoke out on the matter.

Despite not allowing AEW to use any footage of Sting that they owned, WWE acknowledged The Vigilante’s retirement and congratulated him. While Gunther was preparing for his match, WWE gave The Icon some love by mentioning and congratulating him on his retirement.

Sting’s retirement gets acknowledged by WWE

Last night at AEW Revolution, one of the greatest in-ring careers in the history of professional wrestling came to an end as The Icon Sting took his final bow from the squared circle. Sting and Darby Allin successfully defended their AEW World Tag Team championships against Matt and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, in one of the most physically grueling and intense matches of all time.

During Sting’s last wrestling match with his rivals, WWE acknowledged his retirement on their television programming. On tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw, Michael Cole mentioned Sting’s farewell at Revolution and offered his best wishes for The Vigilante’s final performance in the ring. Cole announced this at the start of the match between Dominik Mysterio and the WWE Intercontinental Champion, Gunther.

The Vigilante briefly joined WWE in 2014 and competed against wrestlers like Seth Rollins and Triple H. Unfortunately, a serious neck injury led to his first retirement. In 2016, He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. However, in 2021, he made his return to the ring by signing with AEW. He wrestled for the next three years until his final match at the AEW Revolution, where he retired for good.

Looking back at Sting’s WWE run

Sting was one of the most prominent stars in professional wrestling and the face of WCW for 14 years. After WCW went out of business, many of the top stars went to WWE, but Sting chose a different path. He joined TNA Impact Wrestling and continued to compete, rather than going to WWE.

The Icon has signed a long-term deal with All Elite Wrestling, which is WWE’s biggest rival in over a decade. Despite playing the rebel character in pro wrestling, Sting made his WWE debut in 2014 and worked for the company for two years until 2016. However, his time there did not go as expected by him and his fans. Now, with AEW, The Hooligan has ended his career as a wrestler.

It was evident that The Vigilante was going to appear in WWE, and several events preceded his arrival. First, Bill Apter wrote an article for WWE.com about Sting, and shortly after, he appeared on a WWE Network special focusing on The Ultimate Warrior.

However, the most significant news followed when WWE released a DVD about The Icon’s career, which was later sold through their platform. Soon after, he was added to WWE 2K15, where he appeared in a promo for a new game. Then, WWE started selling Sting merchandise, which further confirmed his arrival.

The Icon made his very first appearance in a WWE ring during the 2014 Survivor Series. His debut was in the traditional Survivor Series match between Team Cena and Team Authority. During the match, Big Show, a member of Team Cena, betrayed his team captain, John Cena, and turned into a heel, knocking him out. This left Dolph Ziggler, another member of Team Cena, at a three-on-one disadvantage.

However, Ziggler managed to eliminate both Kane and Luke Harper, reducing the advantage of the opposing team. It became a one-on-one match between Ziggler and Seth Rollins from Team Authority. Triple H, another member of Team Authority, tried to cheat as much as he could to help Rollins win, but Sting showed up and hit Triple H with a Scorpion Death Drop, which is one of his signature moves. This helped Ziggler pin Rollins, breaking up The Authority.

In 2015, The Authority regained power in WWE, with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon leading the roster. The Vigilante made his first appearance to help John Cena defeat them. This began a feud between Sting and Triple H, leading to a highly anticipated match between them.

At WrestleMania, Sting vs. Triple H was turned into DX vs. nWo, and Triple H beat Sting. They shook hands, ending their feud. Sting’s arrival and purpose in WWE then made no sense.

Sting’s feud with Seth Rollins was the final one of his WWE career. On the August 24, 2015 Monday Night Raw episode, The Hooligan made his return to WWE and challenged Rollins. On the same night, he fought his first-ever match on Raw against Big Show, which he won by DQ as Rollins interfered. Sting teamed up with John Cena for another match that night, which they won against Rollins and Big Show. With this victory, Sting’s TV record was 2-0, and his overall WWE record was 2-1.

Sting only wrestled three matches in WWE, and one of them was against Rollins at the 2015 Night of Champions pay-per-view. Despite the great match they had, The Icon got injured, and it ended his career. Rollins hit Sting with two Bucklebombs, causing a severe neck injury due to cervical spinal stenosis. The Icon retired at the age of 56 and never wrestled for WWE again.

Following The Icon’s injury, it appeared that WWE had accepted that he would never be able to wrestle for them again. Consequently, in 2016, WWE inducted Sting into the WWE Hall of Fame. He was the first member of the class to be announced, and during his induction speech, Sting revealed that he was retiring from his professional wrestling career.

What did you think about Michael Cole referring to Sting’s retirement during WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments below!