Sting's Potential Neck Surgery Spells Doom for His WWE Career

It's time to stop dreaming up WWE dream matches for Sting and learn to let the legend go.

A trip to the surgeon's table looms for the TNA Hall of Famer. And the procedure awaiting him could well be his swan song. Sting is poised to retire, forced away from the ring by age and a damaged spinal cord. 

The last time fans saw Sting in a wrestling ring, he collapsed in the corner, forcing Seth Rollins to stall.

A pair buckle bombs had his neck whip around. Numbness in Sting's limbs had him wondering if he could continue the Night of Champions main event. Worried doctors surrounded him.

Credit: WWE.com

Sting luckily did not come out of that scary scenario paralyzed or worse. But the effects of that bout still linger for the 56-year-old star. 

Sting delivered an update on his health on the WOOOOOO! Nation podcast with Ric Flair. He told Flair, "Neurologists have been looking at it. Dr. Maroon out of Pittsburgh, he's looked at it. He's telling me that I'll have to have a surgery."

About whether the surgery would be a neck fusion, Sting said:

"

I know that's one of the techniques that they use and I'm not sure if Dr. Maroon will have to do that or not. I've got two spots in my neck that are troublesome. I guess it's called cervical spinal stenosis. That's what it is. I have two areas in my neck where the spinal canal, which holds the spinal cord, it's kind of choked off in two different locations. Lucky that a catastrophe didn't happen that night, long story short. I've gotta go get it fixed. 

"

Sting seemed to remain positive. He talked of how many successful surgeries like these Dr. Maroon has done and that John Cena underwent one himself.

The obvious key difference is that Cena was not in his 50s when he went under the knife. He was in the heart of his prime, a 31-year-old powerhouse with a penchant for superhuman-like healing.

If Sting's surgery ends up being of the neck fusion variety, don't expect him to follow a Cena-like road to recovery. Instead expect to see Sting stick to autograph signings and guest appearances. WWE will be incredibly hesitant about ever letting him compete again.

After dodging a bullet at Night of Champions, would the company really risk putting him back in there, this time with a surgically repaired neck?

This isn't removing a few bone chips. This is spinal stenosis, the same issue that had Edge hang up his boots early. 

Despite Edge being the world champion at the time, and a top-tier star with at least a few prime years left, WWE simply wouldn't clear him. In Sting's case, he's a nostalgia act that WWE has already gotten two marquee matches out of. The company will be wary of trying to milk anything more out of him.

The risk just isn't worth it.

David Shoemaker wrote for Grantland, "Even if Sting recovers from his injury, it's hard to imagine WWE putting him in another position where he could get hurt on a big stage." It's hard to imagine officials asking him to take bumps on any sized stage really. The company has to extremely wary of him re-injuring the neck.

Right after the injury happened, John Canton of TJR Wrestling believed it was time for Sting to walk away:

That only becomes more true once Sting goes in for surgery.

In an WWE.com interview, not long after the Night of Champions PPV, Sting wasn't ready to commit to calling it quits, though. When asked if his match against Rollins was his last, he said, "I hate it when I’m asked that question because the answer truly is a question mark, and the question mark is as bold as it could ever be at this point."

Whether he becomes convinced that he's done or not, WWE is likely to decide for him.

His story is set to end more abruptly than he surely would have liked. It promises to end in a far from glorious manner. But as Dave Hogg wrote on Today's Knockout, "Hopefully, it will turn out to be the story of a great wrestler who decided to hang up his boots before he became another WWE tribute video."