Sting ended his legendary career in style.
In the match that everyone paid to see, Sting was victorious in his final match, which took place at AEW Revolution. Teaming with Darby Allin, The Icon kept hold of the AEW Tag Team Championships to remain undefeated throughout his AEW run.
The main event felt special right from the start, with the Hall of Famer sitting in a movie theatre to look at some of the highlights of his epic career. After Allin made his entrance, Sting walked out once again to Seek & Destroy as his sons were dressed in Surfer Sting and Wolfpac Sting attire to pay tribute. With Allin and Sting in the ring, Allin dove to the outside to attack The Young Bucks and the action went full speed until the final bell.
An absolute demolition derby of an encounter saw Allin taken out for the majority of the match after diving off a ladder and crashing into a pane of glass, the crowd wincing as a close-up shot showed Allin’s back completely lacerated from the shards. Leaving The Icon to fight The Bucks alone, the 64-year-old went through multiple tables, a pane of glass and was hit with tons of The Bucks’ signature moves. Ric Flair and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat would try to stop the brutality, but the Jacksons would not relent. With Allin eventually revived, The Icon was victorious after locking in the Scorpion Death Lock to win his final match for his team.
Sting Speaks To The Fans After The Bell
Once the music stopped playing, Allin let the fans know that they only had about 3 minutes left, so gave Sting the mic to speak to the fans. The Hall of Famer said the following:
“Thank you, Greensboro. To be honest with you, I’ve been thanking you all since March of 1988. ‘Nature Boy’ [versus] Sting, 45-minute draw for the world title. Thank you, Ric. Greensboro, you were incredible in ‘88 and beyond, all the way to this very night. I’ve been saying in all kinds of interviews, I just want this to be a night that wrestling fans will not forget, a night of wrestling that will be etched in your minds for years to come. It is me that’s saying that this is a night I’ll never forget. Thank you, Greensboro. Yeah, this is definitely a time to give thanks for sure. Thank you to one of the greatest tag team partners I’ve ever had, Darby Allin. I wonder how many stitches this is gonna require tonight,”
Allin joked that he wasn’t dead so would be fine before The Icon continued:
“I knew from the very first time I saw Darby in action, he’s a risk-taker. I was a risk-taker back in my young days, and you know what, I’m kinda old now, but I’m still a risk-taker, especially if I’m here in Greensboro. I’m getting cues, hold on,”
At this point the pay-per-view feed cut off, but AEW have uploaded the post-match segment onto YouTube, where the goodbye speech continued, inviting Tony Khan to the ring:
“I was hoping that this night would be surreal in many ways. The video package that you saw before we got to the ring, then to see, this is the exact boots and tights and jacket [points to his son] way back when. Then in later years, we got some cool Wolfpack Sting going on over here. We’re off the air now, so I can do that. You know what, Greensboro? You still got it. I don’t have any words other than to say thank you, I love you all so much. I’d like to call another very important person out. This wouldn’t be possible without Tony Khan. Tony, this is my last night, so I can say, ‘Tony, hustle, come on,'”
Khan and Sting hugged with Khan thanking the crowd for being a part of Revolution. Tony Schiavone said the iconic line one final time as Sting took one final bow as the roster came out on stage.
H/t to Fightful.
Echoing the sentiment of wrestling fans around the world, thank you Sting for all the memories.
