Sayonara Sting?

Last Sunday, World Wrestling Entertainment presented the pay-per-view wrestling event known as Night of Champions. This is the only night during the WWE calendar year in which every title in the company is guaranteed to be up for grabs. The biggest and most prestigious of these titles is the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since Wrestlemania 31, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship has been held by Seth Rollins, and his most recent title defense came against the vigilante and former cornerstone of World Championship Wrestling, Sting. Rollins retained the belt after his pretty good match with the icon was abruptly halted and seemingly rushed to completion. The reason for this awkward ending was because apparently Sting was legitimately injured during the bout.

For those of you who do not know, WWE was, is, and always will be scripted. The outcomes of the matches are predetermined, and the wrestlers already know who will win before the bout begins because at its core, professional wrestling is more entertainment than it is sport. However, just because the results are scripted does not mean that it is safe. Professional wrestling is arguably one of the most dangerous professions in the world. The wrestlers take huge risks every time they step into the squared circle, and injuries are always possible no matter how trained and cautious the wrestlers are.

What happened to Sting is an unfortunate example of what can occur inside a wrestling ring. During the match, Rollins delivered a “buckle bomb,” a maneuver in which a wrestler throws another wrestler into the corner of the ring, to Sting. After the move had been completed, you could tell that there was something wrong with Sting. He could barely stand and moments later, he collapsed to the mat. The ringside doctor came into the ring immediately to check on the vigilante, and the bout stopped for a few minutes. During this time, the camera was focused only on Rollins, which was a huge clue for everybody watching on television that this injury was not scripted. Sting managed to finish the match with Rollins reversing the Scorpion Death Lock into a rollup pin, but it was obvious that the ending was rushed. After the match, the camera immediately focused only on Rollins and Sting was never seen on the broadcast again.

The next day, numerous sites reported that Sting had suffered a legitimate neck injury that was possibly career threatening. If the match was truly the end of Sting’s time in the ring, it will be a sad ending to what was an illustrious pro wrestling career. He won many world championships during his time in World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and his feuds with the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and the New World Order were legendary. It was only last year when the icon finally signed with WWE. Fans had been waiting 13 years for the Stinger to make his presence known in the biggest professional wrestling company on the planet. Unfortunately, his time in WWE could be short-lived should this injury indeed end his career. All we wrestling fans can do is hope that this is not the last time we have seen Sting distribute his iconic form of justice in a wrestling ring.