.jpg) Sting in 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Steve Borden[2] (1959-03-20)March 20, 1959 (age 66)[1][5] |
Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Blade Runner Flash[1] Blade Runner Sting[2][1] Steve Borden[1] Sting[3] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 250 lb (113 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Charlotte, North Carolina "Every Man's Nightmare" Venice Beach, California[3] |
| Trained by | Red Bastien[2] Rick Bassman |
| Debut | November 25, 1985[4] |
| Retired | March 3, 2024 |
Steve Borden (born March 20, 1959), better known by thering nameSting, is an American retiredprofessional wrestler. He is signed toAll Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he continues to make sporadic appearances since his retirement. Borden is best known for his time spent in two major Americanprofessional wrestling promotions:World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2001 andTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2003 to 2014, as well as his retirement run in AEW from 2020 to 2024. Although theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF; renamed WWE in 2002) purchased WCW in 2001, Borden did not sign with them at the time; he would later sign with WWE from 2014 to 2020. Prior to WCW, he wrestled for theNational Wrestling Alliance's (NWA)Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—theUniversal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and theContinental Wrestling Association (CWA). Borden woreface-paint throughout his career, and in 1996, changed from the multi-colored paint of his "Surfer" persona to the monochromatic paint of the "Crow" gimmick.[8]
Borden started his career in 1985 asFlash in theindependent promotion All-California Championship Wrestling, where he was in a tag team withJim "Justice" Hellwig (who would later be known as The Ultimate Warrior) as members of the Power Team USAstable, before he and Hellwig joined the CWA as the Freedom Fighters. In 1986, they joined the UWF as theBlade Runners, where Borden changed his ring name to Sting. His association with JCP and its successor WCW began in 1987, which saw him win theNWA World Heavyweight Championship for thefirst time in 1990. He rose to main event status and has been described by IGN as WCW'sHulk Hogan.[9] Dubbed "The Franchise of WCW",[3] he held 15championships in the promotion, includingsix reigns with theWCW World Heavyweight Championship and two reigns with theWCW International World Heavyweight Championship, and made morepay-per-view (PPV) appearances than any other.[10] Against Hogan, Borden headlined WCW's highest-grossingPPV event,Starrcade, in December 1997.[11] Upon the WWF's acquisition of WCW in March 2001,[12] Borden and rivalRic Flair were chosen to main event thefinal episode ofWCW Monday Nitro.[3] Borden would later face Hogan and Flair in their last televised matches, which occurred in TNA, defeating both,[13][14] although Flair would later haveone final match in 2022.
Following the expiration of his contract with WCW's parent companyAOL Time Warner in March 2002, Borden held talks with the WWF, but did not join the promotion[15] and instead toured withWorld Wrestling All-Stars (WWA),[16] winning theWWA World Heavyweight Championship, before joining then-upstart TNA in 2003.[2] Over the following 11 years, he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on one further occasion and theTNA World Heavyweight Championshipfour times. As a result, he became the only wrestler to have won the NWA, WCW, and TNA world titles.[17] He was also the inaugural inductee into theTNA Hall of Fame in 2012 before leaving the company in early 2014. Previously described by WWE as the greatest wrestler never to have performed for that promotion,[18] Borden finally joined the company in late 2014, making his first appearance atSurvivor Series and having his debut match atWrestleMania 31 the following year. His last match in WWE came atNight of Champions in September 2015, which also marked his sole WWEpay-per-view main event for theWWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort.[19] Borden headlined theWWE Hall of FameClass of 2016 on April 2, where he announced his first retirement;[20] he remained with the company under a legends contract until early 2020.
In late 2020, Borden signed with AEW, making his first appearance atDynamite: Winter Is Coming, subsequently coming out of retirement where he had his first match in over five years at the promotion'spay-per-view,Revolution, on March 7, 2021, a tag team victory with partnerDarby Allin. Borden and Allin would continue to work as a team, going undefeated and winning theAEW World Tag Team Championship in February 2024. Sting then had his officialretirement match atRevolution on March 3, 2024, retiring both as an undefeated tag team with Allin and as champion.
Borden held 26 total championships throughout his career, including 22 between WCW, TNA, and AEW. Readers ofPro Wrestling Illustrated named him "Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" on four occasions, a record he shares withJohn Cena. In 2016, Borden was inducted into theWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.Slam! Sports wrote that he holds "a lofty level of prestige that few will ever touch".[21]
Borden was born inOmaha, Nebraska,[2] and raised inSouthern California.[22] He played football and basketball in high school and later embarked on a career inbodybuilding, once co-owning aGold's Gym health club.[2] Borden had no interest in professional wrestling and no television access to it within his home community, but decided to pursue a career in the industry after being taken to an "incredible"World Wrestling Federation (WWF) event inLos Angeles where he sawHulk Hogan,The Iron Sheik,The British Bulldogs,André the Giant and others perform.[22]
Borden, originally wrestling under the ring name Flash,teamed withJim "Justice" Hellwig (who would later gain fame as The Ultimate Warrior in the WWF) as two members of Power Team USA in independent All-California Championship Wrestling. Power Team USA was a four-man unit also featuring Garland "Glory" Donahoe and Mark "Commando" Miller, plus manager Rick Bassman.[23] Hellwig and Borden later moved to theContinental Wrestling Association (CWA), a wrestling company based inMemphis, Tennessee, and became known as the Freedom Fighters.[24] Fans were slow to respond to the lumbering hulks, so the teamturnedheel[5][25] under "coach" Buddy Wayne[26] and soon afterwards managerDutch Mantel.[27] The Freedom Fighters left the CWA after an uneventful run, the highlight of which was an angle in which they broke the leg of veteran wrestlerPhil Hickerson.[24]
The duo surfaced in theUniversal Wrestling Federation (UWF), an organization run byBill Watts and based inAlexandria, Louisiana, where they were known as theBlade Runners. Borden changed his ring name from Flash to Sting, while Hellwig became known as Rock.[5] They soon joined Hotstuff & Hyatt International, a heel stable headed by"Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert andMissy Hyatt. Together with "Russian" wrestler Kortsia Korchenko, the Blade Runners became henchmen in Gilbert's on-screen feud with Watts. Hellwig left the promotion in mid-1986, leaving Sting without a partner. Sting won theUWF World Tag Team Championship twice with Gilbert in 1986 and a third time withRick Steiner in 1987.
Sting and Steiner lost their tag titles to theLightning Express after Gilbert accidentally hit Sting with his boot during a title defence, leading to a falling out between the two (with Steiner siding with Gilbert).[28] Shortly afterwards, following a match againstTerry Taylor in mid-1987, Gilbert interfered on Taylor's behalf, costing Sting the match. Taylor and Gilbert then ganged up on Sting until Taylor's former tag partnerGentleman Chris Adams came to Sting's aid. Adams cleared the ring and then asked Sting if he was with him or against him in his feud with Taylor and Gilbert. Sting turnedface by declaring his allegiance to Adams.
Behind the scenes, Gilbert endorsed Borden by telling adirt sheet that Sting would be a megastar in the future. Later that year, Sting was tabbed to win theUWF Television Championship, then held by Gilbert, untilJim Crockett of theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) bought the company from Watts. Crockett's booker,Dusty Rhodes, decided to put the Television title on Taylor to set up a feud between Taylor andNWA Television ChampionNikita Koloff tounify the two titles. Rhodes used then-unknownShane Douglas as thetransitional champion from Gilbert to Taylor because Rhodes did not want to diminish Sting's growing stardom with a brief title run.
Sometime after Sting's arrival to the NWA in July 1987, Dusty Rhodes used the opening bout of Crockett's first foray intopay-per-view,Starrcade '87, to showcase the young superstar. Sting partnered withMichael P.S. Hayes andJimmy Garvin in a six-man tag team match against Gilbert, Steiner, andLarry Zbyszko[29] that ended in a 15-minute time-limit draw.
Having established himself as a rising star, Sting was one of the few UWF alumni to bepushed in the NWA. AtClash of the Champions I in March 1988, Sting challengedRic Flair for theNWA World Heavyweight Championship. The match ended in a draw after the 45-minute time limit expired and the ringside judges could not declare a winner.[5][30] Sting lost to Flair in several non-televised rematches following the Clash and, later that year, battled other members of Flair's stable, theFour Horsemen. Sting teamed with Koloff atThe Great American Bash in July 1988 to challenge HorsemenTully Blanchard andArn Anderson for theNWA World Tag Team Championship; Blanchard and Anderson retained the titles when the match ended in a 20-minute time-limit draw.
Rhodes continued tobook Sting in title matches throughout the year against bothNWA United States ChampionBarry Windham and NWA Television ChampionMike Rotunda. In the fall of 1988, Sting was attacked byHawk andAnimal ofThe Road Warriors after a televised match. Rhodes, as booker, identified Sting as the face who was mostover with the fans, despite knowing that turning the Road Warriors heel would be no easy task. Rhodes himself teamed with Sting to challenge the Road Warriors for the tag team championship atStarrcade '88 that December. Rhodes and Sting got the win by disqualification, allowing the Road Warriors to retain the titles.
Sting returned to singles matches in 1989, starting the year off by wrestling Flair to a one-hour draw in Atlanta'sOmni on New Year's Day. He would also have his first experience in Japan with a brief tour inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), with his most notable match in AJPW againstDan Spivey atNippon Budokan in June 1989.[31] After a long push, Sting won his first title in the NWA when he defeated Rotundo for the NWA Television Championship at a live event in March.[5] In mid-1989,The Great Muta challenged Sting atThe Great American Bash. The match was booked with a classic, controversialDusty finish even though Rhodes (the namesake of the technique) had been fired months earlier. Sting got thethree-count and was announced as the winner, but a replay showed Muta's shoulder was up at the count of two. The NWA decided to declare the title vacant.[5] Sting and Muta battled in many rematches for the vacant Television title, but they always ended in a disqualification, giving neither man the championship. Eventually, Muta won aNo Disqualification match against Sting at a live event in September by using ablackjack to get the win and the title.
In the main event of that year's Great American Bash, Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship againstTerry Funk, who was a member ofGary Hart'sJ-Tex Corporation. After Flair got the victory, he was attacked by Funk's stablemate, Muta. Sting came to the aid of his old rival Flair, and the two feuded with Muta and Funk for the rest of the summer and fall, culminating in aThunderdome Cage match between the two teams, which Flair and Sting won, atHalloween Havoc '89. The alliance with Flair resulted in Sting joining the newly reformed and now-face Four Horsemen along with the Andersons,Arn andOle (kayfabe cousins). Sting finished out the year by winning a four-man round-robin Iron Man tournament atStarrcade '89. In the final match of the night, Sting defeated Flair to accumulate the necessary points to win the tournament. The victory made Sting the number one contender for Flair's NWA World title, leading to tension within the Four Horsemen.
Sting was summarily dismissed from The Four Horsemen on February 6, 1990, atClash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout after refusing to relinquish his title shot against Flair, thus restarting their rivalry. Later that evening, Borden experienced alegitimate knee injury while interfering in asteel cage match featuring the Horsemen.[5] Borden's injury forced the bookers ofWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), the dominant promotion in the NWA, to find a new opponent for Flair for the forthcomingWrestleWar pay-per-view event.
Lex Luger was chosen to challenge Flair at WrestleWar. During the match between Flair and Luger, Sting came down to motivate Luger to come back and beat Flair. Before this, Sting and Luger had been at odds. When Luger was close to winning, Sting was attacked by Ole Anderson. Luger opted to save the already injured Sting and ended up losing the match by count-out while assisting his friend. Behind the scenes, WCW officials had wanted Flair to drop the title to Luger at WrestleWar, but Flair refused, saying he had promised Borden he would hold the title until Borden could return to the ring. Despite the injury, Sting was still utilized on television and pay-per-views when necessary.
At theCapital Combat event in May, Sting was accosted by the Four Horsemen and thrown into a metal cage at ringside. In a promotional crossover, Sting was rescued by his buddyRoboCop.[32] After Borden's recovery, Sting finally defeated Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on July 7, 1990, atThe Great American Bash.[5] Sting went on to feud with title contenders Flair andSid Vicious. Vicious appeared to defeat Sting in a title match at the 1990Halloween Havoc, but the "Sting" that Vicious pinned was revealed to be an impostor played by HorsemanBarry Windham. The real Sting appeared soon after and pinned Vicious to retain his title after the match was restarted.
During Sting's title run, a masked man known asThe Black Scorpion would taunt and attack Sting on many occasions. This feud culminated in a final showdown between Sting and The Black Scorpion atStarrcade: Collision Course in December. The cage match ended with Sting pinning and unmasking the Scorpion, who turned out to be Flair in disguise.
 | This section of abiography of a living persondoes notinclude anyreferences or sources. Please help by addingreliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately. Find sources: "Sting" wrestler – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Sting's first world championship reign ended January 11, 1991, when Flair defeated him in a rematch from Starrcade. In the same month, WCW seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance, in the process of recognizing aWCW World Heavyweight Championship and aWCW World Tag Team Championship. Sting then took part in what many consider to be the best match of 1991, teaming with Luger to faceThe Steiner Brothers at theSuperBrawl I pay-per-view for the world tag-team titles. The Steiners won by pinfall after Koloff, who had been feuding with Luger, interfered in the match by swinging a chain at Luger, but hitting Sting instead. Consequently, Sting feuded with Koloff throughout the summer of 1991.[5] In August 1991, Sting defeatedSteve Austin to win a tournament for the vacatedWCW United States Heavyweight Championship.[5] Sting held the title for 86 days before losing it toRick Rude atClash of the Champions XVII.
AtStarrcade '91, Sting won the first-everBattlebowl battle royal, for which he received a Battlebowl championship ring. Sting then became embroiled in a feud with theDangerous Alliance, headed by managerPaul E. Dangerously. The stable targeted Sting because he was the so-called "franchise" of WCW, and the Alliance vowed to destroy both Sting and the promotion he was the face of. At the same time, Sting was being targeted by Luger, who had once again turned heel and, as WCW Champion, viewed Sting as a threat. Sting engaged in many matches with Dangerous Alliance members, especially Rude, who was the group's biggest star. It was during this feud that Sting won the first of his six WCW World Heavyweight Championships, defeating Luger on February 29, 1992, atSuperBrawl II.[5] The feud ended when Sting formed Sting's Squadron, consisting of alliesRicky Steamboat,Dustin Rhodes, Windham, and Koloff, and defeated the Alliance (Rude, Austin, Arn Anderson, Zbyszko, andBobby Eaton) in aWarGames match atWrestleWar in May 1992.Dave Meltzer awarded the match his highest rating of five stars.
Near the end of Sting's battles with the Dangerous Alliance, the seeds were sown for what became arguably one of the most famous feuds of Sting's career. Sting defended his WCW World title on April 12, 1992, atThe Omni inAtlanta against the 450-poundBig Van Vader. During the match, Vadersplashed Sting, cracking three of Sting's ribs and rupturing his spleen. Sting recovered and defended his title on July 12 against Vader atThe Great American Bash, dropping the belt to Big Van Vader after missing a Stinger Splash, hitting his head on the ring post, and receiving apowerbomb. After beatingCactus Jack in aFalls Count Anywhere Match atBeach Blast[33] and WCW newcomerJake Roberts in aCoal Miner's Glove match atHalloween Havoc, Sting defeated Vader, who had lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in August, in the "King of Cable" tournament final atStarrcade.
The Sting-Vader feud continued into 1993, with Vader, who was again WCW World Heavyweight Champion, defeating Sting in a bloodyStrap match atSuperBrawl III. Sting exacted revenge by beating Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on March 11 inLondon, England, but lost it back to Vader six days later inDublin, Ireland. Sting then teamed with WCW newcomerDavey Boy Smith to beat the team of Vader and Vicious atBeach Blast in a match that was set up by a mini-movie in which an evil midget blew up Sting's boat. At the end of 1993, Sting was one of the first people to congratulate Flair, who had just returned from the World Wrestling Federation, after his WCW World Heavyweight Title victory over Vader atStarrcade.
| This section of abiography of a living persondoes notinclude anyreferences or sources. Please help by addingreliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately. Find sources: "Sting" wrestler – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Sting feuded with Vader and Rude through the first half of 1994. Sting won theWCW International World Heavyweight Championship from Rude in April. Rude recaptured the title on May 1 atWrestling Dontaku 1994 inJapan, but the decision was reversed because Rude had allegedly hit Sting with the title belt during the match; this was to cover for a real-life back injury Rude sustained in the match that forced Rude into retirement. Sting refused to have the title handed to him, and instead defeated Vader for the vacant WCW International World Heavyweight Championship atSlamboree. Soon afterward, Flair defeated Sting in a title unification match atClash of the Champions XXVII, turning heel in the final moments of the match whenSensuous Sherri turned on Sting and took Flair's side. Sting spent the second half of 1994 and most of 1995 teaming with WCW's newest signee,Hulk Hogan in his battles againstKevin Sullivan'sThree Faces of Fear and its successor stable,The Dungeon of Doom.
AtThe Great American Bash 1995, Sting defeatedMeng to win another tournament for the WCW United States Championship. Sting defeated Meng in a rematch for the title atBash at the Beach 1995. Sting competed on the first-everWCW Monday Nitro in a match where Flair defeated Sting by disqualification as a result of arun-in by Arn Anderson, who attacked Flair. AtFall Brawl, Sting teamed with Hogan, Luger, andRandy Savage to defeat the Dungeon of Doom, consisting ofKamala,Zodiac,Shark and Meng, in the event'sWarGames match. In October 1995, Flair convinced Sting to team with him in a match against Anderson andBrian Pillman atHalloween Havoc. Anderson and Pillman had attacked Flair earlier in the night, rendering Flair unable to come out for the first part of the match. Sting fended off his opponents until Flair emerged. Later in the match, Flair turned on Sting and reformed the Four Horsemen with Anderson and Pillman, later addingChris Benoit to fill out the group.[5]
Sting defeated Flair on a subsequentNitro with theScorpion Deathlock, refusing to let go until Luger persuaded him to do so. Sting defeated Flair again at theWorld War 3 pay-per-view. Later in the night, Sting competed in theWorld War 3 battle royal for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Randy Savage. Sting's alliances with Hogan and Savage led the Horsemen to attack them as well. Sting's second U.S. title reign lasted until November 13, when he was defeated byKensuke Sasaki in Japan. AtStarrcade, Sting defeated Sasaki, representingNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, in a non-title match to win the "World Cup of Wrestling" for WCW. In the next match that night, Sting lost aTriangle match involving Flair and Luger; Flair won by count-out to become number one contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Flair won from Savage in the next match.
Early in 1996, Sting's appearance started to change: he grew longer, darker hair, replacing his blondflattop haircut, and he often wore black tights with a multi-coloredscorpion, although he occasionally wore his colorful ones and maintained his colorfulface paint. Stingteamed with his old friend Luger, who had returned to WCW from WWF in September 1995, despite Luger's standing as a heel. The duo beatHarlem Heat for theWCW World Tag Team Championship on the January 22 episode ofNitro. The team often retained the championship as a result of Luger's cheating tactics, to which Sting remained oblivious. When Luger was temporarily unavailable forWCW Uncensored in March, Harlem Heat memberBooker T teamed up with Sting to successfully prevent the titles from changing hands. Sting and Booker T developed a mutual respect that showed itself when Sting and Luger granted Harlem Heat a rematch. During the tag title run, Sting received a world title shot againstThe Giant atSlamboree in May, but lost after accidental interference from Luger. Harlem Heat eventually won the titles back on the June 24 episode ofNitro.
In the summer of 1996, Sting was the first WCW competitor to stand up toThe Outsiders:Kevin Nash andScott Hall, who had recently competed in the WWF, whose alliances and agenda were unclear, and who had been infiltrating and causing chaos at various WCW events. Sting teamed with Luger and Savage to defend WCW against Hall, Nash, and a mysterious third Outsider to be revealed at theBash at the Beach. Hall and Nash started the bout without their third partner, but the WCW's temporary three-on-two advantage was short-lived: Luger left the match after he was accidentally injured by a mistimed Stinger Splash. The two-on-two match continued until Hulk Hogan, who had been a face character for nearly fifteen years, emerged at ringside. Hogan appeared ready to back up the WCW wrestlers, until he attacked Savage with hisleg drop finisher in one of wrestling's most famousswerves. The match was ruled a no-contest, and Hall, Nash, and Hogan declared anew world order in professional wrestling. The name stuck, and Sting became one of WCW's stalwarts against the New World Order, or nWo for short.
As part of this, Sting and Luger went up to rivals andFour Horsemen membersRic Flair andArn Anderson some time after Bash at the Beach and asked them to team with him, saying that they needed to put aside their personal differences for the greater good of WCW. Flair and Anderson agreed and the four wrestlers composed Team WCW for the annual WarGames match atFall Brawl in September 1996. They would be facing the nWo's team of Hall, Nash, Hogan, and a fourth member yet to be determined. On the finalNitro prior to the event, however, the nWo played a trick on WCW claiming that Sting was joining their side. A vignette was shown where the nWo had a recording of Sting's voice playing in its limousine as Luger was being lured into the parking lot. Once he was there a man dressed as Sting, played byJeff Farmer, attacked him and the crowd at home, as well as the live audience and commentators, were led to believe that Sting had joined up with the nWo and would be their fourth man against what was now a three-man WCW team. Sting, however, was not at that episode ofNitro, and showed up at Fall Brawl just as his teammates declared that they would face the nWo by themselves. Sting told Luger that he did not attack him, but Luger refused to believe him. Later, during the match, Sting entered as the fourth and final man for Team WCW, after the impostor Sting had entered for the nWo. Once in the ring, Sting immediately took out all four members of the nWo. He then stopped, turned to Luger, and angrily said to him, "Is that good enough for you right there? Is that proof enough?!?" Sting then gave Luger an obscene gesture and walked out of the match, leaving Team WCW at a four-on-three disadvantage, which they did not overcome. The next night onNitro, Sting came out unannounced during the middle of the show with no music or entrance pyrotechnics. He entered the ring and, with his back turned to the camera side of the audience, launched into an angry tirade about what had transpired over the last week:
Declaring he would visit "from time to time",[34] Sting threw the microphone down and left the ring. Days after the infamous promo, he was booked for shows in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, to take part in the Japan/U.S. Superstars Tournament, where he defeatedMasahiro Chono in the first round, but was eliminated in the second round byShiro Koshinaka. His last match of 1996 took place on September 23 at the Yokohama Arena, where he and Lex Luger teamed up to defeat Arn Anderson and Steven Regal. It would end up being his last tour of Japan. On the October 21 episode ofNitro, Sting returned for the first time since the night after Fall Brawl in a match where the impostor Sting was wrestlingMr. JL. Sting emerged wearing a trench coat and white face paint with black marks around his eyes. He went in the ring and attacked nWo Sting (who was still imitating Sting's old mannerisms at this point) with his new finisher, an inverted DDT dubbed theScorpion Death Drop, two jumping elbow drops, a Stinger Splash and a Scorpion Deathlock while the rest of the nWo stood around ringside. Rather than intervene and save their stablemate, they simply stood by and watched. After Sting was done, the nWo came into the ring.Ted DiBiase, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash made Sting an offer to join the nWo and get back at WCW for betraying him. Sting, after a slight pause, first called out the nWo Sting as a "cheap imitation," before telling the nWo, "thereal Sting may or may not be in your price range," and then concluded by saying "the only thing that's for sure about Sting is nothing's for sure". With that, Sting left the ring and would not speak (on themicrophone) on WCW programming again for over a year. A silent, almost ghostly Sting, carrying abaseball bat as a weapon, began appearing in the rafters at WCW events and began painting his entire face with black and whitecorpse paint. In retaliation, nWo Sting, who was still imitating Borden, began painting his face this way as well. Sting's newgimmick was directly inspired by the title character of the 1994 filmThe Crow starringBrandon Lee portraying the film character, and Borden credits Scott Hall for suggesting the idea of the "Crow" character.[35] Sting still maintains the core aspects and aesthetic of his "Crow" persona to this day, occasionally with different designs and use of color integrated into the face paint.
In a series of unusual loyalty tests over the next months, Sting would confront a random WCW wrestler in the ring and shove the wrestler several times with his bat until the wrestler was provoked enough to advance on him. Then Sting would draw the weapon back as if he were going to assault him, causing the wrestler to stop. Sting would then hand the bat to the offended wrestler and turn his back, offering the wrestler a chance at retaliation. When the wrestler hesitated or declined, Sting would nod, retrieve the bat and leave the ring. In January 1997, a "blackballed" Randy Savage returned to WCW for the first time sinceHalloween Havoc and aligned himself with Sting as a "free agent" as he refused to join the nWo although WCW Vice PresidentEric Bischoff, also one of the leaders of the nWo, declared he would not be allowed back in WCW if he didn't. For the next few weeks, the two were seen in the rafters together and coming to the ring together. This story, however, petered out atSuperBrawl VII in February; Sting and Savage had come to the ring together to watchRoddy Piper face Hogan in a match for the WCW World Championship. As Sting left, Savage did not follow suit, instead opting to go to the ring and help Hogan win the match, thus going back on his word and joining the nWo. Over the next couple of weeks, Sting would accompany the nWo, indicating that he too had joined the group. However, atUncensored in March 1997, as the nWo celebrated a victory in the main event battle royal which guaranteed them title shots whenever they desired with their newest recruit,Chicago BullsNBA starDennis Rodman, Sting rappelled from the roof of the arena on a verticalzip-line. When Hall and Nash went to approach him, Sting attacked them as well as attacking Randy Savage when he tried to intervene, revealing his true allegiance to WCW.
In subsequent weeks, Sting frequently rappelled from the rafters or came up through the ring to attack unsuspecting nWo members, came to the aid of wrestlers who were once subjected to his loyalty test as they battled the nWo, and employed decoy "Stings" to play mind games with the nWo during the closing segments ofNitro. Sting's appearances to fight the nWo at the end of almost everyNitro helped WCW keep and widen itstelevision ratings advantage over the WWF'sMonday Night Raw throughout the summer. In the midst of all this, on-screenWCW commissionerJ. J. Dillon tried many times to get Sting to return to wrestling by making contracts to fight various nWo members. Sting, however, did not accept any of the contracts, often tearing them up in Dillon's face. Finally, during an episode ofNitro, a confused and frustrated Dillon asked Sting who he wanted to face. Sting went out to ringside, picked up a fan's sign, and pointed out one name on it: Hogan. Eventually, Sting got his wish and he and Hogan finally met in December atStarrcade for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The finish of the match was supposed to echo theMontreal Screwjob finish that the WWF had used to double-crossBret Hart just one month earlier at their annualSurvivor Series event.Nick Patrick, the referee for the contest, was supposed to execute a fast count on Sting while Hart, whose signing with WCW was the linchpin for the Montreal Screwjob, would come out to protest the decision and, since he had already served as the guest referee for the match betweenLarry Zbyszko andEric Bischoff earlier that evening, order the match to be restarted and Sting would emerge victorious by forcing Hogan to submit to the Scorpion Death Lock. However, Patrick did not do his part properly and instead counted the pin at normal speed, which added an unintentional level of controversy to the finish.[5]
The next night onNitro, Hogan protested the decision claiming that Patrick's decision should have been considered final and a rematch was granted. The match ran overNitro's allotted time slot and the finish was aired later in the week on the inaugural episode ofThunder. Similar to the Starrcade result, two different referees declared both men as the winner. Later that night, Dillon vacated the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, forcing Sting to surrender the belt. Sting responded with his first words (on mic) since October 1996 when he told Dillon, "You've got no guts!" Sting turned to Hogan and said, "And you... You're a dead man!".
As 1998 began, the nWo began to splinter. Sting recaptured the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship in February atSuperBrawl VIII with the help of Savage, who was beginning to split from the nWo. Sting went on to successfully defend the title against the likes of Hall, Nash, andDiamond Dallas Page (DDP). Like Savage, Nash began to pull away from the Hogan-dominated nWo, and Nash helped Savage beat Sting for the championship atSpring Stampede in April. Nash and Savage officially split from the original nWo on May 4, forming the face group nWo Wolfpac, while Hogan's heel faction became identified as nWo Hollywood. The two nWo factions vied for Sting's allegiance, with Sting's friendsThe Giant joining nWo Hollywood and Luger joining nWo Wolfpac. Sting seemed to have joined nWo Hollywood when he appeared wearing a black and white nWo shirt, but he soon tore off the shirt to reveal the red and black of the nWo Wolfpac. Sting began wearing red and black face paint and tights as a member of nWo Wolfpac.[5]
Sting and The Giant won the WCW World Tag Team Championship atSlamboree in May when Hall turned on his teammate Nash. Sting and The Giant then split due to each man joining opposite sides of the nWo, and the team was forced to vacate the titles 18 days later. Sting then defeated The Giant atThe Great American Bash in June to take control of the Tag Team titles and chose Nash as his partner. Throughout the summer, Sting and fellow nWo Wolfpac members Nash, Luger, andKonnan feuded with Hogan and nWo Hollywood. Sting also got involved in a feud with Bret Hart over their similar finishing holds, the Sharpshooter and the Scorpion Deathlock. Hart cost Sting and Nash the Tag titles by interfering in their match with Hall and The Giant on the July 20Nitro. Sting and Hart squared off atHalloween Havoc, where Hart, the United States Champion, attacked Sting with a baseball bat, putting Sting out of action for several months. Ironically, Hart would eventually be pinned by Sting after he himself fell afoul of a baseball bat, wielded by Lex Luger, eleven months later.
Sting returned toNitro in March 1999, sporting the black and whiteCrow-inspired attire he debuted in 1996 and began to participate in more mic work. By this time, the nWo storyline had faded, and Sting was not aligned with any of its factions. Sting competed in the main event of April'sSpring Stampede, a Four Corners match for the World Championship, against Hogan, DDP, and champion Flair. Savage served as special guest referee and delivered adiving elbow drop to help DDP win the match and the title.
Sting defeated Page on the April 26 episode ofNitro to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the fifth time. Later that night, Sting defended the title in a four-way match featuring DDP, Goldberg, and a returning Nash. DDP pinned Nash, allowing DDP to win the title without directly beating Sting. Sting's 90-minute reign was only the secondshortest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in WCW history. Sting lost to Rick Steiner in aFalls Count Anywhere match atThe Great American Bash on June 13 after he was attacked by Steiner's three pet dogs backstage and Steiner forced the referee to prematurely declare himself the victor, claiming his dogs had pinned Sting for him.
Over the next several months, Sting feuded with Goldberg, Rick Steiner, Vicious, and Savage. Sting teamed with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Nash at theBash at the Beach on July 11 to take on Vicious and Savage ofTeam Madness. Savage pinned Nash and won the World title as a result. Hogan returned from injury on July 12 as a face to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting defeated Flair on the July 19 episode ofNitro to become the on-screen president of WCW. Later that night, Nash turned heel by attacking Hogan during a title defense against Vicious. Sting remained president for just one week and used his power to book a main event pitting Hogan and himself against Nash and Vicious. Sting vacated the presidency the following week because he only wanted Flair out of the position rather than wanting the power for himself. Along with Goldberg, Sting and Hogan feuded with Nash, Vicious and Rick Steiner for the next month.
Sting began to question Hogan's trustworthiness and credibility in the weeks leading up toFall Brawl on September 12. At Fall Brawl, Luger brought abaseball bat to the ring and Sting used it to beat Hogan for his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship, turning heel for the first time in WCW. Sting's heel turn and subsequent attitude change did not resonate with the WCW fans.[5] They still cheered Sting despite the fact he was supposed to be the villain (reminiscent ofThe Road Warriors' heel turn in late 1988). It was during this heel turn that Sting and Luger, with helpful interference from DDP, defeated supposed faces Hogan and Hart in a tag-match, Sting pinning Hart after Luger hit him with a bat. Then, atHalloween Havoc on October 24, Sting retained the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Hogan after Hogan entered the ring in street clothes and lay down for Sting to pin him. After the match, Sting sounded his disdain of the result and issued an open challenge for later tonight. Later that night, Sting lost an unsanctioned match to Goldberg, who accepted his open challenge and then attacked refereeCharles Robinson. Sting was stripped of the title the next night for attacking the official.
Sting entered the 32-man tournament that was set up to award the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting defeatedBrian Knobs, Meng, and Luger to reach the semi-finals to be held atWCW Mayhem on November 21. At Mayhem, Sting lost to Hart, the eventual winner of the tournament, by disqualification after ostensibly "bungled" interference by Luger (in fact payback for Sting's quarterfinal win). On the November 1 episode ofNitro, Luger expressed a desire for them to win the WCW tag team titles, against Sting's desire to continue pursuing the WCW World title, which led to Luger- who was also pursuing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in same tournament Sting was in- faking a knee injury and refusing to help Sting after Sting was attacked following a match the two had for the WCW Tag Team titles againstBilly Kidman andKonnan. This led to a falling out with Luger, as well as his return to being a fan favorite, with Sting and Luger attacking each other the following week. Sting would then defeat Luger in a quarterfinal match on the November 15 episode ofNitro. At Mayhem, the fallout with Luger was completed when Luger attacked Sting in his match withBret Hart. Initially, Sting lost to Hart, the eventual winner of the tournament, by disqualification after ostensibly "bungled" interference by Luger (in fact payback for Sting's quarterfinal win). However, Hart asked for an immediate rematch, which was granted, and won by submission to advance to the final.[36] After the match, Sting shook hands with Hart in a sign of respect, turning face again. Sting sought revenge against Luger the next month atStarrcade on December 19. Sting won by disqualification when Luger andMiss Elizabeth assaulted Sting with a steel chair and baseball bat, putting Sting out of action for some time. Sting ended his feud with Luger by defeating him in aLumberjacks with Casts match atUncensored on March 19, 2000.
WCW officialsVince Russo andEric Bischoff, in an attempt to save the fading company,rebooted all current storylines on April 10, and declared all titles vacant. AtSpring Stampede the following week, Sting advanced to the finals of the United States Championship tournament by defeating Booker T andVampiro in the first two rounds. Vampiro then cost Sting the championship in the finals against Scott Steiner, leading to an intense feud between Sting and Vampiro. Sting pinned Vampiro atSlamboree on May 7, and Vampiro beat Sting in aHuman Torch match atThe Great American Bash on June 11; for the climax of the match, Borden switched with a stuntman, who was set on fire and thrown off the top of the frame of the stage's entrance video screen. AtBash at the Beach on July 9, he returned wearing another Sting mask as men wearing cloaks and Sting masks carried him in a casket, attacking Vampiro.
Sting went on to feud withJeff Jarrett and then Scott Steiner. Steiner attacked and injured Sting in November. Sting remained absent from WCW programming until the final episode ofNitro on March 26, 2001. By this point,WCW had been purchased by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF), and the final match in WCW history pitted Sting against his longtime rival Flair; the two had also competed on the first episode ofNitro on September 4, 1995.[37] Sting defeated Flair and the two embraced at the end of the contest.[5]
After the WWF chose not to buy out Sting's contract withAOL Time Warner, he rejected a buyout offer of 50 cents on the dollar from AOL Time Warner, instead waiting until his contract expired in March 2002[16][38] (he announced a short-lived retirement in February of that year).[2] Borden then entered into contract negotiations with the WWF, but ultimately did not join the promotion.[15]
In November 2002, after over a year-and-a-half of hiatus, Borden toured Europe with theWorld Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion throughout November and December. His first match in the WWA took place on November 28, 2002, inDublin, Ireland, where he reunited with Lex Luger to defeatBuff Bagwell andMalice. AtThe Retribution on December 6, 2002, inGlasgow,Scotland, United Kingdom, Sting lost to Luger in a bout for the vacantWWA World Heavyweight Championship. Sting defeated Luger to claim the WWA World Heavyweight Championship inZürich, Switzerland, on December 13.[5]
Sting embarked on a second tour with WWA in May 2003, successfully defending his championship against Rick Steiner, Shane Douglas, andDisco Inferno. The WWA held its final show,The Reckoning, on May 25 inAuckland, New Zealand, where NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett defeated Sting for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship, unifying the two championships.[5]
In 2003, Sting signed a contract committing him to four appearances with theNWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA/TNA) promotion. He debuted in TNA on the June 18, 2003 one year anniversary show, teaming with Jeff Jarrett to defeatAJ Styles andSyxx-Pac.[5] Following this, Borden engaged in a comprehensive series of sit down interviews withMike Tenay, discussing his career and hisfaith. Sting returned to TNA on November 5, 2003, defeating Jarrett by disqualification in a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On November 12, Sting teamed with Styles to defeat Jarrett and Lex Luger. He made his final TNA appearance of 2003 on December 17, defeating Jarrett in a non-title match. On March 24, 2004, Borden was interviewed once again by Mike Tenay as part of thepromotion for hisdirect-to-videobiographical film,Sting: Moment of Truth, and on March 31, he returned to the company for one night only as the special guest enforcer for the main-event, a four-way match between Styles,Abyss,Raven, andRon "The Truth" Killings, which Raven won.
Sting would wrestle in the independent circuit in 2004 and 2005, only competing in two matches. On July 21, 2004, Sting teamed up withThe Great Muta defeatingDiamond Dallas Page andSatoshi Kojima at HCW Battle Hawaii inHonolulu, Hawaii. Then on January 22, 2005, he defeatedBilly Gunn at NWA Mid-Atlantic in Seoul, South Korea.
On December 11, 2005, atTurning Point, as Jeff Jarrett stood in the ring celebrating his victory, the lights in the arena went out as images of ascorpion — Sting's signature symbol — appeared on the arena screens, along with the date "January 15, 2006". Spotlights then illuminated the ring, revealing a chair bearing Sting's signaturetrench coat, boots, and a black baseball bat in the center of the ring.[39] His return to TNA was officially announced one minute after midnight on the January 1, 2006 episode ofImpact!. On January 15 atFinal Resolution, Sting andChristian Cage defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett andMonty Brown in a tag team match after Sting pinned Jarrett.[5][40] On the January 28 episode ofImpact!, Sting made hisSpike TV debut and first appearance on national television in almost five years, announcing his retirement.
With Sting gone, the storyline continued with Jeff Jarrett andEric Young worrying that Sting had not actually retired and sendingAlex Shelley to California to videotape Sting at home. Sting eventually discovered Shelley filming, then walked up to Shelley's car and told him that he was going to show up atDestination X and confront Jeff Jarrett as Steve Borden. Clad in street clothes and without face paint, Borden returned on March 12 at Destination X, saving Christian Cage and Rhino as they were attacked byJarrett's Army. He then placed Jarrett in the Scorpion Deathlock, but was attacked by the debutingScott Steiner shortly thereafter.[5] This led to aLethal Lockdown match between Sting, AJ Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino against Jarrett's Army. On April 23 atLockdown, Sting's team won the match.[41] Following Lockdown, Sting proceeded to seek out partners to help him defeat Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner for good. After bringing outLex Luger,Buff Bagwell, andRick Steiner as potential options, he settled onSamoa Joe. On May 14 atSacrifice, Sting and Joe defeated Jarrett and Steiner after Joe pinned Jarrett with a Muscle Buster.[5] Still having proven unsuccessful at putting Jarrett away, Sting defeated Scott Steiner by disqualification to earn a spot in theKing of the Mountain match for theNWA World Heavyweight Championship atSlammiversary on June 18. However, due to a confrontation with Christian Cage during the match, Sting was distracted, allowing crooked refereeEarl Hebner to knock over the ladder both were on, sending both men to the floor and allowing Jarrett to pick up the victory.[42]
On July 16 atVictory Road, Sting won a fatal four-way match to earn a title shot at Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Sting received his title shot on August 13 atHard Justice, but failed to capture the title afterChristian Cage turned heel and hit Sting with Jarrett's guitar. Sting would have another match atBound for Glory on October 22, putting his career on the line as an added stipulation. He went on to claim his second NWA World Heavyweight title when he made Jarrett submit to theScorpion Deathlock, marking the first major championship title Sting had won since 1999.[5] With that victory, Sting became the oldest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA era, as well as the only person to ever win the title both before and after the inception of TNA. This would also go on to make Sting the longest superstar to recapture his second NWA title from 1990 to 2006 (16 years).
Sting lost the title to Abyss on November 19 atGenesis by disqualification after pushing aside the referee and pushing Abyss into a stack of tables covered in barbed wire.[5] In the weeks following Genesis, Sting's feud with Abyss continued and Christian Cage was involved, leading to a three-way match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on December 10 atTurning Point, where Abyss retained the title.[5]
Sting continued his feud with Abyss while trying to recapture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, facing him atFinal Resolution on January 14, 2007,Against All Odds on February 11 andDestination X on March 11 in a Last Rites match, but he never claimed the title. Also, Abyss and Sting were placed in different teams in theLethal Lockdown match atLockdown on April 15. Sting, with the help of Jeff Jarrett, pinned Abyss to win the match for his team and end their bitter rivalry.[43]
AtSacrifice on May 13, a match between Sting, Kurt Angle and NWA World Champion Christian Cage was booked.[44] However, on the day of Sacrifice, theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the owners of the NWA World Heavyweight and the NWA World Tag Team Championships, stripped Cage of the world title and Team 3D of the tag team titles.[45] NWA Executive DirectorRobert K. Trobich stated the reason was that Cage refused to defend the NWA Title at NWA live events.[45] At Sacrifice, Cage, still holding the physical NWA Championship belt, defended what was billed as the "World Heavyweight Championship" against Sting and Angle. Angle was the victor of said contest by making Sting submit, and was announced as the new "TNA World Heavyweight Champion".[46] TheImpact! following the event, the title was labelled as the "TNA World Heavyweight Championship", but the title was vacated.[47] A tournament was then held for the title which culminated in aKing of the Mountain match atSlammiversary on June 17.[47] Sting lost his qualifying match with Samoa Joe afterChristopher Daniels interfered. Sting instead faced Daniels at Slammiversary, which he ultimately won.
After his feud with Daniels, Sting began teaming up with his former enemy, Abyss, who had recently turned face. Together, the two went on to defeat AJ Styles and Tomko on July 15 atVictory Road. While trying to help Abyss win a match against Styles, Sting and Abyss were attacked byChristian's Coalition. Abyss was pulled under the ring and Sting was slammed into broken glass by Tomko, before Abyss emerged bleeding profusely, before being slammed into the broken glass and thumbtacks.[48] The following week, Sting and Abyss got revenge by defeating Christian and Styles in aladder match, in the process earning a contract that allowed them to pick the type of match between Abyss and Christian atHard Justice on August 12. Sting's team won in a "Doomsday Chamber of Blood" match, with Abyss pinning Styles to become the number one contender for theTNA World Heavyweight Championship.[49]
After that, Sting started a feud with the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle. First, on the August 30 episode ofImpact! Sting defeated Styles, Christian Cage, and Samoa Joe in a four-way match to become the co-holder of theTNA World Tag Team Championship with Angle, but lost it 10 days later againstAdam "Pacman" Jones and Ron Killings atNo Surrender on September 9.[50] Sting would face Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship atBound for Glory on October 14, where Sting won his first TNA World Heavyweight Championship.[51] However, he would lose the title back to Angle just eleven days later onImpact!, when Kevin Nash interfered on Angle's behalf.[52] Sting would face Angle and Nash atGenesis on November 11, with the debutantBooker T as his mystery partner. As per the stipulation, whoever scored the pinfall in the match would win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, which Angle won after pinning Sting to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.[53] This would be the final TNA appearance of Sting in 2007, as he would take some time off to be with his family.
Sting then made his official return on the March 27, 2008 live episode ofImpact!. AtLockdown on April 13, he teamed with Team Cage (Christian Cage, Kevin Nash, Rhino, andMatt Morgan) and defeated Team Tomko (Tomko, AJ Styles, James Storm, andTeam 3D).[54] After the TNA World Tag Team Championship was vacated, Jim Cornette held aDeuces Wild Tag Team Tournament to determine the new champions. Four teams were already in the Sacrifice finals, while Cornette named eight wrestlers as the "Egotistical 8". Sting's partner was James Storm and on May 11 atSacrifice on May 11, they came up short due to their inability to get along, and towards the end, Sting attacked Storm and walked out.[55] Sting was not seen after that except in an interview which talked about his career and his eventual retirement.
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On July 13 atVictory Road, Booker T faced Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Sting tried to talk sense into Joe, as he was brutally beating Booker T, and was potentially heading towards a disqualification.[56] Joe rebuked him, and Sting struck him with his trademark black baseball bat.[56] Over the coming weeks, the feud between Joe and Booker intensified, with episodes ending with either Booker T or Sharmell striking Samoa Joe with Sting's trademark bat asImpact! went off the air, leading to a question of whether or not Sting hadturned on Samoa Joe and became a heel. Although still receiving aface reaction from the fans, Sting sided with Booker T. On August 10 atHard Justice, Sting attacked Styles after he and Kurt Angle wrestled aLast Man Standing match.[57]
On October 12 atBound for Glory IV, Sting defeated Samoa Joe to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship after Kevin Nash returned and hit Joe with Sting's baseball bat.[58] After Bound for Glory, Sting, along with Kurt Angle, Booker T, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner createdThe Main Event Mafia, a stable formed by veterans and former World Champions. The faction feuded with younger wrestlers, dubbed theTNA Frontline. Sting defended the title against Frontline's AJ Styles atTurning Point on November 9 and Rhino on January 11, 2009, atGenesis. Sting also feuded with the leader of The Main Event Mafia Kurt Angle. AtAgainst All Odds on February 8, Sting defended the title against Angle, Brother Ray and Brother Devon. He then faced off with Angle in a singles match atDestination X on March 15.[59][60][61][62] AtLockdown on April 19, Sting lost the TNA World Heavyweight Championship toMick Foley inside theSix Sides of Steel, ending his reign at 189 days (his longest world title reign for any organization).[63] On May 24 atSacrifice, Sting defeated Kurt Angle to become the new "godfather" of the Main Event Mafia.[64] On June 21 atSlammiversary, Sting defeated Matt Morgan in a singles match, thus preventing Morgan from joining the Main Event Mafia.[65] On the following episode ofImpact!, Sting's fellow Main Event Mafia members attacked him, removing him from the group, and Kurt Angle reclaimed his role as "godfather". The following week, Sting took his revenge upon the Mafia, when he attacked every member of the group and stole Angle's world heavyweight championship belt, becoming a full-fledged face as a result. On July 19 atVictory Road, Sting was defeated by new Main Event Mafia member Samoa Joe in a singles match after the debuting Taz interfered on Joe's behalf.[66] On August 16 atHard Justice, Sting unsuccessfully challenged Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat match, which also included Matt Morgan.[67] On September 20 atNo Surrender, Sting lost a five-way match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship that also included AJ Styles,Hernandez, Kurt Angle, and Matt Morgan. Instead of pinning Angle, he opted to attack Morgan, allowing Styles to pin Angle and become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.[68] As a token of gratitude, Styles offered to give him a title shot at the following month's PPVBound for Glory on October 18 in a match billed as possibly being Sting's retirement match.[69] At Bound for Glory, Styles defeated Sting to retain his title, ending Sting's undefeated streak at Bound for Glory. After the match, Sting announced that he didn't know whether he would continue his career or not, saying that "the way you fans are reacting right now, makes me wanna stay forever!"[70] At the end of the year, the match was voted the match of the year by the fans of TNA.[71]
On the January 4, 2010, live-three-hour,Monday night episode ofImpact!, Sting returned to the Impact! Zone appearing in the rafters of the arena.[72] Sting reappeared two months later on the March 8 episode ofImpact!, attacking Hulk Hogan and Abyss during a match against AJ Styles and Ric Flair, turning heel as a result.[73] He was later defeated by the debutingRob Van Dam.[73] During the following months, Sting would join other heel wrestlers against face wrestlers like Van Dam, Jarrett or Hogan. AtLockdown on April 18, Team Flair (formed by Sting,Desmond Wolfe,Robert Roode and James Storm) were defeated by Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Rob Van Dam andJeff Hardy).[74] After defeating Jeff Jarrett atSacrifice on May 16,[75] Sting faced Rob Van Dam for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship atSlammiversary VIII on June 13. However, during the match, Jarrett made his return and cost Sting the title.[76]
After assaulting Jarrett from behind on the June 24 episode ofImpact!, TNA presidentDixie Carter (storyline) suspended Sting for 30 days.[77][78] When he returned, Sting changed his gimmick, wearing his nWo Wolfpac red face paint, and was paired with Kevin Nash.[79] They would start a feud with Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe, facing themNo Surrender on September 5[80] andBound for Glory on October 10, where Sting, Nash andD'Angelo Dinero defeated Jarrett and Joe after Jarrett turned heel by leaving the ring and having Joe wrestle alone. At the end of Bound for Glory, it was revealed that Sting had been right about Hogan and Bischoff all along, as they turned heel along with Jarrett and Jeff Hardy as Abyss's "they". This consequentially turned Sting, Nash and Dinero back to being faces.[81] On the October 14 episode ofImpact!, Sting and Nash refused to join Hogan, Bischoff and their new group,Immortal. After the promo, they walked out on TNA, although Nash had legitimately left TNA.[82] Borden took a hiatus from TNA television, as his contract had expired at the end of 2010.[83]
Sting returned on the March 3, 2011 episode ofImpact!, where he appeared as a surprise challenger and defeated Immortal's Jeff Hardy to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the third time, debuting a new hybrid attire paying homage to his Surfer, Crow and Wolfpac attires.[84][85] On March 13 atVictory Road, Sting successfully defended the title against Hardy in a No Disqualification rematch that lasted 90 seconds. According to word from backstage, the match was planned to last longer, but it was cut short after Hardy was deemed too intoxicated to wrestle.[86][87] Sting was later heard agreeing with a fan's claim that the match was "bullshit".[88] The following month atLockdown on April 17, Sting successfully defended the title againstMr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam in a three-way steel cage match,[89] against Van Dam atSacrifice on May 15,[90] and against Anderson atSlammiversary IX on June 12, where he lost the title following outside interference from Eric Bischoff.[91]
Over the next few weeks, Sting began displaying a more maniacal character similar in look and style toHeath Ledger's portrayal of theJoker from the 2008 filmThe Dark Knight.[92][93] On the July 14 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting, now dubbed as the "Insane Icon", regained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Mr. Anderson afterFortune and Kurt Angle, disguised as his clown minions, attacked each member of Immortal, preventing them from interfering in the match.[94][95] He would go on to lose the title to Kurt Angle on August 7 atHardcore Justice, after Angle hit him with a chair that was brought to the ring by Hulk Hogan.[96] Sting continued tormenting members of Immortal with his strange new personality, and on the August 18 episode ofImpact Wrestling, his longtime rival Ric Flair made his return to TNA and challenged him to a match. Sting agreed to put his career on the line in the match in exchange for Flair promising to deliver him his long-awaited match with Hogan, should he be able to defeat him.[97] On the September 1 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting received a rematch against Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated following interference from special enforcer Hulk Hogan and the rest of Immortal.[98] On September 11 atNo Surrender, Hogan once again cost Sting the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a three-way match, which also included Mr. Anderson.[99] On the September 15 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting defeated longtime rival Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan atBound for Glory on October 16.[100][101] On the October 6 episode ofImpact Wrestling, after being exposed for his false claim of retiring and his secret ridicule of the fans, a furious Hogan impulsively agreed to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting manage to defeat him at Bound for Glory.[102] At Bound for Glory, Sting defeated Hogan to bring Dixie Carter back to power. After the match, Hogan turned on Immortal and helped Sting overcome the odds in his battle with the stable.[103] On the following episode ofImpact Wrestling, Carter placed Sting in charge of the program.[104] Sting returned to the ring on the December 22 and February 9, 2012, episode ofImpact Wrestling, where he teamed up with Jeff Hardy to defeat TNA World Heavyweight ChampionBobby Roode andBully Ray.[105][106]
During the first months of 2012, Sting feuded with the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode. He was defeated by Roode atVictory Road in a non-title No Holds Barred match,[107] and atSlammiversary in a title match.[108] During this time, he also left the General Manager position in favor of Hulk Hogan,[109] signed a new contract extension with TNA[110] and was announced as the first inductee into theTNA Hall of Fame.[108][111]
His next feud was against a newly formed masked faction called "Aces & Eights",[112][113] where he was appointed as the interim general manager after Hogan took a hiatus due to a back injury.[114] The feud led to a match atBound for Glory alongside Bully Ray, where they were defeated by the Aces & Eights, following interference from a man who was afterwards unmasked as Ray's longtime partner, the returningDevon. As a result of their win, the Aces & Eights earned full access to TNA.[115] On the following episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting defeated Devon via disqualification, following interference from the Aces & Eights.[116] On the November 8 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting was sidelined with a storyline injury, after being put through a table and beaten with aball-peen hammer byDOC, a member of Aces & Eights.[117]
Sting returned on the January 3, 2013, episode ofImpact Wrestling, saving Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe from Aces & Eights before beating the group down with a baseball bat.[118] Sting wrestled his return match the following week, defeating Aces & Eights memberMike Knox after he injured Kurt Angle.[119] Three days later atGenesis, Sting gained his revenge on DOC by defeating him in a singles match.[120] On the February 7 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting teamed up with Bully Ray to defeat Devon and DOC in a Tables match.[121] On March 10 atLockdown, Team TNA, consisting of Sting, Eric Young, James Storm,Magnus, and Samoa Joe defeated Aces & Eights, consisting of Devon, DOC,Garett Bischoff, Mike Knox, and Mr. Anderson in a Lethal Lockdown match.[122] After Bully Ray won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and revealed himself as the president of Aces & Eights later that night, Hulk Hogan blamed Sting, as he had encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot, while also encouraging Hogan to support Ray's marriage with his daughterBrooke. Sting then proceeded to walk out on Hogan.[123][124][125] Sting returned on the April 25Impact Wrestling, saving Hogan from an attack by the Aces & Eights.[126] The following week, Sting reconciled with Hogan and became the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship later that night after defeatingMatt Morgan.[127][128] On June 2 atSlammiversary XI, Sting unsuccessfully challenged Bully Ray for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a No Holds Barred Match after an interference by Aces & Eights. Per stipulation, Sting would never get another title opportunity again.[129]
On the June 13 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Sting noted that nobody in the back helped him during his title match, but he would form a New Main Event Mafia to battle the Aces & Eights.[130] In the following weeks, Sting would recruit Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Magnus, andRampage Jackson as members of the New Main Event Mafia.[131][132][133][134] Before Bound for Glory, MEM member Magnus complained to Sting because of his constant losses. Magnus was told by Sting he had Flair to put him on the map, but Magnus had nobody, so Sting challenged him to a match at Bound for Glory, seemingly as a way to pass the torch. At Bound for Glory, Sting was defeated by Magnus. On the October 31 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Dixie Carter offered to lift the lifetime ban so Sting can get another World title opportunity again by entering him first in a Battle Royal Gauntlet match, which was won by Magnus as Sting attempted to eliminate Kazarian, and Magnus eliminated the both of them. Sting then disbanded The Main Event Mafia after Aces & Eights disbanded, and while other members began to chase their TNA World Heavyweight Championship dreams, Sting started a feud againstEthan Carter III and Dixie Carter after they began humiliating TNA Legends, like Curry Man and Earl Hebner at the behest of Carter. On the December 12 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Carter was confronted by Sting, and was issued an ultimatum: either face Sting immediately, or enter the Feast or Fired match. Carter entered the Feast or Fired match, and grabbed one of the briefcases. On the December 19 episode ofImpact Wrestling, the Feast or Fired briefcase revealed to contain a future TNA World Tag Team Championship match, and also led to the firing ofChavo Guerrero. On the January 16, 2014 episode ofImpact Wrestling: Genesis, Sting lost a match to Ethan Carter III, due to interference from the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus and subsequently challenged Magnus to a Title vs. Career match for the January 23 episode ofImpact Wrestling: Genesis,[135] which Sting lost, and his TNA contract was terminated as a result.[136]
AtSlammiversary, on June 19, 2022, Sting appeared in a video message to congratulateImpact Wrestling, which had changed its name from TNA in 2017, on their 20th anniversary.[137]
Veteran professional wrestling journalistBill Apter chronicled Sting's career in a piece forWWE.com on February 19, 2014, wherein he stated that Sting's "best days may still be yet to come".[138] He appeared in aWWE Network production on April 15, 2014, sharing a story of his former tag team partnerThe Ultimate Warrior, who had recently died.[139] This marked Sting's first non-archive appearance on a WWE-branded show.[140] Sting was a prominent contributor to the documentary filmWarrior: The Ultimate Legend, which premiered on the WWE Network on April 17.[141] The following day, online retailerZavvi announced the upcomingWWE Home VideoDVD andBlu-ray releaseThe Best of Sting. The three-disc set released on September 23, 2014.[142] On July 14, Sting appeared in a vignette onRaw to promote the video gameWWE 2K15, in which he was featured as a pre-order bonus character in both his 'Crow' and 'Surfer' (pre-1996) incarnations. That same day, WWE began selling official Sting merchandise.[143] On July 24, Borden made his first public appearance for WWE, in full Sting garb, as a special surprise guest at the 2014San Diego Comic-Con. The event was held to announce WWE's upcoming line ofMattel action figures, in which the company's first-ever Sting figure would appear.[144][145] Prior to that appearance, Sting gave his first interview with WWE.com, which was released later that day.[146] On August 4, WWE announced Sting as a guest on theWWE 2K15 "Roster Reveal" panel, which took place on August 16 inLos Angeles.[147]
On November 23, during the main event ofSurvivor Series, Sting made his first-ever appearance in a WWE ring by attackingTriple H with aScorpion Death Drop and also costing TeamAuthority the match.[148] On January 19, 2015, Sting made his liveRaw debut by appearing backstage during the main event, before walking to the stage, causing a distraction that cost Authority membersBig Show,Kane, andSeth Rollins their handicap match againstJohn Cena; this win gave the recently firedDolph Ziggler,Ryback, andErick Rowan their collective jobs back. Triple H then challenged Sting to a face-to-face confrontation on the February 2 episode ofRaw. Sting accepted this challenge on the February 9 episode by sending aSting doppelganger into the ring to scare Triple H, after airing a vignette on the big screen accepting Triple H's challenge. Sting and Triple H had a confrontation atFastlane on February 22. Following some slight physicality between the two, Sting pointed to theWrestleMania 31 sign with his baseball bat, issuing a challenge for the event that was accepted by Triple H.[149] On the March 16 episode ofRaw, Sting made yet another surprise appearance, helpingRandy Orton fight off The Authority. Immediately following the television broadcast onUSA Network, Sting spoke for the first time in-ring, the clip of which was then available to view on the WWE Network.[150] Sting lost at WrestleMania 31 in a match involving interference from members of bothD-Generation X (DX) and theNew World Order (nWo), but shook hands with Triple H afterward.[151]
Sting returned on the August 24 episode ofRaw, challenging Seth Rollins for theWWE World Heavyweight Championship atNight of Champions. Sting defeated Big Show by disqualification in his first match onRaw, as a consequence of Rollins attacking Sting. That same night, a second match was booked with John Cena and Sting defeating Show and Rollins. At Night of Champions, Sting was defeated by Rollins and experienced alegit neck injury after a turnbuckle powerbomb.[152] Sting later told Bill Apter that he does not blame Rollins for his injury, describing the incident as a "freak accident".[153]
It was announced on the January 11, 2016, episode ofRaw that Sting would be the first member of theWWE Hall of FameClass of 2016. Sting ultimately reneged on having surgery; on March 22, 2016, he explained that he felt "completely normal" and had none of the side effects commonly associated with cervical spinal stenosis.[154] On April 2, during his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech, Sting announced his first retirement from professional wrestling.[20] He appeared atWrestleMania 32, alongside his fellow 2016 inductees, the following night.[155]
In August 2016, Sting appeared on the WWE Network showLegends withJBL and talked about his career. He also stated that he had still not undergone surgery, which would definitively end his career, and he still held hope for a match with The Undertaker, claiming that such a match is his "unfinished business" in wrestling.[156] However, the match would never happen as despite Sting pitching the idea for acinematic match with The Undertaker, it was never approved, and The Undertaker himselfofficially retired in 2020.[157]
On the February 25, 2019, episode ofRaw, Sting made his first appearance on WWE television since 2016 for the 70th birthday celebration of Ric Flair, but Flair was attacked byBatista before he could make it to the ring. This would end up being Sting's final appearance for the company, other than interviews recorded for WWE Network.[158]
In May 2020, it was reported that Sting was no longer under WWE contract.[159] In October 2020, WWE stopped selling Sting merchandise and pulled his page from WWE Shop.[160]
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On December 2, 2020, Sting made hisAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut after a tag team match that pittedCody Rhodes andDarby Allin againstPowerhouse Hobbs andRicky Starks atDynamite: Winter Is Coming.[161] This marked his first appearance onTNT since the final episode ofNitro in 2001.[162] It was later announced that Sting had officially signed a multi-year contract with AEW.[163]
Sting's first match with AEW took place atRevolution teaming with Darby Allin and defeatingTeam Taz (Brian Cage andRicky Starks) in aStreet Fight, which waspre-taped on location.[164]
Sting and Allin kept working as a tag team. Sting had initially planned to only appear in cinematic matches for AEW, but Allin convinced him to compete in live events beginning with Double or Nothing, which was his first live match in front of a crowd since WWE Night of Champions in 2015.[165] They also defeated the team ofScorpio Sky andEthan Page at AEW's marquee eventDouble or Nothing.[166] He also worked on multi-man tag team matches on special TV episodes and PPVs, likeDynamite: Holiday Bash,[167]Revolution,[168]AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door,[169] andAll Out.[170] AtRampage: Grand Slam, Sting and Darby Allin defeated the House of Black (King and Matthews). During the Grand Slam match, Sting's long-time in-ring rivalThe Great Muta made a surprise appearance to rescue Sting from an attack by Matthews.[171]
As result, Sting then took part inThe Great Muta Final "Bye-Bye" on January 22, 2023, marking Sting's onlyPro Wrestling Noah appearance where he teamed with Allin and Muta in Muta's final match.[172] Sting, Allin, and Muta defeatedAkira,Hakushi, andNaomichi Marufuji in a trios match.[173]
AtForbidden Door on June 25, 2023, Sting, Allin, andTetsuya Naito defeated the team ofChris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, andMinoru Suzuki.[174]
In the summer of 2023, Sting and Allin entered into a feud with theMogul Embassy stable, after Allin's longtime friendAR Fox turned heel, attacked Allin, and joined Allin's rivalSwerve Strickland in the group on the July 26Dynamite.[175][176] Sting appeared as his "Joker" persona on the August 16Dynamite in a segment featuring Mogul Embassy memberPrince Nana.[177] The next day, Sting and Allin made a surprise appearance at a World Wrestling Alliance 4 show in Atlanta to attack Fox.[178] Sting, Allin, andNick Wayne saved Fox from an attack by Strickland andBrian Cage on the August 23Dynamite after Fox was fired from Mogul Embassy, and Allin and Fox reconciled.[179] Sting (with his "Joker" persona) and Allin defeated Strickland andChristian Cage in acoffin match atAll In: London on August 27, 2023.[180]
In the fall of 2023, Sting and Allin feuded with Christian Cage andLuchasaurus.[181] AtWrestleDream on October 1, Wayne betrayed Sting and Allin and joined Cage's group.[182] Sting and Allin were then attacked by Cage, Luchasaurus, and Wayne, but were saved byAdam Copeland in his AEW debut.[183]
On the October 18, 2023, episode ofDynamite, Sting announced that he would be retiring from in-ring competition in 2024, with his final match to be held atRevolution on March 3 that year.[184] On the October 25 episode ofDynamite, Sting's longtime NWA and WCW rival Ric Flair made his debut for AEW as a surprise gift from AEW co-owner and presidentTony Khan, with Flair saying he would be in Sting's corner for his final match.[185] Sting, Allin, and Copeland then defeated Cage, Wayne, and Luchasaurus in a six-man tag team match atFull Gear on November 18.[186]
On the February 7, 2024, episode ofDynamite, Sting and Allin defeatedRicky Starks andBig Bill to win theAEW World Tag Team Championship. This marked Sting's first championship since his final run with theTNA World Heavyweight Championship in 2011. After winning the tag team title, Sting and Allin were attacked by The Young Bucks (now individually preferring to be called Matthew and Nicholas Jackson).[187] The Young Bucks then became the number one contenders for the title, with Sting and Allin scheduled to defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against them in atornado tag team match at Revolution for Sting'sretirement match.[188]
Sting and Allin defeated The Young Bucks in Sting's final match at Revolution to retain their tag team titles.[189] Sting won the match for his team after Matthew Jackson submitted to the Scorpion Death Lock.[189] The Revolution event that included the match was held at theGreenboro Coliseum inGreensboro, North Carolina, where Sting had fought Flair to a 45-minute time-limit draw atClash of the Champions I in 1988.[190] The match featuredRicky Steamboat as guest timekeeper, and run-ins from Flair and Sting's sons Garrett and Steven Jr., who were dressed as their father's Surfer and Wolfpac personas.[191][192] Several of Sting's former WCW and NWA colleagues attended the match, includingNikita Koloff,Lex Luger,Magnum T.A., andDiamond Dallas Page.[193]
Sting retired with an undefeated record in AEW, having won all 29 matches he competed in for the promotion.[194] As a result of Sting's retirement, the AEW World Tag Team Championship was vacated, ending he and Allin's reign at 25 days.[195] At the post-showmedia scrum, Sting expressed interest in having talks about staying in AEW in a non-wrestling role but was not interested in becoming amanager or anagent.[196]
AtAll In on August 25, 2024, Sting made his first post-retirement appearance. After Darby Allin had lost his Coffin match toJack Perry, The Elite (Matthew Jackson, Nicholas Jackson, and Perry) were about to set the coffin that Allin was in on fire. Sting then made a surprise appearance to save Allin and took out The Elite, hitting a double Scorpion Deathdrop on the Jacksons before freeing Allin from the coffin.[197] In October 2024, Sting announced that he had signed a new, multi-year, non-wrestling contract with AEW, giving the promotion the allowance to sell Sting merchandise, as well as allow Sting to make sporadic appearances at AEW events.[198] AtWrestleDream on October 18, 2025, Sting came to the aid of Darby Allin during Allin's"I Quit" match againstJon Moxley, hittingClaudio Castagnoli andPAC with the bat, before ultimately removingMarina Shafir from ringside.
Sting is widely regarded as the greatest performer in WCW history.[199] Former rivalHulk Hogan asserted that Sting should be mentioned in any conversation regarding the top 10 greatest pro wrestlers of all time;[111] numerous outlets have placed him in such listings.[a]Digital Spy writer Mayer Nissim commended Sting's ability to constantly evolve hisgimmick while fellowfranchise players Hulk Hogan and John Cena largely failed to do so, in order to maintain spectator interest.[205] Borden is known for his charity work,[206] once regarding his involvement with theMake-A-Wish andStarlight Children's Foundations as his "most fulfilling activity".[1] Prior to his signing with WWE, Sting's legacy was perpetuated by the organization. It hailed him as "one of sports-entertainment's elite",[207] and ranked him at number one in listings of the greatest wrestlers to never perform in WWE,[208] and the greatest stars in WCW history.[209] In 2013, the company named Sting's WCW World Heavyweight Championship contest againstDiamond Dallas Page, on April 26, 1999, as the greatest match ever aired on WCW's flagshipMonday Nitro program.[210] AtNight of Champions 2013, WWE organized a viewer poll to determine the greatestUnited States Champion of all time: Sting, a two-time champion, beat out the other four contenders – allWWE Hall of Famers – in alandslide victory with 53% of the overall vote.[211] In regard to Sting's creative handling after he signed with WWE,PWInsider editorDave Scherer wrote that "he really represented WCW so he was never going to get that [legend] treatment".[212]
Sting was the inaugural inductee into theTNA Hall of Fame. TNA president Dixie Carter credits Sting with being the major wrestling superstar that TNA needed to establish itself.[213] The company describes him as having had an "unparalleled career" and as being a legend who surpasses time.[214]
Sting was regarded by colleagues in WCW as a professional and well-respected locker room leader.[215] Prominent adversaryBig Van Vader felt that Sting had unsurpassed athletic prowess within the business, and "ranks right up at the top" as an in-ring performer.[205]Ric Flair called Sting his greatest opponent.[216] Former rival Diamond Dallas Page, commenting on Sting's entry into WWE in 2014, said: "Everyone there grew up watching him... No one did it better than Sting, nobody".[217]
John Cena mimicked Sting's hairstyle in his younger years and recalled, "he was my guy";[218][219]Seth Rollins would dress up as Sting in his youth.[220]Tommy Dreamer told how he "wanted to be Sting"[221]—a sentiment shared byJeff Hardy.[219]Cody Rhodes[222] andShelton Benjamin[223] named him their favorite childhood wrestler, whileTyson Kidd professed to being "a huge Sting fan as a kid".[224] He was also a prominent influence on industry veteransKurt Angle,[225]Bill Goldberg,[224]Kane,[226]A. J. Styles[111] andDustin Rhodes/Goldust.[227]Bray Wyatt said that he "really would like to take on" Sting, adding: "I have to have [that] before I die; I don't care if it happens outside aWaffle House, somewhere."[228]
Sting's comeback run with AEW was acclaimed by wrestling journalists, with some expressing surprise at his predilection for high-flyingspots despite his age.[229][230] Lauren Theisen ofDefector observed, "In the two-dozen or so matches he performed in front of live fans for the company, Sting became something of a reincarnated daredevil, taking as many cues from [Darby] Allin's stuntshow fearlessness as the younger man was supposed to be taking from him."[231] Justin Henry of Cultaholic compared Sting's work on 2021'sDouble or Nothing as similar to his championship match againstRic Flair at 1990'sGreat American Bash, in which he was also working following recovery from a serious injury.[232] On Sting's participation in a match at 2022'sRevolution, Sean Rueter ofSB Nation wrote, "The man is 62 years old, and could just be living off a WWE Legends deal and autograph signings. But he's out here jumping off balconies ontoAndrade El Idolo and crashing them both through three tables. I have no idea why The Man Called Sting continues to do this, but I assume it's because he loves it."[233] Mike Piellucci ofD Magazine wrote, "With everything Borden has accomplished since his return to television, the greatest is that he's escaped becoming a nostalgia act. He can deliver most of his trademark maneuvers, and his physique has held up better, longer, than arguably anyone before him. The Stinger Splash recallsJordan's farewell tour with theWashington Wizards more than his soaring heyday with theChicago Bulls, but it's still credible. Sting still has it."[234] After Sting's retirement match, Rueter wrote, "A timeless, ageless wonder, Sting redefined what a final run in wrestling could look like. A career that closed with a bang, not a whimper."[235]
Pro wrestling journalistBill Apter wrote of Sting, "His colorful face paint, piercing war cry and signature Stinger Splash electrified fans both young and old... he boasted one of the largest and most loyal fanbases of any in-ring personality in history."[138] A young Jeff Hardy was overwhelmed by the crowd reaction to Sting, on whom fans were "really hooked", and "reaching out to want to know, and want to support."[219] Then-WCW colleague Ric Flair recalled, "When he flew out that door with that blonde hair and the paint, man, the chicks went crazy. The people went crazy."[219] Former WCW and WWE announcer and current AEW announcerJim Ross described Sting as "truly one of the great stars of the 90s inany organization".[219] He was voted byPro Wrestling Illustrated readers as "Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" four times (a record shared withJohn Cena), for the years 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1997.[236] His young supporters were known as the "Little Stingers".[138][206]
Former WCWbookerKevin Sullivan said of Sting's rivalry with Flair: "If I needed todraw a rating, Sting and Flair always drew. It was like[Muhammad] Ali and[Joe] Frazier".[205] TheClash of the Champions I event in 1988, which aired opposite the WWF'sWrestleMania IV and was headlined by Sting vs. Flair, generated a record-setting 5.6 rating onTBS.[237] The pair also main-eventedThe Great American Bash 1990, which was the NWA's biggestpay-per-view success up to that point.[238] Reflecting on Sting in the early 1990s, then-colleagueKevin Nash said: "There weren't many draws in WCW at that point, but he was one of them".[239] Another of the company's bookers,Mike Graham, asserted that Sting was a television ratings success during theMonday Night War;[240] he was highly profitable in 1997, being WCW's top merchandise seller (second only to the WWF's Steve Austin overall)[241] and, versusHollywood Hogan, headlining the biggest-grossing pay-per-view event in the company's history atStarrcade 1997.[11] Sting went on to join thenWo Wolfpacstable, which dominated WCW's merchandise sales at events in mid 1998.[242] Discussing Sting's entry into WWE in 2014, Kevin Nash said that he is "so valuable to the company as a trademark".[239] On December 3, 2020,Pro Wrestling Tees owner Ryan Barkan stated that Sting's AEW t-shirt quickly broke the single day record for t-shirt sales.[243][244]
On the other hand,Pro Wrestling Torch editorWade Keller wrote that Sting was a "valuable player duringNitro's peak years", but not a "consistent draw for WCW". Keller said Sting coasted on "natural charisma and athletic ability", but also chided WCW, where Sting observed "incompetence and political decision-making", and "was never challenged to be better than he was because he didn't have much competition".[245] Fin Martin ofPower Slam also felt that Sting's box office successes in WCW were sporadic. Martin said Sting "did not grow into the [NWA] champion's role", but allowed that his prospects as franchise player were damaged by the "story lines and booking techniques" and the "list of contenders".[238] Wrestling journalistDave Meltzer claimed that Sting was not a formidable draw, although this assertion was disputed by Sting's former WCW colleagueSteve Austin.[246] Dave Scherer ofPWInsider wrote that Sting "didn't draw huge", but is nevertheless an "all-time great".[247]
Sting's AEW tag team partner Darby Allin said that Sting had transcended wrestling and had become part of popular culture; Allin remarked, "You may not know any of the stuff he's done, but you can see the face paint, and people will go, 'Yo, that's that wrestler guy.'"[234] AEW founder and bookerTony Khan, a fan of Sting since the 1980s, called him a "real-life superhero."[234]
Prior to his signing with WWE in 2014, Sting was widely considered the greatest wrestler never to perform for the company,[248] although he had "really good conversations" with the promotion during his career.[249] His loyalty to WCW, even in its dying days, has been noted.[3] That organization was purchased by the WWF (now WWE) in 2001, and Sting's contract with its parent companyAOL Time Warner expired in 2002, but he still refused to make the jump, alternately attributing this to the WWF's creative usage of former WCW talents and negative dealings with their attorneys.[250] The company's onerous live schedule[15] and the content of its programming[2] were also factors. Sting has, however, downplayed rumors of a difficult relationship with WWE.[249]
Rather than sign with the WWF in 2002, Sting performed for smaller promotions, becoming the centerpiece of TNA by the mid-2000s. His pre-WWE career included "dream" matches against former WWF starsHulk Hogan andBret Hart in WCW,[251][252] as well as bouts opposite names such asRic Flair,Randy Savage,Kurt Angle andMick Foley.[248] Sting often wrestled Steve Austin in WCW; he had positive negotiations with WWE in 2003, with his proposed debutangle being a confrontation with Austin at the conclusion ofWrestleMania XIX.[253]
He was also "very, very close" to making a deal with the company in 2011, which would potentially have involved a match againstThe Undertaker atWrestleMania XXVII.[254] In early 2011, during a period where Sting had not re-signed with TNA, WWE teased a mystery wrestler to appear onMonday Night Raw on February 21, 2011, with vignettes labelled "2.21.11". This led to speculation that Sting had signed with WWE. Since thisRaw was billed as the "Return of the Undertaker", it was believed that this was building a Sting vs. Undertaker match at WrestleMania XXVII.[255] Although Sting wrestled Mark Calaway in his pre-Undertaker character, "Mean" Mark Callous, at untelevised WCW live events in 1990,[256] WWE viewers clamored for a televised Sting vs. Undertaker match.[257] Ultimately, Sting re-signed with TNA, and on the February 21, 2011Raw, the Undertaker returned to begin a feud withTriple H. TNA then began airing similar vignettes labelled "3.3.11", building to Sting's real return on the March 3, 2011 episode ofImpact!.[255]
| This section of abiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Sting" wrestler – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Borden appeared in the music video for the song "Fire in the Hole" byLȧȧz Rockit in 1989. He made his acting debut in the action-adventure showSuper Force as an assassin.[258] He starred in a pay-per-view only film titledThe Real Reason (Men Commit Crimes) (1998). Borden was featured in aSprite commercial in 1999. He also appeared in four episodes of theHulk Hogan action-adventure seriesThunder in Paradise as Adam "Hammerhead" McCall.[259] Borden made a guest appearance onWalker, Texas Ranger as biker and drug dealer Grangus in the episode "Unsafe Speed". He also appeared inReady to Rumble (2000) as Sting. In 2001, Sting appeared on an episode of R.L. Stine's show, "The Nightmare Room" in the episode titled "Tangled Web". He also appeared in the Christian film,The Encounter (2011) and was featured as the lead actor in the TV movieShutterspeed (2000). He makes a cameo appearance as Sting on an episode ofUpright Citizens Brigade. Borden played an outlaw biker in the filmRevelation Road (2013). In 2017 he along with multiple other wrestlers made a appearance on the hidden camera showWalk the Prank.
His autobiography,Sting: Moment Of Truth, was released on December 1, 2004.[12] In October 2015, WWE released a second Sting DVD titledSting: Into the Light. The three-disc set features a behind-the-scenes documentary with Sting himself as he prepares to step into a WWE ring for the first time ever at WrestleMania 31.
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-1992 | Super Force | Hallor | 3 episodes |
| 1994 | Thunder in Paradise | Adam McCall | 4 episodes |
| 1999 | The Show of the Archiles | Sting | 1 episode |
| 2001 | Walker Texas Ranger | Gangus | 1 episode |
| 2001 | The Nightmare Room | Himself/Sting | 1 episode |
| 2017 | Walk the Prank | Sting | 1 episode |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Liar Liar | Wrestler | Uncredited |
| 1998 | The Real Reason (men commit crimes) | Sparkie | |
| 2000 | Shutterspeed | Riley Davis | TV Movie |
| 2000 | Ready to Rumble | Sting | |
| 2009 | Everyday Life | AL | |
| 2010 | The Encounter | Nick | |
| 2013 | Revelation Road | Junkyard | |
| 2013 | Revelation Road: 2 | Junkyard |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | WCW: World Championship Wrestling | |
| 1994 | WCW Main Event | Cover athlete |
| 1994 | WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling | Cover athlete |
| 1996 | WCW vs. the World | Cover athlete |
| 1997 | Fire Pro Wrestling S: 6 Men Scramble | |
| 1997 | WCW vs. nWo: World Tour | |
| 1997 | Virtual Pro Wrestling 64 | |
| 1998 | WCW Nitro | Cover athlete |
| 1998 | WCW/nWo Revenge | |
| 1999 | WCW/nWo Thunder | |
| 1999 | WCW Mayhem | |
| 2000 | WCW Backstage As Assault | |
| 2008 | TNA Impact! | Cover athlete |
| 2010 | TNA Impact: Cross the Line | |
| 2014 | WWE SuperCard | |
| 2014 | WWE 2K15 | Pre-Order bonus |
| 2015 | WWE Immortals | Mobile Game |
| 2015 | WWE 2K16 | |
| 2016 | WWE 2K17 | |
| 2017 | WWE Champions | Mobile Game |
| 2017 | WWE 2K18 | |
| 2018 | WWE 2K19 | |
| 2019 | WWE 2K20 | |
| 2020 | WWE 2K Battlegrounds | |
| 2023 | AEW Fight Forever | Cover Athlete |
Source[8]
Borden was previously married to Sue Borden in 1986. They have two sons, Garrett Lee and Steven, Jr. and a daughter named Gracie, who was born in 2000.[260] Borden and Sue divorced in 2010 after 24 years of marriage.[261] Borden married his second wife Sabine in 2015.[262] In 2024, Steven had begun training to become a professional wrestler and made his debut in 2025.[263][264]
Borden was an admittedanabolic steroid user in the 1980s.[265] He became aborn-again Christian in August 1998[266] after confessing hisadultery, andsubstance andalcohol abuse to his then-wife.[267] His elder son Garrett attendedAzusa Pacific University, where he played college football as a running back.[268] Steven Jr. attendedKilgore College, where he played tight end; on December 19, 2012, he committed to attend theUniversity of Kentucky.[269] After the2015 NFL draft, Steven Jr. was invited by theKansas City Chiefs to try out for the team at their rookie mini-camp, but did not receive a contract offer.[270]
Borden met the other famous performer called Sting, English musicianGordon "Sting" Sumner, in the early 1990s at one of the musician's concerts inAtlanta. Sumner called Borden wanting to meet him after the former saw his then-nine-year-old son's posters of the wrestler in his bedroom, to which Borden enthusiastically accepted.[271]
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1 Won while the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was defended in World Championship Wrestling when WCW was part of the National Wrestling Alliance. The same goes for any other NWA championship or honor won after November 1988.
2 Won while TNA obtained the sole rights to use the NWA World Heavyweight Championship through an agreement with the NWA.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)After his WCW/Time Warner/AOL contract expired in March 2002, Sting was not completely away from pro wrestling. He was a major part of the World Wrestling All-Stars tour in Europe in 2002-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The fans chanted for Christian and Angle said he is the new TNA champion.
Eric Bischoff on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show said he doesn't know what is up regarding Sting other than saying that Sting has told him it has gotten harder, to physically perform at the level he would like to. Sting turns 52 in March. His contract expired at the end of the year.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)I'd have a hard time putting [Sting] in the top five of all time, but he'd easily make my top ten.
He is known for his charity work, and even if he were to never step into the ring again, his time as a wrestling hero will be remembered by the 'Little Stingers' who followed him every step of the way.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)I learned a lot from Sting. He's the guy I wanted to be like.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)I had the TV people give me a minute-to-minute rating of all of our shows... when Sting was on TV, they watched.
[T]he set ends with two dream matches, as Sting teams with The Ultimate Warrior to face Bret Hart and Hollywood Hogan, before battling "The Hitman" in singles action.
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