Tony Khan Talks Sting's AEW Absence, Wants Him To Compete 'As Long As He Wants'

During the AEW Double or Nothing media call on Thursday, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about Sting's status and recent absence from storylines. 

Khan responded, "I am going to try and keep Sting wrestling and active as long as he wants to do it. He hasn't really given me a set time. He's mentioned it at times that he's not going to wrestle forever. Truth be told, I would like Sting to compete as long as he wants... We love having him here and I would love for Sting to stay as long as he could. Whenever he does decide that it's time for his last match, we would definitely want to make it a big event and I think it's one of, frankly, the biggest moments out there in pro wrestling right now is Sting's retirement match."

Khan hailed Sting as a great business asset and person, but doesn't want to leverage his eventual retirement as a short-term gain. "The Icon" last competed on the March 22 episode of "AEW Dynamite" when he teamed with Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy to beat Kip Sabian, The Butcher, and The Blade in a trios match. He hasn't appeared on pay-per-view since AEW Full Gear in November where he and Allin beat Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal in a No Disqualification match.

The 64-year-old is undefeated in the 14 matches he's had in AEW since joining the company at the end of 2020. All of them have been a tag team or multi-man match to cut down on the amount of bumps he takes. Sting hasn't had a singles match since 2015 when he suffered a career-threatening neck injury while competing against Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions.

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