AEW has hosted several legends of the wrestling business throughout its young history, but it has never seen the influx of star power WWE gained after the fall of WCW in 2001. At that time, The Rock had a few iconic names in mind for dream matches, with one of them being Sting.

The Stinger hung up his boots following his final match at this year’s AEW Revolution. The legendary star wowed fans with his final run in All Elite Wrestling, but he’d reached the peak of his fame more than 20 years before in WCW.

When WWE’s greatest rival folded, The Rock, who was one of the biggest stars in wrestling at that point, wanted to face The Icon. Speaking on the final episode of the hit Vice series, Who Killed WCW? The Great One revealed that he’d asked Vince McMahon about potentially competing against Sting, Randy Savage, and other top stars from the defunct promotion:

“I remember sitting down in my hotel room and writing down all the wrestlers who I had hoped to wrestle,” said Dwayne Johnson. “Goldberg, Sting, [Randy] Savage, everybody in the nWo. I remember writing everybody down and going to Vince and saying, ‘Hey, this might be a good idea. What about this guy and this guy, and this guy and this guy, let’s bring them in.'”