Swan Song; noun, a person’s last public performance or professional activity before retirement
Wrestling is a world full of traditions and moments. The old traditions are still sung in today’s wrestling, and one of the most sacred is a wrestler’s swan song.
The Last Matches “By the Numbers”
Within the last two years, we have seen three classic and legendary wrestlers sing their swan song. Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and most recently, Sting have all left the boots in the middle of the ring. All three men had their “last show”, and all three had very different experiences.
Jim Crockett Promotions drew one of the largest “independent” houses in decades.
Ric Flair officially retired.
Worldwide sports & media coverage.#RicFlairsLastMatch was a top trending topic on twitter.#STARRCAST had its highest attendance ever.
That’s it. That’s the tweet. pic.twitter.com/h0FZYr3YIq
— #StarrcastDownunder (@StarrcastEvents) August 2, 2022
Flair’s last match took place in Nashville, TN, on July 31, 2022. It was held the same weekend as WWE SummerSlam and was part of the Starrcast weekend of events.
Credits: Will Gray
The event was broadcast in the style of a Jim Crockett Promotions event direct from the 1980’s. Municipal Auditorium, a historic Nashville venue, sits at 9,700 at capacity. The PPV event that night had nearly 7,000 attendees. There were nine matches on the main card and two on the preshow.
Credits: Will Gray
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat had his final match in the historic Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. In November 2022, Big Time Wrestling produced a show littered with NWA prestige.
Dorton, a nearly 8,000-person arena, was around a quarter full with a couple thousand attendees the day of the event. The PPV event was produced and televised on FITE TV. The main card had six matches, and the preshow had one, a battle royal won by Scott Steiner.
‘The Icon’ Sting had his final match in Greensboro, North Carolina. Another site historic in the NWA traditions, the Greensboro Coliseum, was filled to the brim with a reported 15,910 attendees. The arena sits nearly 30k at capacity, so TK and co. had a fantastic showing in the huge venue. Produced and broadcast by AEW, the main card featured nine matches and had a two-match card.
Big Fight Feel in the Locker Room
All three of these examples have their fair share of legends and star-studded matchups.
For Flair, Conrad Thompson was at the helm of the promotion aspect. The podcasting mogul and son-in-law of Flair spared no expense when helping bring in “out-of-town talent.” The show itself featured 16 different promotions that night, ranging from AEW and WWE to Future Stars of Wrestling and MLW. All levels of pro wrestling were represented.
The card featured world title matches for The IMPACT! World Title and the IMPACT! Knockout’s Women’s Title. The children of the original groups paid homage to the Four Horsemen and the Rock N Roll Express.
Big Time Wrestling booked and promoted Ricky Steamboat’s final match. The show itself featured an NWA Jr. Heavyweight Championship match and a match for the BTW Heavyweight title.
The Rock N Roll Express made up of original members Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, wrestled in their last match in Dorton Arena that night. This was also one of the final matches before the tragic passing of Jay Briscoe, who was also on the card.
Sting’s last match saw Flair and Steamboat both at ringside. The AEW Revolution card featured six title matches. What AEW lacked in ‘legends’ comparatively to the other swan songs, they made up for in vignettes and photographs from throughout Sting’s career.
There is a shade of controversy here as there are rumors of WWE not allowing AEW to use any WCW or NWA footage of Sting, as they own the rights to the footage.
All three men headlined their final show, and all three men secured victories.
An Experience For the Fans
For all three events, the promoters made the experience special for the patrons.
Flair’s last match was part of the Starrcast Convention. The event saw NJPW, GCW and other local promotions having shows on site. The convention featured hundreds of vendors spread out across the huge Nashville Fairgrounds Complex. The panels of podcasts ranged from WWE legends to some of the hottest content creators.
The Dragon’s last match also featured a miniature convention of sorts. Many NWA legends, including Magnum TA, Buff Bagwell, and Lex Luger, were in attendance.
The fans had a meet-and-greet option with all the superstars on the card before and after the show. The biggest drawback to Ricky’s last match was almost the complete lack of concessions. For a multiple-hour show, the only food or drink on the venue site was a single food truck.
Tony Khan spares no expense on the presentation of the AEW shows being a spectacle. The Revolution PPV was no different. Although, again, it lacked “conventional” features like the other two shows, AEW made up for it in the electricity in the atmosphere in the arena. Patrons in attendance said the arena was ‘hot from bell to bell.’
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
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