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In January of 1991, I accidentally became a professional wrestling fan. My mother tells the story that she was disciplining five-year-old me, for being too wild around a then two-year-old younger brother. She sat me on the couch and said watch this, it was WCW Saturday Night. I saw Sting, who glowed it seemed. Adorned in neon orange, gold, blue and colors that I had never seen before, my life had changed in that specific moment. I had never seen anything like it! I was transfixed upon this cartoon-like superhero beating up an enhancement talent, hitting the Stinger Splash before locking in the Scorpion Death Lock. In the weeks to come, I would become addicted to WCW Saturday Night at 6:05 eastern, to the point our babysitter would even have it included in her notes for me to stay up to watch.
Sting is simplistic yet complex. I have had wrestlers tell me the age you fall in love with professional wrestling is the age you always can look back to and view it with rose colored glasses no matter how bad the actual wrestling was. For every El Gigante or Oz there was a Sting. In Ohio, both the WWF and WCW were available all over our televisions. My friends growing up were WWF loyalists until the NWO. I was a Sting and then everyone else guy until I started tape trading. Sting was an artist in every way. From his face paint and investment in unique looks to his work on the ring canvas. Big as a bull and quick as a cat as his song Man Called Sting sang out. I knew every lyric, and still do.
You have the colors and the rivalries with Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Rick Rude, Sid Vicious, Vader, Cactus Jack, and you have the black and white of the crow, Sting, and the rivalry with the NWO. Sting was a constant. Before I knew who Michael Jordan or Ken Griffey Jr were, before I knew our local sports heroes of the time like Mark Price, Albert Belle, Bernie Kosar, before I knew just how important The Duke Blue Devils and The Ohio State Buckeyes were to our family, it was The Man Called Sting. He was my superhero.
When WCW died and morphed into the intellectual property of the World Wrestling Federation, I started seeking something. I didn’t know what it was I was looking for, but something called Ring of Honor spoke to me, and for the better part of the next eighteen years, beginning in April of 2002 when I saw the Era of Honor Begins, Ring of Honor was the perfect complement to fill the void of no more World Championship Wrestling. It was where my new favorites like the brutal and charismatic Samoa Joe and the greatest professional wrestler of all time, The American Dragon Bryan Danielson called home. It is where the personality of CM Punk pulled me in, and grabbed me, but in the end, when it came time to watch something to have fun a Best of Sting tape was always at the ready.
Over the last 33 years, wrestling has become this infinite universe where there is a new flavor of the week designed for fans. There is more skilled professional wrestling available to the view than ever before. The menu served seven nights a week is truly never ending. My order on the pro wrestling menu has not changed, I will take the one and only Sting.
Sunday Night, Sting was taken off the menu. The Stinger has earned it. The Icon Sting has given the fans everything from his body to his soul. A thank you is not enough from me, to pay back Sting for everything he has done to make me smile and forget my troubles.
A thank you is also not enough for Tony Khan and everyone on the team at All Elite Wrestling who gave The Man Called Sting the sendoff a lifetime. A man beloved & respected by all, the true conscience of professional wrestling, Sting did it the right way. The first time I was fortunate enough to meet Sting backstage at AEW, we shook hands and had a quick conversation where I made sure to thank him for leading me into this moment. He told me he appreciated how I said what I felt. It that moment, without Sting, I am not a professional wrestling fan, which means my life would have been quite different the previous 30 years. The tears I shed during the end of All Elite Wrestling Revolution 2024 were not tears because the run is over, time is undefeated just like Sting.
I hope the example Sting has set for everyone in and around professional wrestling continues to be passed on, from generation to generation. The legacy and the impact Sting made should be treated with the utmost care. Sting took the right path. I wish that kids will listen to their parents and grandparents when they talk about Sting. There can only be one Sting, and the fact there was one, for that I am beyond grateful.
