WWE Hall Of Famer Rob Van Dam Reflects On Sting's Retirement Announcement

Nearly 38 years after his career began, Sting is finally on the road to hanging up his boots for good. The AEW star and WCW legend announced last week that he would retire at AEW Revolution in March 2024, and the festivities will continue tonight, as AEW owner Tony Khan will present Sting with a gift. According to Rob Van Dam, who worked with Sting in TNA in the late 2000s/early 2010s, retirement has been a long time coming. On "1 Of A Kind," RVD, who himself will appear on "AEW Dynamite" tonight, recalled how Sting was looking to retire in TNA around that time, and how he was always convinced to stick around.

"The way that I remember, when we did the first Hall of Fame for TNA/Impact inducted Sting, he gave his speech, and he told everybody that he thought he was done, he was retired already," RVD said. "And Dixie Carter's husband called, 'Hey man, we've got this thing. We really need you.' And he was like 'No, I'm done.' 'Hey, it's just PPV. Once a month or something, once a week,' or whatever they had. 'I think I'm done.' 'But what about if we give you this much money?' 'Okay, I can do it for a little bit.'"

"That's what I remember from the speech that Sting gave when he got inducted into the Hall of Fame. That they kept saying 'Well, just another six months or another twelve months. We'll pay you this much.' He'd say 'Well, I guess I'll keep going.' That was back in 2009, or 2010 I guess. So that's why I didn't know if he already retired or not, but I know it's been on his mind for a while."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "1 Of A Kind" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription