When the man born Steve Borden announced that he was going to wrestle his final match at Revolution 2024 after three incredible years in AEW, fans around the world could pretty safely assume they were in one final “showtime” from the “Man Called Sting.”

Taking the ramp as the fourth and final entrant into Revolution‘s main event, flanked by his sons wearing retro Sting attire following a touching vignette produced by his tag team partner, “The Icon” was greeted with a hero's welcome by the 16,000 fans at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the crowd expecting some serious fireworks before the final, bittersweet punctuation.

Opening up the match hot, with Allin whipping out both Bucks with a suicide dive right at the bell, the four babyfaces got the crowd going right away with a series of Stinger Splashes on the Jackson brothers, with Borden's sons, a pair of college football players, really hamming it up in a touching tribute to their father. Setting up tables, chairs, a ladder, and panes of glass for a series of bone-chilling spots, the Bucks began to fight back on the outside, taking the duo out into the crowd before putting both babyfaces through tables from atop the entrance ramp.

From there, Allin worked his way back into the ring solo, attempting to get a massive win with a splash off the top of a ladder onto a pane of glass, but Nicholas Jackson was moved at the last minute, leaving one-half of the AEW Tag Team Champions to take a 20-foot fall onto the ground as the broken glass ripped up his back.

With Allin out of action, Sting returned and fought through the pain, going through a table and then a pane of glass, but just when it looked like things were over, Ric Flair and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat came to his defense, eating moves from the Bucks to give their friend some time to recover.

And recover he did, in a major way.

After taking a pair of Superkicks from the Bucks, who boldly declared “We're not sorry, we hate you,” Sting no-sold the move and jolted back to life, pounding his chest on the way to a huge comeback. He kicked out of an EVP trigger on one, laughed in his foes' face and ate Superkicks and almost a Tony Khan Driver before Allin, covered in blood, sent Nicholas through a table to set up a Scorpion Death Drop from “The Icon” for a two count. With the match suddenly two-on-one, Allin hit Mattthew with a Coffen Drop before Sting locked him up in the Scorpion Death Lock, and just like that, the older Buck tapped out for the 1-2-3, leaving “The Icon” undefeated with a 29-0 record and a champion on his way out of the door.

Sting celebrates leaving AEW Revolution an Icon and a Champion.

With the match officially over and his AEW legacy all but wrapped up, Sting took a few moments to address the crowd in Greensboro one final time, celebrating the fans in the Coliseum for making his career so special.

“Greensboro, to be honest with you've been thanking you since 1988, the ‘Nature Boy,' Sting, 45 minute draw for the World Title. Thank you Ric, I don't even know if Ric is still here, but thank you Ric! Greensboro, you were incredible in '88 and beyond all the way to this very night, I've been saying in all sorts of interviews I just want this to be a night wrestling fans will not forget, a night of wrestling that will be etched in your minds forever, and it is me that's saying this is a night that I will never forget, so thank you Greensboro, you were awesome!” Sting told the crowd.

“Yeah, this has definitely been a time to be thankful for for sure. Thank you to the greatest tag team partner I've ever had, Darby Allin, I wonder how many stitches this is going to require tonight. Yup, I knew it from the very first time I saw Darby Allin in action, he's a risk-taker. I was a risktaker back in my young days, and you know what, I was a risk-taker back in the day and you know what, I'm kinda old not but I'm still a risk-taker, especially if I'm here in Greensboro.”

While Sting's speech was unfortunately cut off before it came to an end, fans really didn't miss much from the remainder of the story, as “The Icon” simply thanked his family, Tony Khan, and the crowd some more until he was hugged by the entire AEW roster before he walked to the back one final time as an active professional wrestler. Will fans see Sting in an AEW ring ever again? Khan has already said he'd welcome “The Icon” back in any capacity he'd like in the future, so never say never, but regardless of what the future holds, this was the perfect send-off to one of the very best to ever do it.