History Wrestling / Sting

* CareerEndingInjury:
** After suffering whiplash during his match with Wrestling/SethRollins at Night of Champions 2015, he was diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis, the same disease that ended Edge's career in 2011. John Cena had the same injury as well and recovered, but he was barely 31 and in his physical prime, whereas Edge had multiple neck injuries beforehand and Sting's much older than both men, having a lot more holes punched on his bump card. As a result, Sting officially announced his retirement at his Hall of Fame induction. He's in such good shape too; guess at 56 his body just couldn't keep up with how hard he wanted to go. Have to respect his will to put on a great match.
** He later said on ''Legends with [=JBL=]'' that he hasn't had surgery because, "That would definitely be the end of (his) career." And that he holds out hope for one final match with The Undertaker. It is unlikely, but it's worth noting that he has delibrately tried to avoid the surgery in order to get one last match and go out on his terms.
** Another interview in 2017 had Steve reveal that he is still medically capable of wrestling, but has decided to stay retired anyway.
** Subverted in 2020 when Sting came out of retirement to join Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling as the mentor for Wrestling/DarbyAllin. He revealed he'd gotten the same kind of spinal repair surgery that had allowed Wrestling/{{Edge}} to come out of retirement after 9 years away from the ring and was cleared to wrestle again.

Do not confuse with the [[{{Sting}} trope]], [[Music/{{Sting}} the musician Gordon Sumner]] (although they have been photographed together), [[Film/TheSting the film]], the dagger used by [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo and his Uncle]], or the painful infliction of the same name.

* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Before they split, he and Wrestling/UltimateWarrior were a pair of interchangeable big guys/pretty boys, who evolved into a RoadWarriors ripoff, after they broke up, they eventually became two of the most distinct characters in wrestling, with very little in common except a penchant for facepaint.

...And then came December 2, 2020, when Sting un-retired and joined the roster of [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]]. Since becoming All-Elite, Sting has acted as a mentor and tag team partner to young wrestler Wrestling/DarbyAllin.

Until December 2, 2020, where he became [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling All Elite.]]

* AntiHero: While his earlier "Surfer" gimmick was thato of a lovable California blonde who was a traditional babyface, his later gimmicks would stray from this.
** "Crow" Sting was a stoic vigilante who would eerily watch from the rafters and who was a PragmaticHero that wasn't hesitant to get his hands dirty by playing mind games and using his signature bat.

* TheDreaded: Has reached this status in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling. His debut has Team Tazz immediately bailing out of the ring once Sting pulls out his iconic [[BatterUp baseball bat]].

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Survivor Series 2014.]]

* FailureHero: Sadly often. On top of his GoodIsDumb moments -- he ultimately couldn't depose the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder, [[Wrestling/{{TNA}} Team Dixie]], '''''or''''' [[spoiler:Wrestling/TheAuthority]] from their companies.

* CoolOldGuy: Still wrestling at age 62, and [[StillGotIt can still keep up with guys much younger than him]]. To put this in perspective, he's SIX YEARS OLDER than Wrestling/TheUndertaker, the longest serving member of the WWE.

* CoolOldGuy: Still wrestling at age 62, and [[StillGotIt could still keep up with guys much younger than him]]. To put this in perspective, he's SIX YEARS OLDER than Wrestling/TheUndertaker, the longest serving member of the WWE.

* CoolOldGuy: Wrestled until he was 56 years old, and [[StillGotIt could still keep up with guys much younger than him]]. To put this in perspective, he's SIX YEARS OLDER than Wrestling/TheUndertaker, the longest serving member of the WWE.

* TheDreaded: Has reached this status in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling. His debut has Wrestling/TeamTazz immediately bailing once Sting pulls out his iconic [[BatterUp baseball bat]].

* TheDreaded: Has reached this status in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling.

Prior to 2014, Sting had never worked for Wrestling/{{WWE}} in any capacity since WCW's demise. Choosing instead to have control over his career and his gimmick, Sting worked the independent circuit until around 2006, when he became an on-again/off-again member of the Wrestling/{{TNA}} roster, with multiple title reigns. He left [=TNA=] in early 2014, taking several months off until April, appearing on a WWE special following the death of his good friend and former tag team partner [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior the Ultimate Warrior]]. He has since appeared in other retrospectives on Warrior's legacy, sparking rumors ([[IKnewIt correct]], as it turned out) that he was in talks to perform on [=WWE=] television, a persistent [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny dream match]] of the last decade. On the July 14, 2014 episode of ''Raw'', Sting appeared in a spot for the ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE 2K15]]'' video game as a pre-order bonus character. Sting made his official WWE debut at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2014 attacking Wrestling/TheAuthority and ruining their match against [[Wrestling/JohnCena Team Cena]]. [[note]]In case you're wondering, the current "Biggest star from the English-speaking world never to have worked for WWE in any capacity" is now believed to be Fritz Von Erich. Yes, even Wrestling/KennyOmega briefly worked for WWE's developmental territory Deep South Wrestling early in his career.[[/note]]

* BreakupBreakout: Sting and Warrior both went on to become megastars, but Sting enjoyed a much longer career and a better reputation, and arguably was the breakout star of the Blade Runners.

As usual, Wiki/ThatOtherWiki has a nice, long article on his career.

Prior to 2014, Sting had never worked for Wrestling/{{WWE}} in any capacity since WCW's demise. Choosing instead to have control over his career and his gimmick, Sting worked the independent circuit until around 2006, when he became an on-again/off-again member of the Wrestling/{{TNA}} roster, with multiple title reigns. He left [=TNA=] in early 2014, taking several months off until April, appearing on a WWE special following the death of his good friend and former tag team partner [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior the Ultimate Warrior]]. He has since appeared in other retrospectives on Warrior's legacy, sparking rumors ([[IKnewIt correct]], as it turned out) that he was in talks to perform on [=WWE=] television, a persistent [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny dream match]] of the last decade. On the July 14, 2014 episode of ''Raw'', Sting appeared in a spot for the ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE 2K15]]'' video game as a pre-order bonus character. Sting made his official WWE debut at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2014 attacking Wrestling/TheAuthority and ruining their match against [[Wrestling/JohnCena Team Cena]]. [[note]]In case you're wondering, the current "biggest star never to have worked for WWE in any capacity" is now believed to be Fritz Von Erich.[[/note]]

* TenMinuteRetirement: Subverted. Although he went on hiatus several dozen times since WCW closed and every other match he had was billed as a possible retirement match, Steve never officially retired until 2016, and due to his injury and condition we thought it was most likely going to be a permanent one. But then it's possibly played straight after all when Sting came out of retirement to join Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling in 2020.