Sting will need surgery for neck injury from Night of Champions

The neck injury wrestler Sting suffered in September's Night of Champions match with Seth Rollins will require surgery and could sideline the 56-year-old wrestling legend for a substantial length of time.

Speaking on Ric Flair's WOOOO! Nation podcast, Sting (real name: Steve Borden) walked through the two tosses into a turnbuckle that proved decisive.

In the "buckle bombs," Sting was thrown into the turnbuckle back-first from Rollins' shoulders. You can see where Sting suffered the injury in the clip below:

After hitting the turnbuckle, Sting was wobbling, unsure on his feet. A medical attendant checked on Sting, and a few minutes later, the match ended with Rollins retaining his WWE title.

"Both buckle bombs, not Seth's fault, completely mine, I have no idea what I did, I have no idea, but my neck whiplashed on both of them," Sting said. "On the second one, he picked me up and I'm having a casual conversation in my own mind as I'm hoisted up on his shoulders thinking 'okay, Steve, tuck your chin. Do what you know how to do. This is ridiculous.' I wasn't worried at all, even though the first one I had a shock going down the left and right thigh down both down to the fingertips."

The second turnbuckle strike gave Sting what he called "temporary paralysis" in his legs. "For a few minutes, I thought, 'I don't think I can continue, I think I'm done,'" he said. He managed to finish out the fight, but knew he was in trouble.

Later investigations showed that Sting suffered cervical spinal stenosis. "I have two areas in my neck where the spinal canal, which holds the spinal cord, it's kind of choked off in two different locations," he said. "Lucky that a catastrophe didn't happen that night, long story short."

Sting has consulted with a doctor who has helped numerous other wrestlers through similar injuries, and is facing surgery to stabilize his neck. And at age 56, he may well get the advice that his time in the ring is done.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.