Sting is 62 years old. He started wrestling when Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States. That’s a really, really long-ass time ago in athlete terms. Somehow, 37 years after starting his career, he’s still going — and still doing this.
Sting is 62 years old and threw himself off a stage and through a table
Nobody should be able to do this in their 60s.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
On AEW Dynamite Wednesday night Sting teamed with Darby Allin to take on The Acclaimed in a tag team main event. The story behind the match was relatively simple: Darby was hurt before the bell, effectively turning it into a handicap match, with Sting fighting off two men before Darby returned from the back as the hero.
This context is all important because it means Sting wrestled two men, alone, without really getting a breather, for 10 minutes BEFORE he hurled his body off the stage and through a table on the floor.
I don’t care if you’re the biggest wrestling hater in the world, this was impressive as hell. We don’t need tired diatribes about how it’s all “fake,” it’s still a man of his age doing anything athletic for 10 minutes against guys half his age, putting his body through punishment for 10 minutes before hitting a spot most wrestlers much, much younger than Sting don’t even attempt.
Sting has been turning back the clock since debuting for AEW just over a year ago. Sure, he’s definitely not the high-flying “Stinger” you might have seen a kid, and his style of wrestling has slowed down — but that’s all to be expected considering THE MAN IS SIXTY TWO YEARS OLD!
When Ric Flair went on his final run in 2009 as an in-ring competitor in WWE he was 59 years old. His move set was pretty much relegated to chops, the occasional body slam, and his figure four. Sting is now older than Flair was at the time and doing things 1,000 times more dangerous — and there’s absolutely no signs of him slowing down.
It’s seriously inspirational. To see anyone of that age killing it like he is defies all logic we know about what people in their 60s should be able to do. This moment on Wednesday night underscored just what incredible athletes wrestlers are, even if they never get the credit they really deserve.
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