After much speculation, Sting officially announced his retirement during his speech as part of the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday.
“I am officially going to retire tonight,” he said, putting on sunglasses and picking up his signature black bat. “I just wanted you to know, this isn’t ‘Goodbye,’ it’s just ‘See you later.’”
During and after that, he received a huge round of applause and a “Thank you, Sting” chant from the crowd.
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There had been reports that he would retire as part of the ceremony, with the rumor being that he suffered spinal stenosis in connection with the neck injury he received at Night of Champions in a match against Seth Rollins. Later, remarks from an interview about how he still hoped to fight the Undertaker one day and his proclivity for being unpredictable led many to believe he would continue training for a return to the ring.
Saturday’s announcement ends a career that has seen Sting, real name Steve Borden, rise to the top of the WCW ranks. He led the face side of the company during the NWO angle of the Monday Night War and was known as “The Franchise” for his unwavering dedication to the WCW, where he won the World Heavyweight Championship six times in addition to an NWA world title. He also won the United State title twice and the tag team titles three times.
He later joined the TNA roster, where he won several more titles, and he most recently joined the WWE, wrestling Triple H at WrestleMania 31 and Rollins at Night of Champions for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Fellow WCW competitor Billy Kidman, who now works for the WWE, was among the first to react to the news on Twitter.
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