By the end of the weekend, Sting‘s run in AEW will be officially over, bringing his career to an end with a bang in a match featuring Darby Allin and the Young Bucks, Nicholas and Matthew Jackson.

… or will it?

Discussing Sting's final match in AEW on the Revolution media call, Tony Khan was asked about the future of “The Icon” in AEW once his final match comes to an end, with the CEO noting that there will always be a spot for his current Tag Team Champion in the promotion in one form or another once his career comes to an end.

“Sting, I hope will remain with us in spirit forever. I believe he’ll be affiliated with us. Last night, he joked he was going to come back and throw on the headset. I would love that. I think we would all love for Sting to come back and be a part of the show. Sting is always welcome here. One thing about Sting, when he did this comeback, especially the hardcore fans of wrestling who know all the inner workings and details of the industry, may appreciate this. When he came back in 2020, he did not need the money. Sting is very well off and has earned a lot of money in his career and has taken care of it very well. He’s a great person and has made great investments. He does this because he loves it. He loves the fans, and he wanted to have a great run in wrestling, and for these past three years, that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Tony Khan explained on the Revolution media call via Fightful.

“For me, I would love to have Sting back in AEW at any time, and I know he said he would like to comeback. We won’t hold him or force him to come back at any point. It’s not like we’ve locked in dates where he’s definitely going to be there, or contracted him. It’s going to be really nice after three years of pushing himself and have the longevity in his career that all wrestlers can aspire to and dream of, now is a great time for Sting to take time for himself and his family after this. Whatever the result is on Sunday, Sting can take pride that he’s had the most incredible final run that I can remember. We’re excited about the final match, and after that, we’ll see how Sting feels and I’m going to leave that to him. He knows the door is open and he’s welcome at AEW forever and we definitely want Sting representing AEW for as long as there is an AEW because to me, he’s our greatest legend and has been part of some of our greatest memories in the short history of AEW and in my lifetime, part of some of the greatest memories in all of pro wrestling. That’s why he deserves this send-off so much that he’s getting.”

Would it be cool to see Sting become a commentator, an occasional presenter, or just a legacy member of the AEW family, lending his name to an award like the Owen Hart Cup? One way or another, it feels incredibly likely that Revolution won't be the final time fans see Sting in an AEW ring, as he's just too popular and too tied into the business to walk away for good.

Tony Khan boldly declares that 2025 will be AEW's year.

Elsewhere on his Revolution media call, Tony Khan was asked about AEW's media rights deals for Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision, which all come to an end at the end of 2024.

Discussing what comes next for AEW's television rights deals, Khan boldly declared that he expects 2025 to be a promotion year, with the potential to finally become an “established challenger” in professional wrestling.

“The biggest opportunity lies in the media rights renewal, where Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision will all be getting huge, huge increases, I can say for sure,” Tony Khan explained on the Revolution media call via Fightful. “Going into that and having that confidence, I think ’25 is going to go down as the year where AEW really took the leap from being a start-up company to being the established challenger player in pro wrestling for decades to come and establishing all of that in basically five years, that was the five-year plan.”

While AEW is far from a second-class citizen when compared to WWE, as the Khan family are notoriously billionaires, the prospects of adding some serious financial firepower from a company like Warner Brothers Discovery could change the company's growth strategy considerably in a way more dynamic than simply signing big-named free agents like Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, and Mercedes Mone. While only time will tell if Khan's prediction proves true, in the end, it will be incredibly interesting to see either way.