The final ring appearance of wrestling icon Sting is official: The former rival of Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan will compete in a final title match for AEW.
In the eighties, a big fight with Ric Flair made him a star. In the nineties, he had a blockbuster feud with Hulk Hogan.
In the noughties he helped establish new stars like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, in the past decade a late WWE debut with a WrestleMania match against Triple H seemed to be his swansong – now it’s finally clear how the iconic Sting’s wrestling career will end instead.
On the latest edition of the TV show Dynamite, WWE competitor AEW confirmed the final match of the legend’s five-decade career: the now 64-year-old Stinger will face league co-founders Nicholas and Matthew Jackson on March 3 together with his young partner Darby Allin.
The match against the Young Bucks – Sting’s personally chosen opponents according to media reports – had been on the cards for weeks, most recently with Sting and Allin winning the AEW Tag Team Titles last week and then being attacked by their rivals.
AEW: Sting has handpicked the Young Bucks
This week, the thread continued as the Jacksons took their new role as power-abusing “EVPs” to the extreme, declaring themselves the top challengers for the titles after a match against the young duo Top Flight – and then getting physical with a companion and friend of Sting’s, former WCW and current AEW commentator Tony Schiavone.
Allin rushed to the rescue without the absent Sting and accepted the challenge on his behalf: The tag team title duel will be the anticipated main match of the Pay Per Views Revolution in Greensboro, North Carolina – an old NWA/WCW stronghold in the golden days of Sting and Flair and the site of many great battles by legends like Lou Thesz, Harley Race, the Funk and Brisco Brothers, and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.
It had been announced some time ago that Sting would end his career at the glorious venue, but the exact match line-up had yet to be determined.
In the slipstream of the Sting farewell, AEW announced another very promising match: The newly signed Will Ospreay will face Japan’s Konosuke Takeshita, actually allied with him as part of the “Don Callis Family”, in a duel of exceptional talents.
In the World Title match announced last week, champion Samoa Joe will face former title holder Hangman Page and his up-and-coming arch-rival Swerve Strickland in a three-way clash
