Sting Talks AEW Retirement: Kingston on CM Punk; WWE’s Shane McMahon Injury Update | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.

Sting Discusses AEW Retirement Plans

Sting divulged Wednesday that he had a different retirement plan in mind before making his official announcement two weeks ago on AEW Dynamite.

Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Sting said he was eventually going to retire well before Revolution before deciding to have his final match at that event:

“I wanted to finish earlier, maybe in December. But now that Ric [Flair] is here with me, I want to go longer, all the way to Revolution. …

“All I can say for now is I want people to walk away and say, ‘Wow, what an ending.’ I’ll be three weeks away from turning 65 at that point. I want to leave people with a memory that will mean something.”

After Sting announced his retirement match for Revolution, which is expected to take place in March 2024, AEW threw an intriguing variable into the mix.

AEW president Tony Khan noted that he had a gift for Sting on last week’s episode of Dynamite, and he delivered in the form of legendary 16-time world champion Ric Flair making his AEW debut on last week’s Dynamite.

Flair announced his intention to accompany Sting during his retirement tour in the coming months, and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Jamie Toolan of WrestleTalk) confirmed that the plan is for Flair to be on AEW programming in Sting’s corner until March.

It is unclear if there are any plans for Flair to wrestle a match during Sting’s stretch run with AEW, but his presence makes sense given his history with Sting.

Flair and Sting were longtime rivals and friends in WCW, competing in many of the most memorable matches in the history of the promotion, including the final match to ever air on Nitro.

Sting’s legendary career is nearing its conclusion, and Flair figures to help evoke the type of nostalgia AEW is aiming for.

Kingston Wishes Punk Was Still in AEW

Despite not getting along with him, count Eddie Kingston among the AEW wrestlers who would have liked to have seen CM Punk and AEW work things out.

During an interview with Adrian Hernandez on YouTube (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Kingston noted that while he didn’t initially want Punk in AEW, he would have preferred to see Punk stick around:

“I didn’t know what anyone else in the locker room felt, I didn’t care. It was how I felt. I didn’t want him there. Me and Punk don’t like each other. That’s fine. You’re not going to like everyone you work with. Do I wish he was still in AEW and I wish it worked out differently? Yeah, because he helped the company. Other than that, I don’t give a f–k what he does. Me and him never got along anyway. We don’t have to be best friends to fight each other. It makes it better when we’re not best friends. I don’t wish him bad, but I don’t wish him good either, because I don’t give a f–k . That’s it.”

Punk signed with AEW in 2021 after more than seven years out of wrestling, and he debuted to a ton of fanfare and excitement.

Unfortunately for Punk and AEW, injuries and backstage issues led to a start-and-stop run that officially came to an end in September when Punk wad terminated for allegedly getting into an altercation with “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry at All In.

Punk was AEW’s most popular and marketable star, and he seemingly made a positive impact on television ratings and ticket sales, which made him a highly valuable commodity within the company.

Even with Kingston and Punk having well-documented issues with each other that date back to their time as independent wrestlers, Kingston seems to acknowledge how important Punk was to AEW.

Punk and Kingston were able to successfully parlay their real-life rivalry into an entertaining feud and match in AEW, and it can be argued that it was the best work either performer did in AEW.

While Kingston remains a key part of AEW as the reigning Ring of Honor world champion, Punk is now a free agent, and his future in pro wrestling is murky.

Shane McMahon Making Progress in Injury Recovery

Shane McMahon tore his quad during an impromptu match at WrestleMania 39 earlier this year, but the son of longtime WWE CEO and chairman Vince McMahon is apparently making strides in his recovery.

During an interview on Developmentally Speaking (h/t WrestlingInc’s Max Everett), Shane’s son, Declan McMahon, revealed that his father is progressing well:

“His rehab’s going very, very well. He’s gotten back to jogging, squatting, he’s starting to work out again,” Declan said. “It’s getting kind of difficult for him to bear side to side but his rehab is going really, really well; he’s making phenomenal progress.”

After being off WWE programming for over a year, Shane-O-Mac returned at WrestleMania 39 as a surprise opponent for The Miz.

At the start of their match, McMahon tore his quad while doing a leapfrog, which forced WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg to step in and beat The Miz instead.

Shane, 53, is regarded as one of the biggest daredevils in pro wrestling history, so the fact that he got injured on a relatively benign move took fans by surprise.

While it is unclear when or if Shane will return to WWE, there has been a great deal of speculation lately that Declan could join the family business at some point and become a WWE Superstar.

Declan is currently a running back at Indiana University, and he and his teammates recently were shown in the crowd at Fastlane.

While Declan is focused on football currently, he has taken part in several interviews recently and seems to have the trademark McMahon charisma, which could make him a natural fit for WWE at some point.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below.