During tonight’s AEW “Winter is Coming” Dynamite special, a wrestling legend made his debut for the company.
“The Icon” Sting debuted on the show to save Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin from a beating by Team Taz. The lights went out and the screen showed black and white images. Sting walked out with his baseball bat in hand, using the Crow gimmick he used recently in WWE and in his later run with WCW.
The following is an excerpt from Josh Boutwell’s AEW Dynamite recap:
Hobbs attacks Allin after the match and Arn Anderson attacks Hobbs from behind. Hobbs and Starks beat Arn down which brings Dustin Rhodes out. Brian Cage runs out and Team Taz beat down the Nightmare Family. Taz hands the FTW Title to Hobbs and he goes to hit Cody until the lights go out. A video plays with a bunch of ice and ominous music and when the lights come on STING HAS ARRIVED! STING WALKS OUT AND TEAM TAZ FREAK OUT AND BAIL! A bunch of snow is falling down on Sting as he enters.
Sting comes face to face with Arn and then looks down at Dustin before kneeling down before Cody. He then turns to Darby and gets in his face as Darby’s lip is literally quivering.
This was Sting’s first appearance on TNT since he wrestled (and defeated) Ric Flair in the main event of the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro in March 2001.
AEW soon issued a press release announcing that Sting had signed a full-time, multi-year contract with the company. Sting announced his retirement in 2016. It is unclear if he will come out of retirement to have another match.
You can view the full press release below:
“THE ICON” STING MAKES DEBUT ON AEW DYNAMITE “WINTER IS COMING” EPISODE ON TNT
December 2, 2020 – “Winter is Coming” was already guaranteed to be the biggest episode of AEW DYNAMITE yet, but on a night packed with tremendous clashes, the debut of wrestling legend Sting took the world by surprise.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever, Sting’s jaw-dropping appearance sent electricity through the crowd at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Fla., and throughout the wrestling world, when he stepped in the ring.
AEW has also confirmed tonight that it has officially signed Sting to a full-time, multi-year agreement.
“The surprise introduction of Sting was a great way to celebrate our biggest episode of Dynamite yet,” said Tony Khan, CEO and GM of AEW. “When AEW launched, I was ecstatic to bring wrestling back to TNT after a very long absence. Sting defeated the legendary Ric Flair in the final wrestling match to be shown on TNT for more than 18 years until the debut of Dynamite in 2019. Now, almost two decades later, it’s such a thrill to welcome Sting to AEW and bring him back home to TNT!”
Tune in to AEW DYNAMITE on TNT next week to see why Sting is joining the most boundless promotion in all of wrestling.