Chris Jericho has nothing but good things to say about Sting, much like everyone else in the wrestling world.
AEW Revolution saw The Icon compete in his final match, teaming with long-time ally Darby Allin to defeat The Young Bucks and retain the AEW Tag Team Championships in the process. A popular figure throughout his career and competing inside a packed Greensboro Coliseum, many felt the retirement match was one of the best ever and a fitting send-off for the Hall of Famer.
Looking back on his time in All Elite Wrestling while appearing on the Gabby AF podcast, Chris Jericho stated that Sting had no ego whatsoever and added that his already high level of respect only increased when he saw the amount of work the Hall of Famer was putting in:
“Sting is one of those guys that, when he came in, he was super humble. No one ever says anything bad about Sting, ever. His retirement match, it’s one of those things where you can never duplicate that. His sons, the match that they had with Darby out there and the Bucks. Sting worked his ass off when he was in AEW. I really respected that because he really didn’t have to. He wasn’t here to collect a check. He was working hard and taking crazy bumps.
The match that we had, Sammy and I against Darby and him, where he jumped off the ladder and through the table, he kind of slipped and hit his head, ‘Sting can’t continue,’ he comes back in the ring and is like, ‘F*cking right I’m continuing, what are you talking about?’ He never gave anything less than 1000% percent. It’s almost like KISS with Paul [Paul Stanley] and Gene [Gene Simmons] when you have the makeup. You don’t think of them as being 64 or 65, he’s just Sting.
He does such a great job of evolving his character and still being relevant and still being cool. It’s a great story. It’s sad to see him go, but nobodies career lasts forever and nobodies career lasts until you’re 65 and still working great matches. He was really smart. He never had a singles match in AEW. He never wanted to have a singles match, he always wanted to do the tags and as much as he helped Darby, Darby helped him.
That’s one of the greatest mentor-students, f*ck, one of the greatest tag teams of all-time for that reason. It was great to be part of that. What an inspiration. In a company where I’m kind of like the seasoned vet, when Sting came in, I was learning from him. When we did our matches together, you fall back on what Sting wants to do first and we work from there. He was great and I’m glad we got to do some matches together because we had never been in the ring before, ever. We had a couple of really good matches and moments.”
Chris Jericho Praises Top AEW Star
Following Revolution, AEW has effectively launched a new era of the product with a new logo, new set and new theme song in addition to multiple major signings. The hope is that the revitalised appearance and the inclusion of top stars such as Mercedes Mone will boost ratings and bring the popularity of the company back to what it was in 2021. In regards to other crossover stars, Chris Jericho has cited another top AEW star.
H/t to Fightful.