Sting received a new lease on his wrestling life in December 2020. The Icon arrived at Daily’s Place during the first AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming, officially making himself a member of the All Elite Wrestling roster. Sting would work a cinematic match three months later but really shocked fans at AEW Double or Nothing 2021 when he stepped inside the squared circle to compete in a standard in-ring tag bout at 62 years old. This was his first traditional wrestling match since he was defeated by Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions in September 2015, a bout that culminated with Sting suffering a back injury that ultimately claimed his career at the time.
Speaking to Kayfabe Friends, Sting revealed that then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon personally pushed for him to retire after WWE Night of Champions 2015 as he wanted the former WCW Champion to hang up his boots “under [WWE’s] umbrella.”
“I didn’t really want to retire at that time. It was kind of like a mutual deal that I did with WWE at the time. Vince [McMahon] wanted me to retire under his umbrella, and at the time, I was okay with that,” Sting said. “It was five-plus years that I was retired, but I came back because I got that phone call from Tony Khan and Cody Rhodes. ‘Want to come back and play one more time?’ So I did, and the rest is history.”
Sting’s wrestling return is one of the sport’s most unprecedented comeback stories. He had already had a full-time wrestling career that had spanned 30 years at the time of his first retirement, and when AEW came calling, he was 61 years old. He went on to work 28 matches for All Elite Wrestling, from ages 62 until 64, many of which saw him execute death-defying dives and take significant weapons-based punishment. Sting officially ended his career this past March at AEW Revolution, successfully defending the AEW Tag Team Championships alongside longtime partner Darby Allin against The Young Bucks. Sting has made one televised appearance for AEW since, coming to the aid of Allin at AEW ALL IN: London this past August.
McMahon’s days in the wrestling industry have also ended, but not voluntarily. The final two years of McMahon’s career as a wrestling executive were plagued with controversy, as the longtime WWE Chairman faced sexual misconduct allegations in mid-2022 that pushed him into a temporary retirement. Shortly after he used his shareholding power to reinstate himself to the WWE Board of Directors, McMahon was hit with a sexual abuse and sex trafficking lawsuit from former WWE employee Janel Grant. The severity of Grant’s lawsuit paired with the fact that WWE was now under new ownership in the form of Endeavor, the parent company of UFC, led to McMahon resigning from his corporate positions within the company completely. McMahon has since sold his WWE shares, effectively severing all ties with his family business. He remains under federal investigation as Grant’s legal team pushes to bring the lawsuit to court.
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