Sting makes emotional announcement; marks the end of an era

AEW legend Sting made a huge announcement, which seemingly marks the end of an era. It looks like The Icon will be retiring one of his most well-known looks this coming weekend.

The man once known as the "Franchise of WCW" has been retired from in-ring action since last year's Revolution pay-per-view, where he wrestled his final match, successfully defending the AEW World Tag Team Championship with Darby Allin in a brutal and bloody Texas Tornado match against The Young Bucks. He also appeared at All In: London 2024 to save the face-painted daredevil from being set on fire by The Elite after Darby's TNT Title match at the event against Jack Perry.

Even though The Icon has finished with the squared circle, he has continued to attend various wrestling and pop-culture conventions and events. The legend is currently on his 2025 or Never convention tour, at the end of which he is set to retire his classic face paint. In an Instagram post from a few hours ago, Sting revealed that he will be in attendance this Saturday at Scaradise in Tampa, Florida, where he will don his red NWO Wolfpac face paint for the very last time.

"This Saturday in Tampa - my final appearance in the red face paint 👊🏼🦂," said the caption of the post.

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Check out the veteran's IG post below:

Although The Stinger signed a non-wrestling "licensing" deal with AEW last year, he has not been featured on the company's television programming in some time now.

Sting's recent photo with an actor and occasional wrestler

Sting is considered one of the all-time greats in the wrestling world. Although the WWE Hall of Famer initially concluded his legendary career in the sports entertainment juggernaut, he later signed with AEW in 2020, where he went on to have an acclaimed retirement run ending at Revolution 2024.

Having hung up his boots, The Vigilante has often been seen lately without his face paint and costumes. He appeared in a recent photograph alongside Paul Walter Hauser, an Emmy-winning actor who has pursued a career in pro wrestling and has been featured on AEW and on ROH.

Paul Walter Hauser with the WCW, WWE, and AEW icon [Source: A user's X/Twitter profile]

It remains to be seen when the 66-year-old makes his return on All Elite Wrestling television.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee