Sting's AEW Debut Was Packed With Small Details That Honored His Entire Legacy

Nearly five years removed, it's safe to say that no one could've predicted just how things would go for Sting in AEW when he debuted at "Dynamite: Winter is Coming" in December 2020. And even if one would have predicted that Sting would have one last run, no one would have anticipated the quality of it given Sting was in his 60s. And yet, whether it was Sting emulating his partner Darby Allin with a daredevil style, his final title reign as one half of the AEW World Tag Team Championships, or what is arguably the greatest retirement match wrestling has ever seen at AEW Revolution 2024, "The Icon" managed to take his already legendary, Hall of Fame career, and enhance it beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

It's funny in retrospect, because many would have been satisfied with Sting's AEW run if only for his initial appearance. Smack dab in the middle of a wrestling world dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Sting's AEW debut, in front of a quarter full Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, still feels like it took place in front of thousands of fans to this day. There was the reaction from the fans fortunate enough to be there, the interactions with former foes and allies like Arn Anderson and Dustin Rhodes, the brief moment with Cody Rhodes, a man who idolized Sting as a child, and the face to face with Allin, a sign of things to come. But there was also the classic Sting aesthetic, albeit a tad colder than usual, that immediately made it feel like Sting, and his legacy, were right at home.

Part of what makes the aesthetic of Sting's AEW debut hit so hard, especially in hindsight, is that it fit him while not being 100% apparent it was related to him upon first viewing. If one is to watch the video the precedes Sting making his entrance, there's only one aspect one can say with full confidence is related to Sting; the shot of a crow sitting in the snow. Long the symbol of the second half of Sting's career, the crow is a giveaway of sorts that Sting is coming, only its so brief that one could also easily dismiss it as just a random shot. But thinking about it further, the other giveaway, the one that isn't so apparent, is the use of weather, the use of the season. Snow; winter; logical steps forward from other parts of Sting's aesthetic years ago.

One of the most famous images of Sting's career comes from a vignette filmed to hype up his now infamous Starrcade 1997 match with Hollywood Hogan, one that saw Sting standing in an abandoned building as rain poured down. The imagine certainly called to mind scenes from the film "The Crow," which Sting's mid-90s gimmick was modeled off of, and created the feel of Sting for many years to come; a darker character of the shadows, who preferred the cold and damp to the warmth. In a way no one could conceive at the time, the cold snow of his AEW debut could be seen as a continuation. After all, as time goes on, and warmth towards to cold, rain turns to snow. The aesthetic of Sting's AEW debut managed to stay true to his WCW days, by turning rain to snow, summer into winter, and signaling that Sting's time was coming to an end.