WWE Congratulates AEW's Sting On Raw, Praises "Epic" Retirement Match

• sting

  Birthdate:

  1959-03-20

  Birthplace:

  Omaha, Nebraska, USA

  Birthname:

  Steve Borden

  Height:

  6 feet 2 inches

  Weight:

  250 lbs

  Debut:

  1985-11-25

  Championships Held:

  WCW World Heavyweight Championship (x6), WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (x2), WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (x2), NWA World Heavyweight Championship (x2), TNA World Heavyweight Championship (x4), TNA World Tag Team Championship

  Current Promotion:

  AEW

  Finisher:

  Scorpion Deathdrop, Scorpion Deathlock

  Twitter:

  Notable Allies:

  hulk hogan, kurt angle, darby Allin, Kevin Nash

  Notable Rivals:

  hulk hogan, seth rollins, kurt angle

  Instagram:

  Eye Color:

  Blue

  Hair Color:

  Blonde

Sting wrestled the final match of his career at AEW Revolution on Sunday night, bringing the curtain down on a career that has run for almost 40 years. The wrestling world has been celebrating Sting ever since, and you might have thought it unlikely The Icon's career coming to an end would be mentioned on Raw. That's where you're wrong, as the Raw announce team congratulated Sting on his retirement just as Gunther was about to tie up with Dominik Mysterio.

Sting Acknowledged On Raw

Michael Cole brought up Sting on commentary with Pat McAfee adding a note once his announce partner was done (H/T to F4W Online for the transcription).

After nearly 40 years, the great Sting has retired from professional wrestling. Thanks for the memories, congratulations to Sting.

No mention of the retirement match itself from Cole, but after he had finished speaking, McAfee added, "Absolutely epic match last night." No one uttered the letters AEW from either man, at least not live, but that Sting was mentioned on WWE TV at all is significant. Suffice to say, if Vince McMahon were still in charge, it's unlikely someone who had wrestled their retirement match for their biggest rival 24 hours before would be getting a shout-out on Raw.

Sting In WWE

Sting has been talking about every facet of his career heading into and following his retirement. Speaking about what was a relatively short stay in WWE, particularly when it comes to ring time, Sting discussed everything he did there being rooted in the idea he'd eventually get a match against The Undertaker. That never happened and will forever be one of wrestling's biggest dream matches.

Sting competed against Triple H at WrestleMania 31, and then suffered a serious injury when battling Seth Rollins for the WWE Title later that same year. An injury so serious that it looked like his career was over. WWE appeared to be okay with that, but Sting was not. Letting his deal with WWE lapse, Sting signed with AEW and got the final run and retirement he wanted and deserved.