Sting has given a touching response to what the surprise appearance of Ric Flair meant to him.
As The Icon stood in the ring on the October 25th episode of Dynamite, Tony Schiavone introduced the surprise that Tony Khan arranged for Sting, which was revealed to be an unannounced appearance by Flair. Delighted to see the fellow Hall of Famer, The Icon and The Nature Boy would embrace and reminisce about their lengthy wrestling careers.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, The Icon admitted that he does not get emotional very often, but both times he has were after interactions with Flair:
“I’ve never mentioned this to the press, or even in the dressing room, but real men cry. I’ve been emotional, full of tears, twice in my career. The first was Panama City when Ric and I had the last WCW match on Nitro. The second was last week on Dynamite.”
The Icon continued, revealing that he was taken all the way back to 1988 when he heard the familiar music of Flair and compared the reunion to their final WCW match:
“When Ric came out and I heard his music play, it hit me. I had this flashback, and it made me emotional. Ric is the guy who put me on the map. We’ve traveled around the world together, and Ric helped make me. Now he’s going to finish with me. After all the travel, all the matches, all the press slams, all the chops, and all the woos–woooo!–I experienced the same feeling on Dynamite this past week with Ric that I did on that final Nitro. Except this time, it was so much more positive.”
Along with their epic time-limit draw at the first-ever Clash of the Champions event, The Icon and The Nature Boy battled again and again in WCW, most notably on the first and final episodes of Nitro.
Sting & Ric Flair To Stick Around
While Flair’s debut in AEW came as a surprise, it appears that The Nature Boy will be sticking around for a lot longer as Sting has confirmed that The Nature Boy will be by his side, also stating that if it were not for Ric Flair he would have retired a lot earlier.