Vince McMahon allegedly influenced WWE legend's decision to surprisingly announce retirement
Vince McMahon has been the Chairman of WWE for nearly four decades and has built up a lot of notoriety in those years. The 77-year old allegedly influenced AEW star Sting's retirement.
Sting was one of the most iconic stars in WCW during the company's hottest run. After WCW was bought by WWE, Sting decided against signing for the Stamford-based promotion like many of his colleagues did.
That changed in 2014 when he showed up at Survivor Series to help Dolph Ziggler defeat Team Authority. The Vigilante was eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016 after a sketchy run in the biggest promotion in the world.
On this day six years ago, Sting made his WWE debut at Survivor Series
An all-time moment 🦂
(via @WWENetwork)
https://t.co/YA6Lv7Q6ZJ
In a recent interview with DMagazine, the Stinger spoke about how Vince McMahon might have hinted that he retire early.
"He [Triple H] says, ‘No, no, no, no. Uh-uh. No. This is not a retirement speech,’” Sting recalled.
As the event approached, though, he could feel the wind shift. He is quick to note that he “wasn’t forced into it, [and] nobody made me do it.” But he does recall a conversation with McMahon, where the Chairman told him that whenever he decided to end his in-ring career, “I’d rather it be here under this umbrella. WWE.”
Sting could read between the lines.
“I just felt like everything was” – he pauses to break into a sharp laugh – “pointing toward, ‘You just need to retire. Just get it over with.’ … I finally relented and said, ‘Alright. Let’s just do it.’”
Sting had a less-than-stellar run with WWE
Sting made a highly memorable debut for WWE at Survivor Series 2014. He showed up on RAW early in 2015 multiple times to confront Triple H and The Authority. A No Disqualifications match was booked between the AEW star and The Game for WrestleMania 31.
DX and The NWO coming out during Triple H vs Sting at Wrestlemania 31 was FREAKIN’ AWESOME! https://t.co/U9AVd1jU5C
The match was iconic as it was Sting's first ever bout in the company. However, the finish was a head-scratcher as Triple H came out on top. Moreover, the nWo came out to help Sting, which was a strange decision as Sting spent the majority of his career in WCW fighting off the nWo.
At Night of Champions 2015, Seth Rollins defeated the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion to retain the WWE Championship. A botched Buckle Bomb severely injured Sting, forcing him to retire from in-ring action.