Why was Sting able to heal from serious injuries at old age?

[tonyraymond69]

while guys like Randy Savage and Scott Steiner get seen as being never the same after their respective injuries?

Sting was a decent athletic guy for his size much like Savage and Steiner, yet Sting's seen as ageless into his 60s while the other two are seen as broken down and injury prone, despite the fact that Sting had a Torn ACL in 1990 and a serious neck injury in 2015 that was supposed to be a career-ending injury, while Savage and Steiner are seen as immobile after their injuries and surgeries.

Anyway, Savage and Sting became WWE Hall of Famers, while Steiner finally became a WWE Hall of Famer in 2022 as part of The Steiner Brothers tag team with his brother Rick and it is yet to be seen if he will get inducted as his Big Poppa Pump singles character.

[Jaws the Shark]

Sting reckons he stopped using steroids in 1990. Assuming that’s true, I think this tells us two things: one, that he’s very gifted genetically to have maintained his physique without PEDs, and two, that he would’ve been less susceptible to the same muscle tears and joint problems that come as a side effect of steroid abuse.

Also, and this is a big one, his style was less intense than theirs too, he wasn’t anywhere near as athletic as prime Steiner, and wasn’t taking the same big bumps that Savage was regularly.

[Feyrhausen]

Advances in medicine and therapy, plus injuries are different person to person.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Less severe injuries and he never worked a full WWF/E schedule to rack up a huge tally on his bump card. Hogan worked a brutal schedule, dropping on his lower back night after night for a decade and travelling the nights he wasn't taking bumps back in the 80s, while the schedule for NWA guys was far lighter, so guys like Flair and Sting went longer.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Savage was a big dude that was landing on his hip every time he did the elbow drop. That destroyed his body, by 99 he was just dropping full force onto his opponents. Those are the types of bumps that you can never get back.

Steiner meanwhile was roided up to the gills and that causes a lot of wear and tear on the muscles. Savage was also roided up too.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

1. The rings were a lot less forgiving for most of the time that Hogan, Savage and Piper wrestled. Hogan and Savage had high impact moves that lead to wear and tear on the body showing up by the time they hit their 40s. Sting did wrestle a good decade or so on the harder mats but modern innovations in the latter part career and not taking as many dives like the Flying Elbow or Big Leg preserved his body a bit more. Sting stopped wrestling regularly in 2000 as well for a long while which for guys like Hogan and Savage would have been the equilivent to 1993 and whereas they kept doing those moves when their bodies needed a break, Sting changed his style up.

People forget that Piper started wrestling in 1969 at age 15 and by 1996 was nearly 30 years into a wrestling career. The age may not show wear on paper but the miles did.

2. Modern medicine. Back at the time of 1997 when Hogan, Piper and Savage were going downhill the prevailing thought was 40 was a death sentence and it reflected in people's bodies. It really wasn't til the 2010s that 40 suddenly became a new 30 and Sunday you saw many guys in their 50s working. Vince Sr and Jr both looked at 38-41 as a wrestlers physical peak and decline from there and its backed up by what happend to top guys at the time.

3. Genetics. Sting at 64 ain't that much different looking than Sting at 34.

[bluebeach25]

More factors play a part in to this i think. The Rings back then weren't as safe as they are today, as someone in the Comments said before. Savage also gained alot of weight and muscle mass compared to the WWF and his early Wcw days. He clearly was on Steroids.

I mean i never followed all of Sting's Career but did he took bumbs like Savage did? Savage was never the same after Haloween Havoc 97 when landed on his knee's after that dangerous cage jump!

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Mar 9, 2024 11:29:26 GMT -5 bluebeach25 said:

More factors play a part in to this i think. The Rings back then weren't as safe as they are today, as someone in the Comments said before. Savage also gained alot of weight and muscle mass compared to the WWF and his early Wcw days. He clearly was on Steroids.

I mean i never followed all of Sting's Career but did he took bumbs like Savage did? Savage was never the same after Haloween Havoc 97 when landed on his knee's after that dangerous cage jump!

I don't know who's dumber: WCW for wanting that spot or Savage for agreeing to it. It's amazing he didn't die doing that.

[Jaws the Shark]

Mar 9, 2024 11:16:53 GMT -5 OGBoardPoster2005 said:

The rings were a lot less forgiving for most of the time that Hogan, Savage and Piper wrestled. Hogan and Savage had high impact moves that lead to wear and tear on the body showing up by the time they hit their 40s. Sting did wrestle a good decade or so on the harder mats but modern innovations in the latter part career and not taking as many dives like the Flying Elbow or Big Leg preserved his body a bit more. Sting stopped wrestling regularly in 2000 as well for a long while which for guys like Hogan and Savage would have been the equilivent to 1993 and whereas they kept doing those moves when their bodies needed a break, Sting changed his style up.

The rings that the WWF used until about the late nineties were notoriously hard and stiff too, even by throwback ring standards.

[bluebeach25]

Mar 9, 2024 13:02:09 GMT -5 Hulkshi Tanahashi said:

Mar 9, 2024 11:29:26 GMT -5 bluebeach25 said:

More factors play a part in to this i think. The Rings back then weren't as safe as they are today, as someone in the Comments said before. Savage also gained alot of weight and muscle mass compared to the WWF and his early Wcw days. He clearly was on Steroids.

I mean i never followed all of Sting's Career but did he took bumbs like Savage did? Savage was never the same after Haloween Havoc 97 when landed on his knee's after that dangerous cage jump!

I don't know who's dumber: WCW for wanting that spot or Savage for agreeing to it. It's amazing he didn't die doing that.

i always wondered if either Hogan didn't want to catch him or if he jumped the wrong way, cause the landing was a mess. Stupid move for sure, that could ended actually much worse than it still did.

[Renslayer]

Mar 9, 2024 13:02:09 GMT -5 Hulkshi Tanahashi said:

Mar 9, 2024 11:29:26 GMT -5 bluebeach25 said:

More factors play a part in to this i think. The Rings back then weren't as safe as they are today, as someone in the Comments said before. Savage also gained alot of weight and muscle mass compared to the WWF and his early Wcw days. He clearly was on Steroids.

I mean i never followed all of Sting's Career but did he took bumbs like Savage did? Savage was never the same after Haloween Havoc 97 when landed on his knee's after that dangerous cage jump!

I don't know who's dumber: WCW for wanting that spot or Savage for agreeing to it. It's amazing he didn't die doing that.

Also, who the f*** thought a double axe handle off the top of a cage would look cool anyway?!

[Soultastic]

Dropping steroids 34 years ago probably helped him age better.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Mar 9, 2024 13:28:49 GMT -5 Jaws the Shark said:

Mar 9, 2024 11:16:53 GMT -5 OGBoardPoster2005 said:

The rings were a lot less forgiving for most of the time that Hogan, Savage and Piper wrestled. Hogan and Savage had high impact moves that lead to wear and tear on the body showing up by the time they hit their 40s. Sting did wrestle a good decade or so on the harder mats but modern innovations in the latter part career and not taking as many dives like the Flying Elbow or Big Leg preserved his body a bit more. Sting stopped wrestling regularly in 2000 as well for a long while which for guys like Hogan and Savage would have been the equilivent to 1993 and whereas they kept doing those moves when their bodies needed a break, Sting changed his style up.

The rings that the WWF used until about the late nineties were notoriously hard and stiff too, even by throwback ring standards.

And by a lot of accounts so were the territory rings. WCW ropes had no give either.

The fact Piper needed hip replacement surgery in his early 40s and still wrestled after for another 17 years is crazy, but not so crazy when you consider he was on his own from age 12 onwards and wrestled full time from age 15 until he was 33 and returned at 35 to do it on a semi regular basis again until he was 38, but worked sparodically until he had the surgery in 1996.

Sting had the benefit of never working the territories for more than a few short years as well as having better luxories of self-care at a young age than either Piper, Hogan or Savage did.

Hogan likely wishes sometimes he stuck to the axe bomber because he would still be the same height and walking today. Piper likely wishes he took care of himself better at his younger age, but he didn't have a home. Savage's elbow and axe handle was enough to create issues but the injury at Halloween Havoc 1997 was the end for him.

I'll never understand why he thought that was a good spot. It hurt my knees watching it.

[Zombie Mod is not a ghoul.]

his own private stash of Senzu Beans.

[67 more]

Bear in mind, Sting's AEW matches have been masterfully crafted to protect him. There will be a bump or two but all the real dangerous stuff like the balcony dives have twenty or so people on the floor to catch him or a load of tables and it's not like he's doing Phoenix splashes or 630 sentons, he's coming off with crossbodies or splashes. Darby takes most of the ring time but it's not like Sting just stands on the apron and waits for his finish, they make sure to put Sting's spots in the match but never overdo what Sting is capable of.

Still absolutely insane for a man in his 60s and my hat is tipped off for him.

[fw91]

Because the only thing sure about his injuries was that nothing's for sure.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

In addition to alot of whats been said, hasn't Sting been sober since like 1998? That can not be discounted

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Several factors as a lot been said already. Sting was off the riods since 1990. Sting had his knee injury young. That helps because you heal better and faster. Now Sting went years injury free. He took time off and been clean for all things since 98. Owning a gym, he kept in shape. He never allowed himself to be massively big in muscle mass like Steiner and Savage did. while ripped and strong it was a slimer way so not so much weight on his joints.

The other thing was his in ring style. He wrestled a smart style that didn't have a lot of hard bumps. Like Savage dropping on his hip from the top rope. Or doing axe handles from the top with his knees taking that force. Or like Hogan going tale bound every night. Steiner having back issues in his 30s but didn't drop the muscle masses did him in. You notice Sting always bumping with impact being taking evenly on his body in back bumps or splashes on his front. Thats a key thing that he never put impact fully on a single joint or body part like a tall bone or hip and ext.

In AEW he knew his limits and what he can do. They worked around it and still make it look good. Sting wasn't every week wrestling and didn't do singles matches. His high spots again watch them where all flat landings. His neck had a number of years to heal and rehab to get it strong and he never took moves that was landing on his head in AEW. Like piledrivers and ext. They protected him with having people catch him and so forth.

[Mayonnaise]

Something else that I don't think gets mentioned is for the last 23 years, he's been part time basically. He might have most wrestled 3 a month and that was with TNA. In the last ten years between WWE and AEW he had maybe 35 matches. Even in WCW he had almost all of 97 off.

Steiner in that time was working TNA and doing indie shows. He even benefited from that schedule though as he, while not prime Scott, was moving a lot better in TNA than he had toward the end of WCW and all of his cursed WWE run.

[Ryushinku]

Great thread, all good reasons.

He worked smarter (and got cleaner) as he got older, and never doing that WWE schedule likely helped.

This also made me go back and check that Savage spot from the cage at Havoc 97. Man, I remembered it being bad, but looks even worse that I recalled. What a car crash.
It wasn't the end for Savage, but that and the bump off the top rope at Spring Stampede 98 really were. Savage came back but what made him Savage were gone when that knee got torn up.