Who Should Be Sting’s Last Match? Seven Possible AEW Candidates

Sting shockingly announced on AEW “Dynamite” on Wednesday his last match will be at “Revolution” in 2024.

AEW has not announced when the pay-per-view will be, but this year’s event was on March 5, so it’s likely around that time. Sting’s turns 65 on March 20.

Despite Sting’s advanced age, it still came as a surprise for fans that “The Icon” would retire. Since his arrival at AEW in December 2020, Sting has been on an incredible run, and the insane spots he’s been a part of and the crazy bumps made it seem like he could continue for five more years.

But Sting, aka Steve Borden, felt like it was time to hang up the boots, which begs the question: Who will Sting wrestle in his retirement match? Assuming this will be a singles match, seven names come to mind a day after his announcement, and let’s start with the most obvious candidate.

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Darby Allin
Sting was paired up with Allin upon his debut, and the father-son memes quickly rolled in. The pair have been inseparable, and Sting’s crazy spots have come along with Allin’s reckless abandonment attitude in the ring that has endeared him to fans. It seems only fitting for Sting to pass the torch onto the next generation and for Allin to get the rub and become the face of AEW. He also can have his Shawn Michaels WrestleMania 24 moment.

Ricky Starks
Sting wanted to bookend his AEW career by having his retirement match be at the PPV he debuted in. At “Revolution” 2021, he teamed up with Allin to take on Brian Cage and Starks. Cage is a fine talent, but Starks is the one who has world-championship talent. He’s excellent on the mic, a great in-ring worker and has the look to be the top guy in the company. Allin is a former TNT champion, but Starks has yet to win a singles title — he’s one-half of the tag team champions with Big Bill as of Thursday. A win over Sting and ending a legend’s career would be a great way to begin Starks’ push to the top.

Christian Cage
Sting and Allin are in a feud with Cage and his “sons,” Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne. Adam Copeland, Starks and Big Bill also are involved in the feud, and things look like they’re leading toward a Cage versus Copeland match for the former’s TNT championship. It’s possible the feud between Cage and Sting continues into “Revolution,” and the pair have one final match after their two AEW matches and their encounters in TNA.

Swerve Strickland
Another emerging star who could use a boost is Strickland. He’s likely to have a match at next month’s PPV “Full Gear” against “Hangman” Adam Page, and a win over a former world champion would help him out. But a win over Sting in his retirement match would really get things going for Strickland, who already has had encounters with Allin and Sting from his involvement in the Cage feud.

Chris Jericho
Surprisingly, Jericho and Sting never had a one-on-one match in WCW. Sting’s WWE career was a disappointment since it seemed like the powers at be wanted to rehash the “Monday Night Wars,” which is why Sting inexplicably had the nWo by his side against Triple H and DX at WrestleMania. Sting and Jericho have faced off in AEW in tag matches, but it would be cool for the pair’s first singles match to be Sting’s last match. This is unlikely since Jericho is feuding with Don Callis, which could continue into next year for a big match at “Revolution.”

Bryan Danielson
Danielson still is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and he has shown very little sign of slowing down. If Sting wants to go out with an awesome match, Danielson is the choice.

Jeff Jarrett
We’ve also sort of ignored the elephant in the room when it comes to veterans like Cage and Jericho: Who wins the match? WWE has sort of normalized legends coming out on top in their last match despite tradition dictating wrestlers going out on their backs. Even Ric Flair came out on top in is last match. Granted that was a tag match, but it feels more likely the Sting will go with tradition and want to put someone over. But if you want to go with peak nostalgia, you can go with the man who wrestled in Flair’s last match. Jarrett’s been on a fun run in AEW, and it would be a storybook ending for Sting to end his career on a person who’s arguably been one of his biggest rivals in WCW and TNA.