"There won't be a dry eye in the house" - Wrestling veteran says Sting must lose his final match in AEW
Sting is set to call it a day on his illustrious career at AEW Revolution 2024, and many are wondering how The Icon's final story within the promotion will play out. One veteran believes that the WWE Hall of Famer should lose his last-ever match and soundly explained why.
Kevin Sullivan has a long-standing history with Sting, having penned some of the AEW star's most iconic moments in WCW. Speaking on his Tuesday With The Taskmaster podcast, Sullivan stated that he would book Stinger to lose his last in-ring encounter for the sake of raising his opponent's popularity and creating an emotional moment fans will not soon forget:
"It really doesn't matter [who wrestles Sting]. Whoever goes over, whether it's Darby winning or somebody else, it's going to raise the other guy's popularity. Then when they go to embrace [Sting], there won't be a dry eye in the house," said Sullivan. [H/T: Fightful]
There is a tradition in professional wrestling of "putting someone over on your way out." It remains to be seen whether Sting will follow suit or retire on the backend of a victory.
Sting's final AEW match should be like Muhammad Ali's last fight, Kevin Sullivan says
Muhammad Ali is lauded as one of the most iconic boxers and sportsmen of all time. While Sting may not be revered in exactly the same light, he is not too far off for wrestling fans.
Kevin Sullivan believes that Sting losing his final match in AEW won't harm his reputation, much like how Muhammad Ali's loss in his last boxing match did not ruin his standing as a legend of the sport:
"This is going to sound silly to a lot of wrestling fans. Did Ali win his last fight? Did he win his last two fights? If you want to start sucking people back to the other side, you can lose on the decision. I think in his last seven fights, he never got a knockout and it didn't hurt him because people still remember him being Ali. Actually, it made him bigger than he was, because he came out of the dressing room, Parkinson's, with a lot of health issues, but he gave it the 'All-American' try. 'God bless him.'" [H/T Fightful]
Win or lose, it's hard to imagine a world where Sting is not held in high esteem for his contributions to the wrestling industry over several decades.