Top AEW Star Describes Emotional Voice Mail Sting Left Him
Sting was showered with praise for his performance at last September's "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam" at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Fans and wrestlers alike were floored by the 62-year-old looking spry for his age as he dazzled with a wide array of moves including the iconic Stinger Splash. The match would end with Sting making Dax Harwood tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock, securing a win for himself & Darby Allin over FTR.
Needless to say, it takes two to tango in pro wrestling, and FTR played an integral part in helping Sting turn back the clock. Speaking at the media scrum after Saturday's ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, Harwood revealed how Sting expressed his gratitude towards FTR.
"So we had the match at Arthur Ashe, and I was on vacation with my family," Harwood recalled. "I got a call from Sting, but I was out on the beach. I came back up, saw my phone, and listened to a three-minute voice mail from Sting. I still have it saved on my phone. He said, 'hey, I can't thank you enough. You guys went out of your way to make sure that I looked as good as possible.' He said, 'I was afraid that I would embarrass myself. Then I got on Twitter and read the results and the reviews, and found out people still love me.' In my mind, I'm like, 'you're Sting, of course, we still love you!' But he had that doubt, and those are the things that [I care for]."
"Greatest tag team of all time, whatever," Harwood continued. "But my hero, from when I was a kid, has a voicemail to me. He took time out of his day to call me and say, 'hey, you're the best, you guys are the best I've ever been in the ring with. Thank you so much for that. That made my career.' Those are the things I care about."
The topic of Sting came up when FTR were asked if they consider themselves to be the G.O.A.T of tag team wrestling.
"If I'm being honest, I don't think I've ever sat down and thought about it," Harwood responded. "Are we the greatest of all time? Are we Mt. Rushmore material? The things I think about is when Bret Hart, Dennis Condrey or Arn Anderson text me, these people that I've looked up to, loved, and admired, and they tell me how great we are and what we did was greater [than past tag teams].
"Those are things that I'll forever remember. Like at Arthur Ashe last year, we had this match with Sting, and I went to him the week before in catering. I said, 'hey, I know that at 62 years old, you probably have some doubt in your mind, and that's OK. We all do, we're all insecure. I said, 'but, if there's ever a night you wanted to go 30 minutes, next week is your night, because I promise you we can make sure [of it.]. I told him, 'we know Sting better than you know Sting.'"
Following an epic 2/3 falls match against The Briscoes at the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, FTR bolstered their argument as one of the greatest tag teams of all time. You can watch the entire post-PPV media scrum below.