10 Times AEW Got Into Serious Trouble
6. When Sting Debuted
Sting's AEW debut was incredible, so much so that a distanced crowd of around 1,000 fans in an outdoor amphitheatre sounded, in the magic of the moment, like an audience packed to the rafters in a more normal time.
His arrival was foreshadowed, indirectly, by the marketing behind the 2020 Winter Is Coming special. The theme of that Dynamite also foreshadowed the walls of wrestling breaking down forever - AEW is so good at its best that it pulled off corporate synergy twice - and the wintry scene that heralded Sting's arrival was a perfect spectacle befitting his legendary mystique.
Teasing the alignment with Darby Allin, with Tony Schiavone at his wholesome, nostalgic, enthusiastic best, it was an iconic moment in the promotion's history.
TNT weren't as enthused; per Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, the network told AEW not to debut such a massive name without first announcing it. They wanted AEW to secure a ratings spike in advance.
This created a sense of dismay at the time, as fans fretted that the magic wouldn't be replicated again, but AEW landed on the perfect workaround via the First Dance: the ingenuous viral marketing campaign both secured the rating and left a shred of doubt that doubled as expectation as anxious as it was euphoric.