Inside Sting’s retirement plan and the AEW goal that will shape it

The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.

Tony Khan needed an answer so he and Sting could find the best way to bring the legend’s in-ring career to a close.

The AEW president wanted to get a feel for how much the 64-year-old wrestling icon thought he had left after he wrestled at All In in front of 70,000-plus people at Wembley Stadium in London on Aug. 27.  

Sting and Darby Allin defeated Christian Cage and Swerve Strickland in a coffin match, but Khan could sense the legend might not want to work long enough to get back there in 2024.

“I wanted to know if Sting believed he could participate next year, and I knew he felt like he might not have another year left in him when we were at Wembley this year but he was still feeling very good and he wants to stay feeling very good through his retirement,” Khan said. 

As the date approached for AEW to announce tickets would go on sale for All In last Friday, Khan needed to know if Sting would be a part of it.

Sting wanted to retire earlier.

“He told me as we approached this ticket on sale that he did not believe he could make it another year in wrestling and have the best chance for a happy and healthy retirement,” Khan said. “He’s doing great right now, and he wants to keep it that way. He plans to keep beating people up and keeping himself healthy.”

Khan said the two talked about “every day in the future” to find the date Sting, whose real name is Steve Borden, was comfortable with.

Sting believed he had “a good six months” left when the two spoke in October.

It was eventually decided that Sting’s final match would be on the AEW Revolution pay-per-view on March 3 at the Greensboro Coliseum, where so many of his famed clashes happened during his WCW days. 

It’s also the third anniversary of his first AEW match and set up the perfect story to go out on with Sting being 24-0 in the promotion.

“It’s been two and half years, you’ve won every match you’ve wrestled, wouldn’t it be cool if you had a chance to finish it undefeated [for three years],” Khan said. “Somebody could either stop you to take it away from you. The idea that every match he wrestles somebody is trying to take that unbeaten [streak] on the way [out] is exciting.”

Sting, whose goal Khan said is to remain unbeaten, announced Oct. 18 that his last match will be at Revolution.

Sting, who grew up in Southern California and was part of the Gold’s Gym scene back in the ’80s, co-owning a gym himself, next wrestled at Full Gear at the Kia Forum on Nov. 18. with Ric Flair in his and Allin’s corner.

Flair being involved in Sting’s final run came together recently as AEW was approached by Flair’s “Wooooo Energy” drink company about becoming a sponsor.

Flair’s inclusion didn’t influence how long Sting planned on wrestling for, according to Khan.

It meant a lot to Sting for Flair to be along for the ride because he feels he owns so much of his career to him and is “very loyal” to him.

It brought in a “high-paying sponsorship” to AEW to have the “Nature Boy” promote the brand on their shows.

“We’re not paying Ric Flair; Ric Flair is essentially paying us,” Khan said. “We’re getting paid by Wooooo Energy for all of his appearances, so we’re collecting revenue from them.”

With the few matches left and the fact Sting is unbeaten has been mentioned multiple times on AEW shows recently, the fact could play a big role in the story of his final match.

Wrestlers almost always end their careers on a loss to help a current talent.

Sting could be in a position to go out on top.

“It will be something really special to see if he can continue the unbeaten run if he makes it Revolution unbeaten and if he does will somebody be able to take it away from him in that moment and it will be a very dramatic thing,” said Khan, who is AEW’s head booker. “Will somebody make their name at the expense of Sting in his last match?

“No matter what happens, the goal has always been to “get Sting out healthy and happy after everything he’s done for AEW and pro wrestling.” 

Devil’s Playground

While, yes, like WWE’s Corey Graves pointed out on Twitter, MJF’s segment on Dynamite did have some Retribution vibes, but the fact that when my screen went dark I was checking to see if my stream didn’t stop did enough to sell me. The mysterious Devil minions attacked MJF, who was saved by Samoa Joe.

Then the Devil challenges them to a tag match this week on Dynamite with a typed message across the screen, asking if they will face the unknown added mystery and anticipation.

I could be wrong, but I’d take Joe and MJF off the list of being The Devil. The strong possibilities still include Adam Cole — who coincidentally tweeted about being home and injured — or Britt Baker — who tweeted about not having a second of live promo time this year — or the suspended Jack Perry or maybe injured Adam Cole friend Kyle O’Reilly?

The 10 Count

Drew McIntyre’s heel character continues to progress with slow and effective intent. If you didn’t like him before, this promo with Sami Zayn and how he cut a corner to beat him will make you and so will his attacking Jey Uso after his loss to Seth Rollins to end the show.

Bayley is going to be such a big babyface again after being one of WWE’s best heels since. Yes, she is trying to help Damage CTRL win, like she did for Kairi Sane on SmackDown. But it’s easy to build sympathy as someone trying to do the right thing with good intentions for friends, only to constantly have it blow up in their face

Sports Illustrated dropped some major news Monday with the report that New Japan star Kazuchika Okada is set to become a free agent in 2024 and is seriously considering the possibility of wrestling for another promotion. It will be a fascinating choice with the unknown in WWE, who has mega matches it can give him, or the super familiar and safer move to AEW, where he can maintain ties with New Japan.

Unhinged Joey Gacy has attention more than cult leader Joe Gacey ever did because there is a greater level of unpredictability now.

The idea of a Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams feud was far more interesting than them reuniting against Alexis King, who comes off as more character than an extension of Brian Pillman Jr.

Julia Hart is one of the most intriguing and mysterious characters in AEW. Instead of treating her like your average champion in random matches like she had been, it was positive to see AEW lean more heavily on her mystique as she dropped in and out on Abadon as the lights went on on Collision.

The Continental Classic is starting to manifest some interesting stories, with none bigger than Swerve Stickland being 2-0 with a significant win over Jay White that can’t be understated. But Brody King being the tournament unstoppable monster with wins of Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli might be the most refreshing story so far.

I’m glad WWE had Shinsuke Nakamura give us a logical reason for him igniting a feud with Cody Rhodes and at least we are getting back to talking about “The Story”, but let’s see if those will translate into the actually memorable feud “The American Nightmare” needs.

Ring Honor did an excellent job setting up a scenario where Billie Starkz would finally say enough is enough with on-screen mentor Athena after she wasn’t a Minion in Training valedictorian and Ian Riccabani’s excellent call made it that much better. Final Battle main event, please.

It was very and almost jarring to see where AEW cut the Rampage promo that had gotten Ric Flair in some hot water as he reportedly ran long and “invited all the women in the audience from ages 18-28 to meet him in his hotel room. No boyfriends or husbands.” At least AEW wasn’t dumb enough to give Flair a mic on live TV.

Extra: Here’s hoping we get a Nick Aldis vs Adam Pearce match at some point. Both men will deserve it as their GM rivalry continues to ground the WWE product.

Wrestler of the Week

Randy Orton, WWE

The Viper looks to be in the best shape of his career. Orton has quickly reminded the audience just how damn good he is and his main event standing after a fun little pairing with Matt Riddle before his injury. He looked great in the ring against Dominik Mysterio on Raw and then owned every second of his screen time before signing with SmackDown. He feels like a big deal again and on a collision course with Roman Reigns.

Social Media Post of the Week