10 Best Moments In AEW History
6. The End Of Sting
The portrayal of Sting might forever remain Tony Khan’s ultimate creative triumph.
The man who is accused of not knowing how to book proved that he does, in fact, know how to book. He summoned the great mystique of the Icon in expert blockbuster angles and smartly laid-out, impossibly entertaining (and plain impossible) party matches. Your hero got to win, every time. In relatively low stakes matches, Sting always prevailed and made you feel like an enchanted star-struck child all over again.
Then, at Revolution 2024, Sting wrestled his last match - and Khan perfected what was already an ingenious formula.
The threat of Sting losing his last match was heartbreaking, because he was Sting. His losing would have elicited the sensation of learning that wrestling wasn’t real for a second time.
The drama was unbearable. His partner, Darby Allin, had essentially glassed himself to death. Sting himself - in his mid-’60s - was also thrown through a pane (and through a table off a ladder). Then, the Bucks kicked Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat’s heads in.
For once, Sting was right: nothing was for sure.
Then he won. After a frankly terrifying match, Sting pounded his chest one last time and went out as only he could.
Horrifying, and then magical, an AEW Sting match with the ultimate stakes was the pinnacle of the form, pretty much.