AEW President Tony Khan participated in a media call earlier today to promote this Sunday’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view and answer a ton of questions surrounding the company’s newest program, Collision.
Joey G. from Wrestling Headlines was present on the call and asked Khan about the status of Sting, and whether there are any plans for The Icon to have a big retirement match in the near future. The former world champion has not competed for AEW since March and will miss his second straight pay-per-view this Sunday.
Khan begins by saying that Sting has been a major value to AEW and that he plans on letting him wrestle for as long as he feels he can. He adds that Sting has been a valuable asset as a talent and a presence backstage.
I am going to try and keep Sting wrestling and active as long as he wants to do it. He hasn’t really given me a set time. He’s mentioned it at times that he’s not going to wrestle forever. Truth be told, I would like Sting to compete as long as he wants. I really think he adds so much to the company and going forward, as we add more TV shows, more presence on TBS and TNT for AEW, having somebody like Sting in the company, such a great star and a great business asset for the company, but also a great person. We love having him here and I would love for Sting to stay as long as he could.
However, Khan does know that The Stinger is nearing the end of his road. He says that when it is time for a retirement match to be planned it will be one of the biggest events imaginable in the history of pro wrestling considering The Icon’s impact on the business.
Whenever he does decide that it’s time for his last match, we would definitely want to make it a big event and I think it’s one of, frankly, the biggest moments out there in pro wrestling right now; Sting’s retirement match. I think if you took all the big ideas, and I’m not just talking about in AEW, I’m talking in the entire world of pro wrestling, if you took all the biggest things and biggest ideas and put them on paper, I think you’d be hard pressed to come up with things more interesting than Sting’s retirement match or the kind of things that would get fans all over the world more interested or excited. It’s definitely something that will eventually be a major asset to the company, but in the meantime, Sting himself is a major asset to the company and I don’t want to try and leverage his retirement for short-term gain. Right now, the person we’re getting is so incredibly valuable to the company.
Sting debuted with AEW back at Winter Is Coming in 2020. He may not be competing at Double or Nothing but his protege, Darby Allin, will challenge for the AEW World Championship in the main event.
Elsewhere on the call, Khan spoke about the upcoming Collision series that will premiere on Saturday, June 17th and whether or not fans should expect a roster split for future AEW programming. You can check out highlights to the Double or Nothing media call here.
(Thank you to Fightful for the transcription)