Former WWE General Manager says AEW must clear the air on recent controversy (Exclusive)
Former WWE SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long recently suggested that AEW immediately clear the air regarding one of AEW's most recent controversies. This was the Sting ladder dive botch.
Last month, during a tag team match with Darby Allin against Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, the WWE Hall of Famer attempted a high-risk maneuver. This was a ladder dive from inside the ring toward a table near the ringside. Sting failed to dive properly and landed awkwardly on Guevara.
While speaking on The Wrestling Time Machine, Teddy Long wished that AEW had released a statement or said anything regarding the situation. If the referee warned Sting, but the latter still wanted to do the job, at least this would be clarified to the viewers.
"Well, looked like to me if that happened, then that would come out, why don't you say that? I mean why take all this negative and take all this heat when you could have avoided some, and you did avoid it? You told the referee to tell Sting, and he said, 'well I don't care, I'm gonna do it anyway.' Well, then that takes care of everything right there. He did that on his own." (10:07 - 10:26)
Former WWE Manager Dutch Mantell comments on Sting's ladder dive
Another former WWE persona to give his take on the Sting situation was former manager Dutch Mantell.
Last month, while speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk podcast, Mantell responded directly to the entire situation. He was happy that The Stinger was okay but was stern in saying he was warned and should no longer take risks like this.
“Anyway, Sting is okay. He lived to be The Stinger [for] another day. And the question is, why does Sting even do that? He doesn’t need to do that stuff. So one of these days… I’m glad he didn’t get hurt, and it’s okay until the day he does. If he does it again, if he gets hurt, he’s had his warning. So no more sympathy for him.” [02:54 - 03:18]
Sting's recent fiasco showed that mistakes that may have dire consequences are common in the industry. Calculated risks should be taken when trying to pull off spots like such. In the end, at least damage only to a certain extent was done.
Do you agree with the comments of the former WWE veterans? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit The Wrestling Time Machine and give us a H/T when using quotes from the first half of this article.