Sting Discusses Injury

Sting has told WWE.com that he is suffering from cervical spinal stenosis, the same condition that forced the likes of Edge and Steve Austin to retire from the ring due to the risk of paralysis.

“I was out in the hospital — out like a light. They had a neck brace on me, and they were pumping me with [medication] to get me out of pain. I had to do a CT scan and an MRI. They ended up talking to my wife, and I have some details from my wife, but I still have [further evaluation ahead]. They mentioned cervical spinal stenosis, but that’s only part of what I heard. I don’t know if there’s anything else. The doctor did tell my wife, “He’s going to have to get this dealt with. He’s lucky he walked out of there … Bottom line, I had tingling, numbness down both arms, all the way to my fingertips. And then, later in the match, I just fell wrong, whatever it was, and this time [the tingling and numbness] went down both arms and into my legs, and I couldn’t feel my legs too well. They just felt like rubber. I don’t know how to describe it. I had to go down on all fours there for a minute, get my composure. I was worried. Long term, well, I’m just going to take care of the short term first and see how the long term might play out.”

Sting also confirmed that the the injury occurred during the corner bombs he took from Seth Rollins at Night of Champions.

“Both times into the turnbuckle. First time was like a whiplash. [pause] It’s my fault, bottom line. I know better. The second time, I went up into the air and back toward the turnbuckle like that, I thought, ‘Well, that’s not going to happen again,’ and it did. The second time was worse.”

In layman’s terms stenosis is the gradual degeneration of the spine/neck and is not necessarily caused by one single incident. Because the area is weakened, narrowed and compacted, taking bumps can become extremely dangerous, potentially leading to paralysis. Mitsuharu Misawa famously died in the ring following a belly to back suplex, because he was wrestling with stenosis.

When asked if he thinks he could return to the ring, Sting said: “Hmmm, in the right scenario … in the right scenario, yeah.” It all depends on the severity.

[While nobody is at fault it’s a shame that Sting felt the need to give 110% at his age. His career may now be over and he could end up experiencing a lot of pain as he gets older. Concussions are one thing, but perhaps WWE now needs to monitor the longer term wear and tear that their stars are experiencing. A lot of wrestlers may have varying degrees of stenosis without even knowing it. Taking corner bombs and table bumps is not necessary for the older guys.]

Carlito Turns Down Contract?

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Carlito has rejected WWE’s initial contract offering because he’s holding out for more money. The plan was reportedly to put him back with Los Matadores, his real life brother and cousin.

WWE are reportedly looking for a Hispanic star to fill the void left by Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio, and felt that Carlito still has some name value and has matured since his first run with the company.

Big Names On October RAW

Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels are all booked for the October 19th RAW from Dallas, Texas. This is the same night the Rattlesnake will be interviewing Brock Lesnar for the WWE Network version of his podcast.

Speaking of Austin he recently interviewed Jake Roberts on his Podcast One show and had an interesting discussion about realism and psychology. Jake said one of his pet peeves is Triple H’s use of the sledgehammer:

“There’s no heat when you hit a guy with a damn sledgehammer. Number one, both of you have killed your damn characters. The son of a bi-ch gets up, if the son of a bi-ch can get up from a sledgehammer, folks, I can’t fight him. Goddamn, you’ve just killed your character. You just told the whole world you’re a phony son of a bi-ch.”

[Even when I was a kid and not a smark the sledgehammer always seemed like a stupid weapon. You can clearly see the hand over the end and it’s always a stomach shot instead of to the head. It might be one thing if they gimmicked it with rubber, so Hunter could swing it more realistically, and then the victim takes some time off, but when he uses it it’s swung unrealistically and ends up no more deadly than a chair].

Rail Jumper Mugshot

Here is the mugshot of Oscar Ramirez who jumped the rail at Night of Champions and stood behind Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. He’s serving 10 says in jail for trespassing, the first “fan” WWE have ever pursued to the fullest extent of the law.

Mugshot of the fan sentenced to 10 days in jail for jumping the rail at #WWENOC on Sunday. Def not @WWEDrakeWuertz pic.twitter.com/SvmBz9rw5U

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) September 23, 2015