Sting's Retirment Scenario?

[Harthan]

According to WZ:

Local radio commercials in the Los Angeles area are promoting this October's TNA "Bound For Glory" pay-per view in Irvine, California as Sting's final match.

Considering the fact that Sting lives in California, that could create some interesting local hype for the show if they are going with a "win or retire" or official "retirement match" stipulations on the PPV.

This pretty much coincides with everything we know about Sting, who has been bandying about the concept of retiring for years now, and will want to go out on a bang at the biggest show TNA can offer in Bound For Glory, in his hometown (sort of), no less. Sting has especially been talking about his retirement at or after this year's Bound For Glory. So, essentially, the question is: with his retirement at Bound for Glory 2009 all but ensured (as much as anything is sure in pro wrestling), what is Sting's retirement scenario?

It's probably going to be part of the MEM feud. It's the only logical place to go. He challenges for the world title at Hard Justice, and if he wins it there (a possibility), he would almost certainly be defending his title in a last match against a Mafia member. The problem is, the only Mafia members who can take him to a good match are Kurt and Joe, and the former has been done to death, and the latter main evented last year's show. Neither is a feasible option. If they somehow take it out of the Mafia, it could be Sting vs Matt Morgan, with Sting giving his last match to turn Morgan into a star, but it's unlikely. The other option presented is if the Mafia implodes and gets busy with its own feud (probably Kurt vs Nash) and Sting defends against a guy like AJ Styles.

I think the better way for Sting to go out, however, is to just take it Ric Flair style - take one of your best wrestlers, feud them for a few weeks in a respect feud, and have Sting's opponent go over. The Shawn Michaels in this situation would need to be a top face for the company - Jeff Jarrett, maybe, depending on his general situation with the company, AJ Styles is of course an option...and, yeah, that's pretty much the stock of top faces, isn't it? They could try Foley again but it just wasn't that good at Lockdown - it worked as a nostalgia match, because they did rock the house down in WCW, but it's no good now. My pick is still Styles, whether it's a title match or not - they rocked in their title match after last year's BFG, and with all the emotion of a retirement match, could do it again. I think the best way for it to happen would be Sting hand picked a man to wrestle in his last match, and putting Styles over big as the future of the company, etc., etc. It could be used to launch Styles into the modern main event and the world title that's been eluding him.

So what do you think? Styles, Morgan, Kurt, Foley, Nash, someone else entirely? Who's the right man to retire Sting, and how will it go down?

 

[Kanye South]

I think it should be a young heel. Like Alex Shelley or Matt Morgan. AJ Styles is already a TNA main eventer. TNA needs to start making stars, like now. Usually when people start bitching and moaning about how TNA uses old-timers, I just say, "Stop your belly-aching, *****!". But now it's really starting to become a problem. They can either:

1) Sign Ken Anderson and have him go over Sting for the Legends Title and retire Sting simultaneously, or just have him beat Sting in a retirement match, with no title. Or they could play the respect angle and have AJ Styles, Christopher Dani-Daniels, or some over face defeat him in his final match.

2) Have someone who is a young heel take out Sting. They can have either Alex Shelley or Matt Morgan do it. Alex Shelley could be like a Chris Jericho-type figure. His promos remind me of Y2J when he first came to the WWE. Or give it to Matt Morgan to further solidify his status as an upper midcarder and eventually main eventer.

3) Or have him succumb to the Mafia. Have him fight Kevin Nash or something and end the match with the referee getting knocked out, and the Main Event Mafia comes down to, of course, jump Sting, but however, Jarrett (who should be coming back from his little "vacation") comes down to appear to save Sting, however he turns, much like Hogan did when he joined the nWo. Jarrett joins the Mafia, the ref wakes up, and Sting loses his retirement match.

 

[SavageTaker]

I think the best person to retire Sting would be AJ Styles. That would give him a huge rub and a lot of credibility. If TNA plans on keeping AJ Styles as a top babyface, then they need to book this very carefully. AJ is not at a point in his career that no matter what he’ll get cheered. When Shawn retired Flair, people didn’t start booing the hell out of Shawn, instead they cheered for both guys during that retirement match. If Shawn was younger and wasn’t a veteran then he probably would have been booed to hell during that match. But AJ is not at that point in his career where people are going to cheer for him and his opponents if they are both faces. So, TNA has to be very careful on how they book this because they could potentially ruin AJ as a top babyface.

Now, if those rumors are true and Sting is going to retire then I want them to start building it up right now. I know it may seem way too early but this is Sting we are talking about. They can’t just have 1 month of build-up to his retirement match, they need to give it a few months of good booking to build it up. Also, I think this is the perfect time to start it because of the whole thing with the Mafia. Remember that TNA has already taped Impact so this would obviously begin after Hard Justice which is TNA’s next pay per view.

What I would do is have the Mafia take out all of the authority figures out so that they can run the show. Since they are apparently feuding with Sting then it would be logical for them to want to get rid of Sting. So, they could book Sting in retirement matches for all of the pay per views to try and get rid of him. At No Surrender (the pay per view after Hard Justice) I would have the Mafia book Sting vs. AJ Styles. During the match AJ would hit his finisher and pin Sting. At the 2 count he stops the pin realizing he was about to retire Sting, an Icon of wrestling. He decides to lie down and put Stings arms over his chest and let Sting pin AJ for 3 count and the win. Therefore, Sting not retiring.

At the first Impact I would have Sting cut a promo telling AJ that he wants a re-match at Bound for Glory because he doesn’t want some punk feeling pity for him and not doing what anyone else would have done. AJ declines the challenge but the Mafia would tell him he either accepts or he is fired. AJ realizes that he has a family and decides to accept the challenge and the match would be set for BFG. Over the next couple of weeks they can keep cutting promos similar to the way Shawn and Ric did. They would have to really build-up the match and make it something emotional since Sting might be retiring. Fans would know AJ is capable of defeating Sting since he had him beat at No Surrender except he decided not to retire Sting. Once BFG comes, then that’s where Sting retires. I would have the match in the main-event or in the co-main event. It might not be the greatest match ever, but they would make it so that it is a match filled with emotion. There would be several times were it seems that AJ has Sting beat but he doesn’t beat him because he doesn’t want him to retire. After a long bout (if Sting can still go for long amounts of times in a match) I would have Sting berate AJ until he has enough and decides to start beating Sting. In the end AJ hits his finisher and looks down at Sting and decides to finally end his career. AJ gets the win and after the match Sting gets up and they embrace. At the next Impact I would give Sting a farewell like the WWE did for Ric Flair and if I were TNA I would do my best to try and bring in Ric Flair for that one show. It would be great if they can get the show to be live. That’s how I would like to see everything happen leading up to Sting’s retirement.

 

[rko57]

Sting is my favorite wrestler ever, and it'll suck to see him retire... And I like a Sting/AJ match, but I have a feeling it'll be a match vs Kevin Nash, possibly for the Legends Championship in the main event or co-main event. Think about this, Sting and Nash are good friends. When Sting left the Mafia, he singled out Nash the most. Im thinking of a feud where Sting tries to get Nash out of the MEM. I think if this is the case, Sting wins, and wins the Legends Title, and retires as Legends Champion. After all, Sting is a big legend, and possibly THE Legend of WCW. What better way then for Sting to go out as Legends Champion in his State? The match might not be great, hell, might not even be good, but I think this is the direction TNA should go. Sting vs. Kevin Nash at Bound For Glory.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

First off you guys need to remember that Sting is fifty years old and has a chronic knee problem. The fact that he is still going and doing drop kicks and things like that does amaze me at times due to his knee but it also makes me realize that he is human and can't go on forever. Then the busted finish in the match against Joe last month when he was supposedly suppose to lose with a muscle buster but ended up forgetting the finish making Joe have to make him tap out. I think that was telling that Sting is losing a bit of his touch as well.

I not only like the idea of him going out as Legends Champion like Trish Stratus did as the WWE Women's Champion but I would also like it if TNA RETIRED the Legends Championship with him. That would be a great way to go out, win a belt and have it retired in your name, that would be great.