Jim Ross comments on Sting announcing his impending retirement.
Jim Ross was a part of Sting's earliest moments of his career including being on the call for the first NWA Clash of the Champions where Sting challenged Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw in a match for the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship.
Recently, Sting announced that he would be retiring once and for all at AEW Revolution 2024, and on the latest episode of his "Grilling JR" podcast, Jim Ross commented on the announcement made by "The Stinger."
Ross believes that a pay-per-view setting is the most apropos for Sting's farewell, remarking that he is also anxious to see how the story is told to get to his final match and go on that ride with the rest of the audience.
“On a pay-per-view of some sort. I think a pay-per-view is apropos to celebrate his career. It’ll be fun to see how that works out and how the promotion evolves. It’ll be interesting to see going forward what’s up for everybody. Sting has had an amazing career, and the fact that they’re planning his exit this far out is good planning in my view. So we’ll see how it evolves, and we’re still a little ways away from that, but I’m anxious to go along on that ride," Ross said.
As for who he would like to see Sting face in his final match, Ross says that there are many in the locker room that would like to have the final match and while he doesn't want to hazard a guess, he does know that whomever it may be will be an extremely blessed individual.
“There’s a lot of guys who would love to have that match with Sting. There would be a lot of guys that would stand in that line to celebrate his career and his last match. So it’s hard to say who it would be. Somebody is gonna be very blessed to have that opportunity to appear on that show against Sting," JR said. "So I’d say it’s quite an honor to be selected for that position, and I can’t wait to see how it all pans out and how we end up this amazing career. I was very shocked that he signed with AEW, happily shocked, a great deal. So we’ll see how it all works out. The nice thing is that we have plenty of time to plan for it. I think that’s really important. For a guy like Sting, he needs all the celebration that you can muster. So we’ll see how it ends up. I’m happy and excited that he’s finally decided that this is gonna be enough. He’s [been] there much longer than I anticipated him being there with this last run. So he’ll be missed, but he’s gonna be so appreciated as we move forward. I’m a big Sting fan. Hopefully, he’ll have a celebration fitting his career. I’m sure that he will."
Sting has said in the past that his final match will be a tag team match and Darby Allin will be involved. Read more here.
As a surprise for Sting, Ric Flair debuted in AEW on October 25, 2023, and wants to be alongside for Sting's final run. Learn more here.
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