After watching Darby Allin turn in a fantastic, come-from-behind victory over Swerve Strickland in the opening match of AEW Dynamite, MJF walked down to the ring to run “The Living Dead Boy” through another gauntlet, this time with his words, not his fists. Holding his own fairly well on the mic, pointing out how “The Salt of the Earth” could benefit from some therapy, MJF took his turn with the Shure 58 and let be known Allin is nothing without Sting, who wasn't in Milwaukee for the show.

… or was he? That's right, ask and you will receive, Mr. Friedman, as none other than The Stinger made his way down to the ring for what might just go down as his signature promo as a member of AEW

“Max, I just want to know what all of this talk is these past few weeks, the Daddy Daycare talk and all of this. I don’t understand that, I wanted you to know that it offends me deeply,” Sting said. “I mean, I don’t really see myself as, like, a daycare kind of guy. I see myself as more like a, oh, I don’t now, like a cheerleader.”

After humorously patting MJF in the face with a comedic number of pom poms, Sting went in again and delivered a career retrospective of sorts that put over Allin as much as it buried the Champ.

“I’ve got somewhat of a fever, and the only cure for my fever is more pom poms!” Sting declared. “It looks like I’ve offended you, offended you deeply, haven’t I? I promise, I’ll stop now if you promise to stop, okay? Stop this ‘Cody Daycare’ stuff, okay? I said Cody, didn’t I? Oh, I said Cody and the truth hurts, doesn’t it, Max? Because you had a cheerleader, you had a support system in Cody and I’m a support system for Darby, and a young Surfer Sting had a support system too under the name Ric Flair. Yeah ‘Slick Ric’ thank you for putting me on the map. Live you ‘Nature Boy!’

“And from there, I sort of evolved and we went into ‘Crow Sting’ stuff and then a little ‘Wolfpack Sting,’ yeah, love you Kevin, love you Scott. And I guess it’s pretty obvious by now, but I’ve still got a little ‘Joker’ left in me, don’t I. But what I don’t have is a hunger or thirst for this World Title. Let’s face is, I’m just gonna be real with everyone here, including you, showtime is almost over. But showtime is just starting for this young man right here! Darby Allin, Max, mark my words, Darby Allin will become AEW’s World Heavyweight Champion. I promise you, it is showtime!”

Goodness gracious, calling that a promo feels almost disrespectful to the Stinger, as he's it was so much more; in roughly four minutes, Sting delivered a statement of intentions, celebrated his career and the important people in it, and put over the next generation and his chosen successor. Sting finally addressed the elephant in the room, his forthcoming retirement, on national television, and let fans know that, even if his show is deep into the third act, there's still time for a few more twists and jaw-dropping moments before we reach the climax. A+ stuff from the living legend.

Ric Flair gives Sting a shoutout of his own during AEW Dynamite.

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After Sting took some time to shout out Cody Rhodes and put over the men who helped him get to the show, Flair, Nash, and Hall, fans immediately took to Twitter to see if any of the men mentioned in the promo had anything to say in response and, unsusprieisnly, “The Nature Boy” was quick on the draw with some kind words of his own about his pupil-turned-friend.

“Sting, the respect is mutual! Love you, my friend! Flair wrote on Twitter. You actually earned my respect for being the man you are, Sting!”

Now, as some fans may remember, this isn't the first time Flair has put Sting over on his Twitter account, as he gave Tony Khan massive props for allowing The Stinger to wrestle in a trios match with Orange Cassidy, and Allin versus The Butcher, The Blade, and Kip Sabian a few days after his 64th birthday. While everyone and their mother knows that “Slick Ric” would love nothing more than to get back in the ring and wrestle some more, watching his long-time WCW friend continue to put in great work well into his 60s must feel pretty cool too.