During an interview with Steve & Captain Evil, Bill Goldberg gave a great deal of praise to Sting while also addressing an attempt to be a part of his retirement match, set for AEW Revolution:
“Sting is the reason why I broke into the business. Sting set a great example. He’s about to retire. I tried to be part of his retirement match. I would not have chosen to get into the world of professional wrestling if it wasn’t for Sting. He was a normal dude who went out and did abnormal things. Wrestling is like being in the circus, it truly is. I never looked at it with much respect, but after I watched him from afar, I realized that I had the ability to go do it.
He was not only a performer. He had self-respect and he commanded respect. He’s one of the best human beings on the planet and he set an example for me and I just tried to grab it and run with it and make him proud. I had the best time of my life in the ring with Sting.”
The connection between the two stems from Sting and Lex Luger spending time to train at Goldberg’s gym, as well as Sting helping Goldberg get into the business in the first place, per Fightful.
Goldberg’s last wrestling match took place at WWE Elimination Chamber 2022 against Roman Reigns, though the WWE Hall of Famer has fairly recently made an attempt to stage a more proper retirement tour.
AEW Revolution takes place March 3, 2024, emanating from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.