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What's the story?
The speculation of a Sting vs. Undertaker match was reignited this week after WWE debuted a new show, WWE Reimagined, and teased a showdown between the two icons.
Playing off the 'What if' scenario, the video focused on how it would have been if the Undertaker had moved to WCW in 1998. The fans have naturally begun speculating about the dream match coming to fruition in 2019 and if you're one of those hopeful fans, we've got some bad news, via Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.
On the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer explained why Vince McMahon was never high on Sting. He even revealed the man who was responsible for getting Sting into the WWE, and the reason why he will never compete in a WWE ring again, let alone against the Undertaker.
In case you didn't know...
Sting's last match took place at Night of Champions in 2015 in a WWE Championship match against Seth Rollins. The title match sadly marked the end of Stinger's career as he suffered a serious neck injury owing to the buckle bomb spot.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016 and has since made a handful of appearances in a non-wrestling capacity. Sting has often claimed that he has some 'unfinished business' with the Undertaker and has consistently reiterated the desire to face the Deadman in various interviews in recent past.
The heart of the matter
Meltzer said that there is no point in getting excited for a Sting vs. Undertaker match as Vince McMahon was never convinced about it in the first place.
"I mean there is nothing to it. They are not going to do a match. Vince never saw it. You know the funny thing is it really would have been big. But Vince never did see Sting as that big of a star. That’s the thing that people don’t realize and what happened was, the video game people were really, you know, (who got Sting to join the video game)."
Furthermore, Meltzer revealed 2K Games executive Bryce Yang as the man who played a big part in Sting joining WWE.
"Sting has given speeches and he has talked about Bryce Yang and pretty much, you know, I don’t the exact wording he used, but if you know about the story behind the story, you can see Sting saying that he (Bryce Yang) was the guy who may be saved his career. I mean, his career was fine and done already but it resurrected the end of the career and got him the WWE run. He (Yang) is the one who made the call to put him in the video game and feature him that one year and when they showed it on WWE TV, the place went crazy and even then Vince wasn’t necessarily convinced."
The original plan was always to get Sting back and book him to lose to Triple H.
"But then, they talked and did business and Vince brought him in, but it was to sacrifice him to Triple H. It wasn’t for Undertaker. Vince didn’t see the Undertaker-Sting thing as a big deal and Sting was only supposed to be for one match. The debut was the big angle at Survivor Series, and then it was supposed to be for the one match with Triple H, which he was supposed to lose and that was it. He got over big enough that they brought him back for the match with Seth Rollins and then in the Seth match he got hurt and that’s pretty much it."
While Sting may still sound optimistic regarding an in-ring return, WWE may never give him the green signal.
"He’s got Spinal stenosis, a bad neck, he’s 60 years old, it’s not worth the risk for them to put him in the ring. Suppose if something’s bad happens if he ends up taking a bad bump and it wouldn’t be in his best interest to do although he’s said that he would do it. I was told they would not clear him. I’ve been told that many times. From a creative standpoint, there’s nothing there, even from a video game standpoint, they didn’t know anything about it either. So it’s just the website people wanting to do whatever."
What's next?
So that's that folks. Sting vs. Undertaker will cotninue to be a pipe dream. You can still watch the Phenom in action though, as he will team up with Roman Reigns to take on Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon at the upcoming Extreme Rules PPV on July 14th.
Note: If you use the quotes from this news piece, make sure to credit Sportskeeda at the end of your article, with a link to this piece.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
