Sting Debuts on AEW

The Man They Call Sting made his surprise debut for All Elite Wrestling. At 61 years of age, Sting has competed for the biggest wrestling promotions across the globe for the past four decades, including the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, and now AEW. Sting intervened when the FTW Champion Brian Cage and the rest of Team Taz (Will Hobbs and Ricky Starks) were attacking Cody and the Nightmare Family. Sting would walk out and stare into the eyes of Arn Anderson. He would glare at Dustin Rhodes. Sting would walk around the ring and lock eyes with Cody, he would lastly lock eyes with the TNT Champion Darby Allin. It was later announced that he had signed a contract with AEW.

In Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW

Sting’s last appearance on TNT was on March 26th, 2001 on the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro. His final match for WCW was against long time rival “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. “The Franchise” would not be apart of the WCW Invasion of WWE following the purchase of the brand from Vince McMahon. Long before those days, Stinger’s chief rivalry was against the Four Horsemen and more specifically Ric Flair. Sting would defeat Ric Flair in the Baltimore Arena in Maryland at The Great American Bash 1990. He would hold the title for roughly five months battling the likes of the 4 Horsemen, before losing the championship back to Ric Flair in East Rutherford, New Jersey on January 11th in 1991. As Jim Crockett Promotions transitioned to WCW, Sting became the face of the franchise. He would go on to hold the WCW Tag Team Titles, he was a two-time WCW International World Championship (which was the physical belt that WCW used to represent the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship) a two time US Championship, and would go on to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. At the height of the popularity of the New World Order, Sting was the man who stood against them.

Sting’s Career Post WCW

Many would believe that Sting would eventually end up in the WWE. But that wasn’t Sting’s first move when his contract had expired with Time Warner. In fact, a year after his finale with WCW, he joined international touring Company World Wrestling All-Stars (a touring company that attempted to fill the void left by WCW). Sting would become the WWA World Champion by defeating Lex Luger and Malice in Switzerland. His WWA World Championship would be unified with Jeff Jarret’s NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at WWA’s PPV Reckoning. Sting would transition from his limited schedule with WWA, to working a limited schedule with Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling aka Impact Wrestling. “The Icon” would work less than a handful of shows in 2004 and 2005 but did square off against Billy Gunn for NWA Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in Seoul, South Korea.

Sting Makes an Impact

He became a regular for TNA Wrestling in 2006. At Bound For Glory 2006, Sting would put his career on the line against Jeff Jarrett for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. Sting would win his second NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship on October 22nd, 2006, some sixteen years after winning his first NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. By 2007, the National Wrestling Alliance and Total Non-Stop Action would part ways, TNA would introduce its own World Championship. Sting would remain with Impact Wrestling mentoring future NWA Worlds Heavyweight champion Nick Aldis in the Main Event Mafia and would win the Impact World Heavyweight Championship four more times.

Sting finally joins the WWE

After fourteen years later, after having been the face of World Championship Wrestling having won 15 World Championships, Sting had his first Wrestlemania Moment on March 29th, 2015 in a No Disqualification Match against Triple H, in which Sting took the loss. At WWE Night of Champions 2015, Sting losses his first and only show at the WWE World Heavyweight Title when he lost to Seth Rollins in Houston Texas.