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WWE Makes Shock Reference To Sting On Raw

By Lyle Kilbane • Published 5th March 2024
Sting in WWE

Sting had the final match of his legendary career at AEW Revolution and in an unusual move, WWE has acknowledged the historic moment on Raw.

Sting finished his career in spectacular fashion as he teamed with Darby Allin one last time to successfully defend their AEW Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks in front of over 16,000 fans in Greensboro, North Carolina.

As a result, Sting’s three-year run as a member of the AEW roster comes to an end with The Icon remaining undefeated before he chose to call time on his career.

While WWE has historically ignored things outside of its own universe, during the opening match on Raw between Gunther and Dominik Mysterio, Michael Cole paid tribute to Sting and acknowledged the end of the WWE Hall of Famer’s career:

I wanna send our congratulations out to another great champion. After nearly 40 years, the great Sting has retired from professional wrestling. Thanks for the memories. Congratulations to Sting.

Pat McAfee followed up by commenting on Sting’s last match, simply noting “Absolutely epic match last night” but Cole quickly cut that train of thought off to begin calling the action in front of him.

When Was Sting Part Of WWE?

Sting famously was the biggest wrestling star to never make the jump to WWE during the heydays of both the NWA and WCW. Following the demise of WCW when many of his contemporaries joined Vince McMahon’s regime, The Icon instead ended up in TNA where he mixed it up with the likes of Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles.

After being announced as part of the WWE 2K15 video game, Sting first appeared in a WWE ring at Survivor Series 2014 when he shockingly helped Team Cena defeat The Authority in the main event. That led to a WrestleMania 31 bout between Sting and Triple H that The Game won.

Sting then went on to face Seth Rollins at Night of Champions in September 2015 for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. That match ended in worrying fashion after Sting received a turnbuckle bomb that was thought to have ended his career. It would be six years before The Icon had his next match in AEW.