The Icon Sting officially announced his retirement and took a bow at the Hall of Fame ceremony right before WrestleMania. It was unfortunate that the Universe got to see just the last year of a legendary 30-year career in the WWE.
At WrestleMania, Sting admitted to former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman how he wrestled with the decision to hang up his boots, saying, “It was a difficult moment for me, because you have the crowd chanting 'One more match' and I wanted that one more match. It is time, for several different reasons, but it was hard to do after 30 years.”
The 57-year-old sustained a severe neck injury during what would become the last match of his career, against Seth Rollins at Night Of Champions in September 2015. The injury is what brought on the decision to retire.
According to wrestlinginc.com, Sting was told by doctors that he it was a miracle he walked out of the match under his own power. He described the harrowing minutes after his neck was hurt during the match: “At Night of Champions against Seth Rollins, there was like a whiplash that happened twice in the match.
“The first one was shock and numbness down the fingers, and I've had that before, but this was pretty severe. The second time it happened I lost control of my legs. Long story short, I have spinal cervical stenosis in two areas of my neck.