Sting Reportedly No Longer Under Contract With WWE

Sting, whose real name is Steve Borden, is one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE. However, he may not actually be under contract at the moment. There were reports that Sting would be heading to Saudi Arabia in February, but this in-ring appearance did not come to pass. Now it may never happen with WWE.

According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, speculation about his contract status began when Sting's wrestling figures were pulled from a toy line. "Due to circumstances out of our control Sting needed to be removed from Legends Series 7. We'll look to include this figure in a future wave if he becomes available to us again," Mattel revealed in a statement.

Along with the merchandising contract causing disruptions on the toy line, there are also rumors about Sting joining a new promotion. He has been tweeting about All Elite Wrestling recently. Cody Rhodes, the head of AEW, also fanned the rumor flames when he replied to Mattel's statement with a gif of him listening.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reached out to AEW and asked if anything was going on with Sting. There was no response from the promotion. This only led to further speculation about the professional wrestler joining the rival.

Sting first joined WWE in 2014 after a long career in WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and TNA (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling). His first appearance for WWE took place at Survivor Series when he attacked Triple H. His first actual WWE match took place at WrestleMania 31 against Triple H after a long dispute, but he lost due to interference from D-Generation X and New World Order members.

Sting returned to the ring in August. He challenged for the WWE Championship against Seth Rollins, but he suffered an injury during the match. Sting later said that he was undergoing surgery for cervical spinal stenosis. Although he appeared on an episode of Raw in 2016 and said that he was not actually having surgery due to feeling fine. The reason is that the surgery would effectively end his career.

The first member of the 2016 Hall of Fame class, Sting has not taken part in a match since losing to Rollins. He has appeared on WWE television multiple times and even spoke about potentially facing off with The Undertaker one more time. This bout has not taken place, and now it may not ever happen. The contract situation puts Sting's WWE future in question, as well as his time in a wrestling ring.