Who’s that creep hanging up there in the rafters? Everybody knows his name…
“It’s Sting”
The icon, the franchise, the birthday clown from a My Chemical Romance video, Sting was
the painted white face of WCW during its ratings war winning peak in the 1990s and in late
2020 made his triumphant return to TNT when he joined the roster of AEW.
Sting’s is a career that stands in defiance of The Blob That Ate Everyone, aka the wannabe
Fat lot of good that did him - Stings’ first ever, well-deserved WrestleMania match being
a ceremonial burial of the old WCW brand by Trips and DX.
And now almost five years after his retirement, Sting resurfaces in AEW. The first real competition
WWE has had since 2001.
On a show that feels like a spiritual successor to WCW and it’s replacement on TNT. With
Sting, the former face of wrestling on TNT siding with half-son, half face painted Darby
Allin, the current TNT Champion.
This old crow once again is a figure of justice - watching over Darby keeping things fair
against Team Taz.
It feels very Batman Beyond with the aging Bruce Wayne training up the young Terry McGinnis.,
finally handing over the cape and the cowl, and the power to someone who needs it more.
But it’s also a repeat of the myth - Sting once again is protecting TNT from an invading
force, Taz and his FTW crew. All the while using his status as an icon and a franchise
to help AEW rout NXT on a weekly basis.
Had Sting not been injured at Night of Champions in 2015 this story might look a little different,
as had his continued career in WWE 1) might have seen him actually win something and 2)
it might have changed this perception that he was always the face of the alternative.
Because throughout his career Sting has intentionally or not kind of kept watch over the alternative
to WWE: whether as the face of WCW, the centrepiece of TNA or now as the hot new 60 year-old signee
of AEW. He’s stood up to Authority and even when he wasn’t talking, was portrayed as
a voice for the voiceless.
And like any good vigilante does, he’s proved time and again that the authority figures
don’t know what they’re doing - especially when it comes to the booking. So here’s
hoping AEW can finally give an icon a run worth idolising.