Darby Allin reflects on his time with Sting.
Since Sting joined AEW at Winter is Coming 2020, he has been aligned with Darby Allin. Sting has competed in nearly 30 matches since his in-ring return in 2021, and all of them have been with Allin as one or only tag team partner.
At AEW Revolution, Sting takes the ring one last time, teaming with Allin to face The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson).
Ahead of the match, Allin wrote a Players' Tribune letter, and said what Sting's legacy meant to him.
Sting’s dad passed away recently, which you probably know — only a couple of weeks before his final match. You probably also know that Sting’s sons have been a part of this story we’ve been telling over the last month and a half. And I’ve been thinking a lot about that as the match has gotten closer. I’ve been thinking about what a legacy is, and what a career is, and even what a life amounts to. For someone like Sting, it’s impossible to wrap your head around. The guy has been loved by literally millions of people, across five decades. He’s wrestled Ric Flair, who was born in 1949…. and Nick Wayne, who was born in 2005. There’s this hugeness to it that’s so insane. But what’s special about Sting I think is how he hasn’t let that hugeness define him. Moment to moment, person to person — he’s just lived his life, decided what’s important to him, and cared.
He’s cared about what it’s meant to be a man of faith. And his father’s son. And his kids’ father. And a co-worker to each wrestler he’s worked with. And “The Icon” to each fan who’s bought a ticket to a show. And for the last three years? He’s cared about what it’s meant to be my mentor, my partner, my friend. He’s cared about what it’s meant to be all of that — deeply. And with some fucking integrity.
That’s Sting’s legacy to me.
And that’s what we’re celebrating on Sunday.
But we’re also celebrating Sunday on Sunday. Man, I know it’s such a small part of Sting’s career in the big picture, this one match, but I’m so glad it’s happening. So many guys end their careers on the worst possible note. Either the business embarrasses them, or they embarrass it, or both. It’s depressing. Like I said — wrestling can be a shitty cycle. And if there’s one last chapter of Sting’s legacy that gets written, I hope it’s this: Cycles can be broken. The wrestling business, it actually can treat older wrestlers with respect, and not spit on them on their way out. And older wrestlers, they actually can give instead of take. They can go out with grace and not like a bitch.
Fans can read the whole letter by clicking here.
Check out the lineup for AEW Revolution by clicking here.
