Tony Khan talks Sting's retirement, says Ric Flair is essentially paying them to appear

[Chris]

Inside Sting’s retirement plan and the AEW goal that will shape it

AEW president Tony Khan’s goal was to give the 64-year-old wrestling icon Sting the best farewell and retirement match he could.

nypost.com

The AEW president wanted to get a feel for how much the 64-year-old wrestling icon thought he had left after he wrestled at All In in front of 70,000-plus people at Wembley Stadium in London on Aug. 27.

Sting and Darby Allin defeated Christian Cage and Swerve Strickland in a coffin match, but Khan could sense the legend might not want to work long enough to get back there in 2024.

“I wanted to know if Sting believed he could participate next year, and I knew he felt like he might not have another year left in him when we were at Wembley this year but he was still feeling very good and he wants to stay feeling very good through his retirement,” Khan said.

As the date approached for AEW to announce tickets would go on sale for All In last Friday, Khan needed to know if Sting would be a part of it.

Sting wanted to retire earlier.

“He told me as we approached this ticket on sale that he did not believe he could make it another year in wrestling and have the best chance for a happy and healthy retirement,” Khan said. “He’s doing great right now, and he wants to keep it that way. He plans to keep beating people up and keeping himself healthy.”

Khan said the two talked about “every day in the future” to find the date Sting, whose real name is Steve Borden, was comfortable with.

Sting believed he had “a good six months” left when the two spoke in October.

It was eventually decided that Sting’s final match would be on the AEW Revolution pay-per-view on March 3 at the Greensboro Coliseum, where so many of his famed clashes happened during his WCW days.

Flair being involved in Sting’s final run came together recently as AEW was approached by Flair’s “Wooooo Energy” drink company about becoming a sponsor.

Flair’s inclusion didn’t influence how long Sting planned on wrestling for, according to Khan.

It meant a lot to Sting for Flair to be along for the ride because he feels he owns so much of his career to him and is “very loyal” to him.

It brought in a “high-paying sponsorship” to AEW to have the “Nature Boy” promote the brand on their shows.

“We’re not paying Ric Flair; Ric Flair is essentially paying us,” Khan said. “We’re getting paid by Wooooo Energy for all of his appearances, so we’re collecting revenue from them.”

 

[Kross Rhodes]

Tony reiterating what we already knew. Flair is here because AEW essentially doesn’t have to pay him. His energy drink sponsorship pays for itself.

Poor Tony still getting heat for this and he just wants to mark out without having to pay for it. That’s business shrewdness.

 

[Canadian Dragon]

Tony reiterating what we already knew. Flair is here because AEW essentially doesn’t have to pay him. His energy drink sponsorship pays for itself.

Poor Tony still getting heat for this and he just wants to mark out without having to pay for it. That’s business shrewdness.

I read the article and it's not even just that it pays for itself, it's literal revenue for AEW as they pay for his appearance and the drink.

We shall see if the extra income is worth the headache. While the angles are not for me, I think the backlash has been relatively minimal in the public eye.

 

[Bad News Booty]

When people start dropping dead from this shit and TK gets treated like the people that endorsed that weird bitcoin company that went under after a huge push

 

[Cwalker]

When people start dropping dead from this shit and TK gets treated like the people that endorsed that weird bitcoin company that went under after a huge push

I’ve seen some of the ingredients in Flair’s drink and it does seem kinda wild.

 

[Canadian Dragon]

ther mushroom shit is whack, but it can't really be any worse than the shit that it's in most energy drinks already

in before some energy obsessed bro tells me its all natty and healthier than coffee or tea because they got fooled by marketing

 

[Kross Rhodes]

I read the article and it's not even just that it pays for itself, it's literal revenue for AEW as they pay for his appearance and the drink.

We shall see if the extra income is worth the headache. While the angles are not for me, I think the backlash has been relatively minimal in the public eye.

For sure. Sponsorship money is ridiculous when you can get it. Like not just an advertiser but actual sponsor. Like I was saying before like when macho man came in to WCW with the slim Jim money. Bischoff initially didn’t even want to hire Savage but the money was so huge. He was basically getting Savage for free. I believe he even signed him originally for 750,000 but within two years macho man was making about 2 million because that’s how much money that the slim Jim was paying WCW so they could afford to jump in salary that much that’s on top of obviously the amount of money that he was me helping WCW draw because he’s a huge name obviously.

Like people don’t get how big of a deal that sponsorship is and it’s not just to get Ric Flair on TV. I mentioned it before but I honestly think the reason why warrior, hogan and Nash and everyone else you can think eventually was able to go back to WWE and Vince was like business is business but macho man never went back. I think it’s because he was the only one that left when WWE was in such a bad shape financially and took a huge sponsorship deal with him.

I think for now Flair is worth the headache. Just gotta keep his live angles to a minimum.

 

[Bad News Booty]

ther mushroom shit is whack, but it can't really be any worse than the shit that it's in most energy drinks already

in before some energy obsessed bro tells me its all natty and healthier than coffee or tea because they got fooled by marketing

Actually I take daily mushroom powder in my morning smoothie that shit is legit. I’m talking about the normal energy drink garbage. People will think cuz of the mushrooms it’s healthy and drink more of the bad shit

 

[Kross Rhodes]

Do mushrooms go in your energy drink will become the new do pineapples go on your pizza.

 

[Bad News Booty]

My dad has been drinking homemade Chaga Mushroom tea for years and it’s def helped some of his daily ailments. So as much as it’s still and energy drink and isn’t healthy at all I’ll defend the mushrooms til I die

 

[Canadian Dragon]

Actually I take daily mushroom powder in my morning smoothie that shit is legit. I’m talking about the normal energy drink garbage. People will think cuz of the mushrooms it’s healthy and drink more of the bad shit

i also like mushrooms and mushroom powder.and i agree with the rest of your statement

 

[Canadian Dragon]

My dad has been drinking homemade Chaga Mushroom tea for years and it’s def helped some of his daily ailments. So as much as it’s still and energy drink and isn’t healthy at all I’ll defend the mushrooms til I die

Chaga Tea is so damn good , local place nearby does a chaga latte, pricy but its my go to treat .

 

[Bad News Booty]

Glad we are in agreement on that. Also fuck Ric Flair

 

[Canadian Dragon]

Glad we are in agreement on that. Also fuck Ric Flair

yeah Revolution cant come soon enough, he can fuck off my tv forever after that

 

[Alexa]

Hear me out...The Great Muta retires Sting