WWE: Sting to Undergo Neck Surgery, Wrestling Career Over?
WWE superstar and wrestling legend Sting has been out since Night of Champion pay-per-view last September when he suffered a neck injury in a match against WWE world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins. In recent interviews, Sting has said that he is already pain-free and doing everyday activities without restrictions, but it appears that he will have to undergo neck surgery that may end his illustrious career.
"The Icon" was the latest guest on Ric Flair's "Wooo! Nation" podcast, where he said that MRIs revealed that his neck was suffering from cervical spinal stenosis. It is a condition wherein the spinal canal compresses the nerve roots that can cause pain, numbness, stiffness or weakness in the neck, arms and legs.
"MRI's and neurologists have been looking at it, Dr. Joseph Maroon out of Pittsburgh, he's looked at it. He's telling me that I'll have to have a surgery. I'm hoping they don't have to do a fusion surgery. I'm not sure if Dr. Maroon will have to do that or not," Sting said as quoted by Cageside Seats.
"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. I've gotta go get it fixed. I guess John Cena had something very similar, he had his fixed, and Dr. Maroon has done several of the WWE guys up there and all with great success," he added.
According to What Culture, Cena suffered a herniated disc on his neck back in 2008 after landing hard from a Batista Bomb. Dr. Maroon performed the surgery and the procedure involved the removal of a disk fragment that squeezed his spinal cord, causing weakness on his right arm.
Sting's injury is more similar to Edge's neck issues that caused the "Rated-R Superstar" to retire from the ring in 2011 despite being only 37 years old. He suffered a broken neck back in 2003, but the injury caught up on him and was diagnosed with spinal stenosis that can cause paralysis or death if he continued to wrestle.
At his age of 56 years old, recovery from a serious neck injury will take a longer period of time, so Sting's wrestling career may be over. He is one of the greatest wrestlers in history and has nothing left to prove, even though his time with the WWE is very forgettable.
According to a PWInsider report via Wrestle Zone, WWE has no current plans for Sting appearing at next year's WrestleMania 32, but there is always a possibility that he will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.
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