Darby Allin opens up on teaming up with Sting.
Sting’s last match will be at AEW Revolution, where he and Darby Allin will defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks.
Ahead of AEW Revolution, Darby Allin wrote a letter to Sting in a piece for The Players’ Tribune. He looked back on the beginning of his pairing with the legend before he reflected on their journey together.
“Now that the ride’s almost over, I can tell you for sure: Sting really is that dude,” Darby Allin wrote. “For the last three years, no matter what situation we were in, he’s always been the same person I met in that trailer. And I think that’s part of why he’s done so well here. He could have easily come to AEW and just said, F*ck off I’m Sting, hit a Scorpion Death Drop or two and gone home. People still would’ve loved it. The checks would’ve cleared.
“Seriously, Sting had nothing to prove to f*cking anyone. But he worked his ass off and he proved something anyway. To the fans, to the locker room, to the business, and I’m guessing most of all to himself. Not in some bullshit “you’ve still got it” way. But in this much more powerful way of like…. taking back what was stolen from him. Which is the right to retire on his own terms. He went out and f*cking did that. I respect him so much for it.”
Darby Allin On Sting’s Legacy
Darby Allin continued by sharing his thoughts on Sting’s legacy. He highlighted the way that Sting has wrestled everyone from Nick Wayne to Ric Flair. Allin noted that Sting has cared about being a man of faith, a father, and a co-worker, as well as a mentor and a friend.
“I’ve been thinking about what a legacy is, and what a career is, and even what a life amounts to. For someone like Sting, it’s impossible to wrap your head around,” Allin wrote. “The guy has been loved by literally millions of people, across five decades. He’s wrestled Ric Flair, who was born in 1949…. and Nick Wayne, who was born in 2005. There’s this hugeness to it that’s so insane. But what’s special about Sting I think is how he hasn’t let that hugeness define him. Moment to moment, person to person — he’s just lived his life, decided what’s important to him, and cared.
“He’s cared about what it’s meant to be a man of faith. And his father’s son. And his kids’ father. And a co-worker to each wrestler he’s worked with. And “The Icon” to each fan who’s bought a ticket to a show. And for the last three years? He’s cared about what it’s meant to be my mentor, my partner, my friend. He’s cared about what it’s meant to be all of that — deeply. And with some fucking integrity. That’s Sting’s legacy to me.”
Darby Allin On Sting’s Last Match
Darby Allin concluded the letter by looking ahead to Sting’s last match at AEW Revolution. He noted that Sting has shown that it is possible to break the “sh*tty circle” that wrestling can be. Allin called Sting a hero and made it clear that he was glad to be a part of his career.
“So many guys end their careers on the worst possible note. Either the business embarrasses them, or they embarrass it, or both. It’s depressing. Like I said — wrestling can be a shitty cycle. And if there’s one last chapter of Sting’s legacy that gets written, I hope it’s this: Cycles can be broken. The wrestling business, it actually can treat older wrestlers with respect, and not spit on them on their way out.
“Older wrestlers, they actually can give instead of take. They can go out with grace and not like a bitch. Before the match, I’m going to tell Sting the same thing I’ve been telling him this whole time — which is HAVE FUN. That’s it. That’s the one rule. Nothing else matters. After the match, I’m going to tell him the only thing there’s left to say: Thank you. I didn’t just get to meet a hero, I got to find out he’s a hero worth having. It was an honor, truly. It’s been the time of my life.”
WrestleZone will have full coverage of AEW Revolution as it airs on March 3.
