What Went Wrong With The Icon Sting’s 2-Year WWE Run?

When fans talk about wrestling legends, Sting‘s name often comes up in the conversations. The former wrestler has established a legacy behind himself as he has finally retired from wrestling. The Icon’s final match is at AEW Revolution 2024, which will be a historical moment considering he had his AEW debut at Revolution 2021. Before signing with Tony Khan, Sting also served some time in WWE.

His brief stint in WWE was exciting for long-term wrestling fans at first but soon turned into a career run that everyone wants to overlook now. Let’s look at the reasons behind the same.

Why do we overlook Sting’s WWE run?

In 2014, Sting finally signed a contract with the Stamford-based company despite turning it down for two decades straight. His debut at Survivor Series ’14 was a magical moment for many fans who wanted to see him wrestle in WWE. This run went on for only two years before the wrestling legend had to retire because of a severe injury to the neck while wrestling against Seth Rollins for his World Heavyweight Championship at the Night of Champions 2016.

Despite the hype that Sting brought with him, his WWE run failed to deliver. The first reason behind this was the first-ever WrestleMania match he had at WM 31 in 2015. He wrestled against Triple H. The match heavily relied on outside interference to make it interesting, leaving fans wanting more. The promotion had booked Sting to lose in the match, showing WWE’s supremacy over WCW and wasting the hype they had created around the wrestling legend.

Furthermore, the injury that Sting suffered vastly affected his potential as a wrestler. The Stamford-based company didn’t utilize the talent to its fullest as much as they could have in the two years they had. The rumored debut match planned was a match against the Undertaker at Mania, instead we got a Sting loss to a washed HHH and an underwhelming utilisation of the WCW legend.

Although WWE let one of its biggest signings go to waste, it didn’t affect the legacy that Sting had already built for himself before joining the leading wrestling promotion.

Sting’s career highlights outside of WWE

For starters, we can highlight that Sting is the oldest wrestler to win a tag title in both WWE and AEW at the age of 64. Apart from that, his career has been iconic since the beginning. Before joining WCW in 1987, The Stinger worked in UWF and had a tag team partnership with The Ultimate Warrior. This is where he got his iconic makeup from.

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On an episode of Nitro in 1988, Sting wrestled in one of the best matches of his era when he went up against Ric Flair. The former WWE superstar also worked in All Japan Pro Wrestling during the late 1980s.

Do you think his wasted time in WWE makes a significant difference? Let us know in the comments below.