Sting’s in-ring career may now be in the rearview mirror, but his legacy continues to live on.
On Sunday night, the 64-year-old competed in what would be his final professional wrestling match in the main event of AEW Revolution. There, Sting, along with Darby Allin, successfully defended the AEW World Tag Team Championships against The Young Bucks (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) in a tornado tag team match.
A Thank You To ‘The Icon’
Following Sting’s victory, several wrestling personalities weighed in on social media to pay homage and share positive memories of “The Icon.” One of those was Sting’s colleague, and former AEW Tag Team Champion, Anthony Bowens.
As evidenced by the throwback photo posted to X (formerly Twitter), Bowens is a long-time fan of “The Icon,’ even going as far as donning Sting-inspired facepaint when he was younger. Bowens also credits Sting with sparking his love for professional wrestling.
“Thank you Sting. My love of this sport started with you,” Bowens wrote. “Your support and confidence in me has meant the world. There’s a saying you should never meet your heroes, but I’m so glad you proved that to be false. You’re the f***ing man. Thank you for everything.”
Thank you Sting. My love of this sport started with you. Your support and confidence in me has meant the world.
There’s a saying you should never meet your heroes, but I’m so glad you proved that to be false. You’re the fucking man.
Thank you for everything. ???… pic.twitter.com/1klkfG43fI
— Anthony Bowens (@Bowens_Official) March 4, 2024
Full-Circle Moment
In addition to sharing a locker room with Sting, Anthony Bowens also received the opportunity to wrestle him. On the January 19, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite, Bowens and Max Caster (together known as The Acclaimed) faced off with Sting and Allin in tag team action.
The ending of the contest saw Allin sidestep while Bowens charged toward a previously exposed turnbuckle. After laying out Bowens with a flipping stunner, Allin then nailed him with a Coffin Drop for the win.