"Vince (McMahon) wanted me to retire under his umbrella" - AEW megastar discloses WWE tenure details

A former AEW World Tag Team Champion talked about his time in WWE and why he retired earlier from Vince McMahon's company. The star being discussed is Sting, who wrestled his last match in March 2024 in the Tony Khan-led promotion.

The Icon was a huge star in WCW, but when WWE bought the product, he resisted signing with the Stamford-based promotion. Eventually, after over a decade, he signed with WWE in 2014. He was a huge attraction for the company as he was involved in blockbuster feuds.

Unfortunately, Sting sustained a neck injury during his World Heavyweight Championship match against Seth Rollins in 2015. Shortly after, he announced his first retirement during his Hall of Fame induction speech in 2016. He was under contract with Global Sports Entertainment until 2020 and made his AEW debut later that year.

While speaking with Kayfabe Friends, The Vigilante revealed that the former Chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon, wanted him to retire under WWE while he still wanted to continue his in-ring career.

"I did leave it open-ended pretty much. I didn't wanna retire at that time. It was kind of a mutual deal with WWE at that time. Vince wanted me to retire under his umbrella. And at that time I was okay with that," he said. [03:51 - 04:09]

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Sting revealed he is under AEW's Legends deal

The WWE Hall of Famer retired from the Jacksonville-based promotion seven months ago. He has just made one appearance since hanging up his boots, which was at All In 2024.

While speaking with Kayfabe Friends, Sting revealed that he has signed a legends deal with AEW, which allows him to make future appearances in the company.

“I signed a multi-year deal with AEW, obviously not to wrestle anymore, but it’s like a licensing deal, a legends deal if you want to call it that. So I’ll do appearances with them on and off, depending on what they want and all," he said.

It will be interesting to see when Sting will make his next appearance in the Jacksonville-based promotion.

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Please credit Kayfabe Friends and add an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use any quotes from the first half of this article.