Tony Khan, despite being a three-time Wrestling Observer Best Booker award winner, has had his share of misses during AEW’s five-year lifespan.
The story surrounding the reveal of the so-called “Devil,” while being hampered by Adam Cole’s injury, dragged out far too long for even the most diehard of AEW’s fans. The women’s division has received more prominence in recent weeks, but when the bar is in hell, it’s not exactly a difficult task to clear it.
When it comes to Sting, however, Khan and his team have done a masterful job, one that culminated in the legendary wrestler’s final match on Sunday at the Revolution pay-per-view.
Landing someone the stature of Sting is obviously a coup for any wrestling promotion, but the pressure to do right by this legendary figure also comes with that.
Khan never asked Sting to do more than what he was capable of and never had him steamroll through talent on his way to yet another world championship. Instead, Khan aligned Sting with Darby Allin in an effort to give the latter the proverbial rub from an icon.
Together, the two went undefeated in AEW competition. That includes Sunday night, when Sting and Allin defeated the Young Bucks to retain the AEW World Tag Team titles.
Sting winning his final match is not typical wrestling tradition, where it is almost the soon-to-be-retired wrestler’s duty to lose their final match in an effort to pass the torch to someone else. AEW rightfully broke from that tradition and had Sting and Allin win the match, which allowed the former to go out on top as a champion.
In doing so, Khan orchestrated possibly the greatest send-off in wrestling history. For as great as Ric Flair’s “retirement” was in 2008, it came after a loss to Shawn Michaels. There’s also the issue of Flair actually wrestling again, but that’s a different conversation.
Sunday night felt different. It didn’t feel like the end of a storied career as much as it felt like the celebration of one. There are very few wrestlers from Sting’s generation that can say they have experienced the same. Most of them were unceremoniously booted out of the business for one reason or another.
But the fact that Sting is still around and is in good enough health to even have a match at his age (he turns 65 later this month) — and not completely embarrass himself and AEW in the process — deserves to be celebrated.
More than 16,000 people packed into the Greensboro Coliseum Sunday to see their face painted hero have one last hurrah, and Sting was allowed to go out in a blaze of glory.
No, his final match wasn’t a 60-minute draw like Clash of the Champions or a world title match like Starrcade ‘97. Instead, it was Sting giving it his all alongside very talented performers who put their bodies through pain and destruction all in the name of delivering one final banger in Sting’s career.
Mission accomplished by Sting, Allin, the Young Bucks and AEW.
And Sting, thanks for everything.
One other note about Revolution
The long running streak of fans having issues with watching an AEW pay-per-view through Bleacher Report continued on Sunday night, with many viewers, myself included, expressing their frustration over the lack of functionality with the streaming platform.
I personally missed almost all of the first two matches on the show, as I was dealing with a number of technical issues, including not being unable to put in my credit card information to purchase the show.
Once I was eventually able to do that, I still endured a litany of streaming issues. So despite paying full price, I was able to see about 80% of the show.
Simply put, that is unacceptable, and something seriously needs to be done about it.
For as much praise as I’m willing to give Khan and AEW for its presentation of Sting for the last three-plus years, I have an equal amount of ire for the company when it comes to the pay-per-views.
My complaints are not new or uncommon. It has become a bit of a running joke amongst wrestling fans on social media. Although everyone gets a good laugh out of it, it is a serious issue for AEW that could potentially cost the company paying customers.
Full disclosure, AEW was close to losing my money Sunday night until Bleacher Report finally got its act together during the tail end of the Continental Crown title match between Eddie Kingston and Bryan Danielson.
But I am only one person. Chances are there is someone out there who was more than willing to part ways with $49.99 (plus tax) to watch Revolution, but decided not to because of issues with Bleacher Report.
And because of that, Khan and company need to address this issue as soon as humanly possible. This is not a backburner issue. This is urgent, as one of the company’s top priorities is to make its content as accessible as possible. If people can’t even pay to watch it, what are we even doing here?
For all of the complaints people levy against Peacock, at least it actually works when you turn it on. With Bleacher Report, I may have to start logging in the day before to ensure I see the opening match.
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