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STING ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT MATCH FOR 2024

Former NWA, WCW and TNA Champion Sting announced tonight at AEW Dynamite that he will officially retire from in-ring competition at AEW Revolution 2024:

Sting debuted in 1985 in Memphis Wrestling and within three years, was one of the most popular talents in the business as of March 1988 at the first-ever Clash of Champions following a 45 minute draw against Ric Flair.   The last star made by Jim Crockett Promotions, Sting became "The Franchise" for World Championship Wrestling, the hero who battled the NWO and who truly was synonymous with the WCW brand name,  working for company until it was shut down in March 2001 upon it's sale to WWE.

In the years that followed, Sting left the business to pursue other endeavors before working for TNA until January 2014.  He debuted for WWE at the 2014 Survivor Series, leading to a Triple H bout at Wrestlemania 31.  He was medically disqualified from wrestling by WWE after getting hurt taking a Seth Rollins Bucklebomb at the 2015 Night of Champions PPV.  He announced his retirement at the WWE Hall of Fame.

It appeared that was it for Sting, until Tony Khan came calling.  Sting debuted as a major surprise in 2021 with the original idea for Sting to appear and compete in cinematic matches.  That morphed into Sting returning to the ring regularly, aligned with Darby Allin as his mentor and partner.  During that run, Sting has turned into something of a modern-day version of the Terry Funk era of ECW, the older veteran doing crazy physical spots and dives.  His popularity has never wavered over the years and with a countdown to retirement in 2024, each match until then will be more and more important.

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