AEW shocked the professional wrestling world on Wednesday night when Sting made his AEW debut and announced he's signed a multi-year deal.

Sting makes his AEW debut and return to TNT

Winter arrived and it stings!

AEW has signed wrestling legend Sting to a full-time, multi-year agreement.

.@STING HAS ARRIVED IN ALL ELITE WRESTLING!
Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama pic.twitter.com/NMLGKqdQtX
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 3, 2020

Sting made his debut on last night's (December 2) special 'Winter is Coming' edition of Dynamite following the match between Cody Rhodes, Darby Allin and Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs.

Welcome to the team... @Sting is #AllElite pic.twitter.com/nzNX3bKpSi
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 3, 2020

One of the biggest stars of WCW in the 90s, Sting's Dynamite debut marked the first time he has appeared on TNT since 2001.

According to a new report from Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk, the reason that the WCW icon appeared on Dynamite and signed a multi-year contract is that he was unhappy with how he was used by WWE and wants a proper final run for his audience.

In this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Sting was really interested in having a cinematic match with the Undertaker but it did not come to fruition.

Sting only had four matches in WWE, all of which took place in 2015. Of those matches, he lost two of them. His WWE debut was a loss to Triple H at WrestleMania 31, he would win a tag team match alongside John Cena on an episode of Raw, a disqualification win against the Big Show on the same episode of Raw and finally he lost to Seth Rollins in his final match, which also saw him injured to the point where he may not wrestle again.

Sting Signs Multi-Year Contract With AEW.

In a statement, AEW boss Tony Khan said: "The surprise introduction of Sting was a great way to celebrate our biggest episode of Dynamite yet.

Sting has signed a full-time, multi year deal with AEW pic.twitter.com/pmIrCmu9No
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) December 3, 2020

"When AEW launched, I was ecstatic to bring wrestling back to TNT after a very long absence. Sting defeated the legendary Ric Flair in the final wrestling match to be shown on TNT for more than 18 years until the debut of Dynamite in 2019.

Based on his debut, it would appear he will have some form of interaction with Cody and/or Darby Allin.

"Now, almost two decades later, it's such a thrill to welcome Sting to AEW and bring him back home to TNT!”

On next week's Dynamite, Sting will speak for the first time and address why he's All Elite.

Elsewhere on the show, Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley to becoming AEW's third-ever World Champion.

Omega picked up the win after an assist from Impact executive Don Callis. The show ended with the pair leaving with the AEW Championship and telling fans to tune into Impact on Tuesday night.