Tony Khan Reportedly Got Martha Hart's Blessing For Sting's AEW Dynamite Descent

AEW fans around the world were buzzing following the February 28 edition of "AEW Dynamite" as Sting rolled back the years and descended from the rafters to confront The Young Bucks ahead of their match at Revolution on March 3rd.

Dropping in from the rafters was a signature part of Sting's entrance once he transformed into his "Crow" persona during his WCW days, regularly spooking the New World Order by appearing out of nowhere. However, following the passing of Owen Hart in 1999 in an accident related to a similar entrance, Sting's version was only used on sporadic occasions. Hart tragically passed away following the WWE Over The Edge pay-per-view in 1999; he was meant to descend from the rafters in his Blue Blazer attire, but ended up falling approximately 78 feet to his death.

Given AEW's relationship with the Hart family, in particular Owen's widow Martha Hart and the Owen Hart Foundation charity, some fans were questioning the decision to have Sting descend from the rafters one last time. Fightful Select has reported, however, that AEW President Tony Khan explicitly asked for Martha's blessing to allow Sting's entrance to take place out of respect for Owen and to make sure that the stunt was not performed in poor taste. Had Martha not given her blessing, it's likely that the stunt wouldn't have taken place.

Before the February 28 edition of "Dynamite," the last time Sting had made his entrance from the roof of a building rather than down the entrance ramp was at TNA's Slammiversary event in June 2007, where he defeated Christopher Daniels. Prior to Slammiversary 2007, Sting pulled off the stunt in WCW once in 2000, but given the nature of Owen's passing, it was dropped for both safety and sensitivity reasons.