In many aspects of life, it’s how you finish something that leaves more of an impression on people than anything you could have done before. Up until AEW Revolution 2024, Sting had been a professional wrestler for nearly 40 years. He had countless classic matches (just look at the rest of this watchlist for example), won dozens of championships all over the world, and earned himself a legion of hardcore fans who followed him from company to company. But everything has to come to an end at some point, and if you can end something on a high note, there isn’t anything quite like it, and in the case of Sting’s career, he went out on the highest possible note.

Until Hiroshi Tanahashi retired from wrestling at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20, you would be hard pressed to find a retirement match better than Sting’s, where he and Darby Allin defended the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a Tornado Tag Team Match against The Young Bucks. The whole presentation from start to finish is just one big celebration of “The Icon” and it’s wonderful. Sting sitting in a movie theater watching all of the clips from his career that aren’t owned by WWE, “Seek and Destroy” by Metallica blaring out of the speakers one more time, and the two cherries on the icing on the already huge cake, Sting’s sons coming out dressed as previous versions of their dad gets you right in the mood for one last ride with “The Stinger.”

That last ride turned out to be one of the most exciting and chaotic in AEW history. Of course it was going to be over the top given that Darby was in the match, but even the most experienced AEW fans didn’t expect him to launch himself head first from the top of a ladder through a pane of glass on the outside. Even Sting at 64 years of age went through a pane of glass as Matthew and Nicholas Jackson looked to spoil the party that was the last match for “The Icon.” They pulled out every trick in the book, even giving both Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat Superkicks for trying to get involved, but it turned out that Sting didn’t need their help.

Everyone went into this match believing that Sting would have to lose as it would make sense for The Young Bucks to parade around, not just as champions, but as the men who sent Sting into retirement. However, as the match went on, more and more people believed that “The Icon” wasn’t going to go gently into that good night, and he didn’t. Sting locked in the Scorpion Death Lock on Matthew for the victory, and he was given a send-off fitting of a man who is one of the most influential performers of all time. Sting saved the best for last in his career, and his retirement match is essential viewing.