Though it's been a few weeks since Sting wrestled his final professional wrestling match against AEW EVPs, the Young Bucks, the wrestling world is abuzz over the bout, with wrestlers, podcasters, and legends alike all discussing what has already been billed as the greatest retirement match of all time.
One such personality who checks all three of those boxes is none other than WWE legend-turned-AEW wrestler Matt Hardy, who did not work a match at Revolution 2024 but watched on like fans across the world as Sting celebrated his final “bye-bye” to the sport.
Discussing how he thought the match came together on his Extreme Life podcast, Hardy celebrated all four men for turning in an A+ effort, noting that in the end, the match produced everything fans could have hoped for and more.
“I loved it. I loved every bit of it. More than anything, I'm happy for Sting. I'm happy Sting got the chance to tell the story in a correct fashion, he was treated with respect, he was treated with honor, and he was able to go out on his own note, which was fantastic. I loved everything about it. It's no secret, it's funny, the internet nobodies, the FIs, they love to talk about how I kiss a** with the Young Bucks. The Young Bucks are dear friends of mine. Two of my closest friends in the business. I love them to death. They kick a**. Sting is the person who demanded to work with the Young Bucks. That's who he chose to work with. This wasn't the Young Bucks doing some sort of flex of power. This was Sting demanding to work with the Young Bucks. That's who he wanted to work with because he realized how good they are and how much they would bust their a**, and how they would tell a good story, and that's what he's all about, telling the story,” Matt Hardy explained via Fightful.
“The story that was told during this whole run, we have Sting, who's undefeated, and you don't know if he's doing to win and leave as the tag team champion and retire as the tag team champion, or will he lose and do the thing that they always did in the business. When it's time for you to step away, you put somebody else over. That would have certainly been a possibility. So it was very unpredictable. I loved that fact. I loved the fact that, it's a polarizing thing, the thing that Darby did, where he jumped out onto the sheet of glass and the chairs, I think that spot was appropriate in many ways. I'm not saying it's something I would have specifically have done, but I understand Darby. I know how he thinks, and he is the true definition of what the Hardy Boys were supposed to be. He is a total adrenaline junkie that will just keep upping and upping and upping and upping the bar and doing something more crazy. He's a true daredevil, almost masochistic in some ways.”
Pretty interesting stuff, right? Well wait, it gets even better, as Hardy had plenty more to say about his fellow AEW c0-workers regarding their match at Revolution, as in “Big Money Matt's” opinion, the bout was worth extensive discussion.
Matt Hardy is incredibly proud of Sting, the Bucks, and AEW.
Continuing his conversation on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, “Version 1” celebrated the match's design, giving props to Tony Khan for helping to create a perfect finish to “The Icons” AEW career.
“I loved every single thing about it. It was emotional, they told a good ride. They told a good story. Sting looked as great as Sting could possibly look in that match, in those moments, and Darby did a h*ll of a job carrying his end of the deal, too,” Matt Hardy noted. “Kudos. Big round of applause to everybody involved. They killed it, and once again, I will applaud Tony Khan for getting Sting there and sending him out the right way.”
Asked by his co-host Jon Alba if he talked to the Young Bucks about the match, Hardy said yes, noting that he had nothing but praise for their involvement in the match.
“I did. I texted back and forth with them after the match. I really expressed how much I loved it and how hard they busted their a**, and to do business,” Hardy added. “They just did the right thing for business in general. They did the right thing for Sting. They just worked. At the end of the day, they got themselves over in that match because they were just the ultimate and consummate professionals in that match.”
In professional wrestling, careers very rarely have happy endings. Performers are forced to retire due to injury, have to return for financial reasons, or simply can't let things go before they are no longer physically able to work up to their previous standards. Sting's final match, however, was a perfect sendoff to an all-time great career, with more and more praise coming with each passing week.
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