The headline-making wrestler Sting had no plans to bid farewell to WWE back in 2016, many years prior to his actual retirement. Yet, Vince McMahon was eager for the Icon to exit his wrestling career. Sting officially ended his wrestling journey while being part of AEW at the AEW Revolution 2024 event, triumphing in a tag-team face-off alongside Darby Allin against The Young Bucks.
In an episode of the “Kayfabe Friends” podcast, Sting gave an insight into his retirement from WWE and McMahon’s persistence on it being under his guidance. Sting admitted,
“I didn’t desire to retire at that point. The retirement discussion was a two-way conversation with WWE. Vince was keen on me retiring under his leadership. At that instance, I was agreeable with the idea.”
Sting’s first step towards retirement from wrestling began post an injury he sustained during a match against Seth Rollins at the WWE Night Of Champions event in 2015.
Late 2020 saw Sting marking his debut for AEW and embarked on his in-ring journey with the promotion just a year later.
In the podcast episode, Sting opened up about his existing agreement with AEW and what it implies now that his wrestling tenure has ended. For additional information, do check out the podcast episode.