Tony Schiavone Wants Sting To Make Big Change For Last AEW Match
Tony Schiavone wants to see Sting roll back the clock one more time before he retires.
When Sting burst onto the wrestling scene in the mid-1980s his presentation was vastly different to the now classic all-black he sports today. The star wore brightly coloured tights with matching face paint and spikey blonde hair.
The WWE Hall of Famer was competing under this ‘surfer’ guise when he first tangled with Ric Flair — who was recently signed by AEW.
Speaking on What Happened When, AEW announcer Tony Schiavone who has known the veteran for decades said he’d like him to return to his pre-scorpion look for his last match at Revolution.
“It was surreal, it really was, and I was really thrilled about doing it. I was talking to Sting on Saturday when we were in Oakland, and we were giving each other a hard time, as you do. There were a bunch of guys standing around and I said, ‘Yeah, I remember the first time I stuck the microphone in front of Sting at TBS Studios. Sting rolled down, he was so blown up he couldn’t get words out. He was [breathing heavy].’
Sting says, ‘I don’t remember that.’ I said, ‘It’s on video if you’d like me to pull it up.’ Both have been such phenomenal performers, and I’ve said this many times, I’m honored to be tied to them in some way.
“You look online and see a lot of photos of Ric Flair, it’s me holding a microphone. That’s very special to me. I really would like for Sting, for his last match, to come out at Surfer Sting. Blonde hair, spike it up. It would be great. A lot of people would love to see it. Maybe we can convince him to do it,”
When Did Sting Last Use His Surfer Gimmick?
Surfer Sting was a staple of WCW television until early 1996 when he began to grow his hair out and keep it darker while wrestling in black tights.
Following the arrival of the nWo in July of that year and their recruiting of ‘fake Sting,’ the star declared himself a free agent and was next seen competing for NJPW. However, he would be back in WCW before the end of the year, sporting a black trench coat, largely white face paint with black around his eyes.
After attacking the imposter the star was offered the chance to join the nWo, but told them “The only thing that’s for sure about Sting is that nothing’s for sure.”
This was the last time the legend would speak on television for over a year, often being seen watching the action in black face paint from the rafters, fully leaning into his new persona based on the title character from the 1994 movie The Crow.
H/t to Fightful