WWE: Sting vs. Undertaker Match at WrestleMania 33 Would Be Awful

Despite “retiring” at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony before WrestleMania 32, Sting has been quite vocal about wanting to wrestle one last match against The Dead Man. This is a bad idea.

When Sting appeared on the WWE Network show Legends with JBL back in August, he held nothing back when talking about his desire to compete in a farewell match against The Undertaker. It was clear that despite enjoying a sports entertainment career that spanned more than 30 years, Sting wasn’t happy with the ending.

The last time Sting entered a WWE ring over one year ago at Night of Champions, he left with a severe neck injury at the hands of Seth Rollins. However, Father Time should take more blame as Sting was 56 years old at the time and competing against a much younger man known as the “King of Crossfit”. Professional wrestling is a brutal business and though the heart may be willing, the body simply can’t keep up. It happens to us all and for these athletes, it comes much sooner.

It turned out that Sting’s injury that night was more serious than we originally thought and was the result of a long-lasting problem. He suffers from a condition known as “spinal stenosis“, the same injury which ended the career of Adam “Edge” Copeland. But unlike Edge, Sting isn’t ready to undergo the surgery necessary to fix the problem. Neck surgery is essentially the kiss of death for a wrestler’s career at his age and Sting knows that once he goes under the knife, there is no coming back.

It’s not surprising that Sting wants to face The Dead Man for his swan song. First and foremost, they are almost the same age (Sting is 57; Undertaker is 51). Second, they have never faced each other in a WWE ring and a match between two men who represent the last of their kind would undoubtedly draw incredible numbers. However, the match itself would be awful. Remember the hype for Shane vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania 32? Now ask yourself if the match delivered on its promise. It most certainly did not. Other than the inevitable Shane-O-Mac bump the match between one man who isn’t a wrestler and another whose glory days have long since passed was laborious and dull.

The word around the water cooler at WWE is that Vince is against the idea of Sting going toe to toe with Undertaker. This decision may be in part due to concerns about the health of The Icon but may also refer to the unspoken desires of Undertaker himself. After his victory at WrestleMania 32, the Phenom solemnly took off his gloves and left them in the middle of the ring which many fans interpreted as a cryptic goodbye. While his retirement status remains unknown it is unlikely that WWE will allow him to leave without a grand sendoff worthy of his legendary status. The hard truth is that Undertaker may not want to formally end his career at WrestleMania 33 or any time in the near future so the longer Sting puts off his neck surgery the less likely this match will become.

While Sting may not be satisfied with the results of his last performance, a lackluster match at the biggest wrestling event of the year isn’t the way he deserves to go out either. It’s hard to tell any athlete when it’s time to walk away from the sport they love and sometimes their body has to be the one who breaks the news. Perhaps Sting should start listening to his.