Sting (wrestler)

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Steven James Borden United StatesUnited States
Sting at the WrestleMania 31 Axxess event.

Sting at the WrestleMania 31 Axxess event.
Data
Ring name Blade Runner Flash
Flash
Flash Borden
Steve Borden
Sting
Additions to names The Icon
height 190 cm
Fighting weight 113 kg-119 kg
birth March 20, 1959
Omaha , Nebraska
Announced from Venice Beach , California
Trained by Bill Anderson
debut November 1985
retirement 2nd April 2016

Steven James Borden (born March 20, 1959 in Omaha , Nebraska ), better known by his ring name Sting , is a former American wrestler and twelve-time world heavyweight champion, who was most recently under contract with the market leader WWE .

Wrestling career

Beginnings

Borden began his wrestling career in 1985 in the Continental Wrestling Association as part of a group that called itself Power Team USA and a bodybuilding - gimmick occurred. This consisted of Jim Hellwig (the later Ultimate Warrior), Mark Miller and Garland Donoho. After the grouping was broken up, he and Hellwig formed the tag team The Freedom Fighters , which was renamed Blade Runners (an allusion to the film of the same name ) after a heel turn ; Borden also took on the ring name Flash . At the beginning of 1986 they moved together to the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and initially continued the tag team there. After Hellwig left the UWF just a few months later, Borden was made Face , his ring name changed to Sting and he and Rick Steiner became UWF Tag Team Champion .

Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling (1987-2001)

Rise and feud against the Four Horsemen (1987–1991)

After Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling , the leading promotion within the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1980s, bought the UWF in 1987, Borden appeared for them and quickly became one of their stars. When Clash of the Champions first played in March 1988, he began a feud program with the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and finally his grouping, The Four Horsemen . His first title in the league received Borden in early 1989, when he the NWA Television Champion Mike Rotunda defeated . This was followed by a feud program with The Great Mutah , during which the television championship title was declared vacant in July 1989 after a contentious decision . At the end of the year, the Four Horsemen were reformed with Borden as the fourth member alongside Flair, Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson .

Just a few months later, at the Clash of the Champions X event , Borden was disfellowshipped again for demanding a title fight against Ric Flair, according to the storyline. The real reason for the suspension was a knee injury. After his recovery, Borden formed the group "Dudes With Attitudes" with Lex Luger , the Steiner Brothers , Paul Orndorff , El Gigante and the Junkyard Dog . At the Great American Bash 1990 event , he finally received the NWA World Heavyweight Champion title from Flair. Borden had to give the title back to Flair on January 11, 1991.

Title regency (1991–1995)

Sting with his surfer gimmick.

Shortly thereafter, the WCW officially broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance and introduced its own titles, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW World Tag Team Championship , which replaced the corresponding NWA titles as the highest awards in promotion.

In August 1991 Borden won a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship . He had to hand over the title to Rick Rude 86 days later at Clash of the Champions XVII .

In a feud with Lex Luger that began in late 1991, Borden's first of a total of six reigns as WCW World Heavyweight Champion came about by defeating Luger at the SuperBrawl II event on February 29, 1992 . In the course of the ensuing feud against Big Van Vader Borden lost the title to this. After interim programs against Cactus Jack and Jake "The Snake" Roberts , Borden resumed his feud program with Vader in the "King of the Cable" tournament. Borden received the title back at short notice on March 11, 1993 during a tour in London, only to have to give it back six days later.

The following year Borden continued to feud against Rick Rude and Vader; against the latter he received the WCW International World Champion title at the WCW Slamboree event (the second World Title of the WCW and de facto successor to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship). Shortly thereafter, WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair was made a heel and had him defeat Borden in a unification match at Clash of the Champions XXVII . The rest of the year and most of 1995 Borden joined the team with the newly hired by the WCW Hulk Hogan against the two groups each led by Kevin Sullivan , Three Faces of Fear and later Dungeon of Doom .

From October 1995, Borden began a feud program with the Four Horsemen for the remainder of the year, supported by Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage . In early 1996 he teamed up with Lex Luger, who had returned to WCW in September 1995, and with him received the WCW World Tag Team Champions title from Harlem Heat . On June 24, 1996 they lost the title at WCW Monday Nitro again to Harlem Heat.

Character change and feud with the New World Order (1996–1998)

Sting faces Nash at Nitro in 1998.

In the summer of 1996 the new storyline about nWo . With Lex Luger and Randy Savage, he feuded against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall and their secret partner, who later turned out to be the new heel character Hollywood Hogan. The feud between Borden and the nWo was to be one of the longest lasting of this time. Borden's character was changed in the course of this. He mysteriously appeared in the stands at various events. His new appearance was obviously inspired by the movie The Crow and thus differed greatly from his old appearance as a surfer with colorful face paint. Sting was presented as a kind of silent avenger; he hardly spoke, wore a long black coat and body paint . He also established a black baseball bat as his trademark at the time and was often suddenly roped down from the ceiling.

At the Uncensored 1997 event , Bordens' new character finally revealed himself as an opponent of the nWo and became the leader of the WCW against the group, which was now represented as a separate promotion. At Starrcade 1997 Borden, after about 18 months off the ring, played a title match against WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Hogan won for the time being, but after an intervention by Bret Hart the decision was reversed and Borden received the WCW World Heavyweight Champion title for the third time after a restart. Due to the controversial end of the match, he was stripped of the title a week later, but he received it again in a rematch against Hogan. At Spring Stampede in April 1998 he had to give the title back to nWo member Randy Savage.

The Wolfpac and Final Feuds (1998-2001)

Since the nWo storyline, which had now lasted over two years, was slowly exhausted, the group was divided into two camps: The nWo Hollywood under the leadership of Hogan remained a heel group, which the nWo Wolfpac faced with its leader Kevin Nash. Borden came to Wolfpac two months later and adopted their red and black colors in his face paint and clothing. Together with Nash, he received the vacant Tag Team title in June, which he had previously held with The Giant . After the reunification of the nWo in January 1999 as a heel group, he left them. He defended the World Heavyweight title at Halloween Havoc against Hogan, but had to hand it over to Bill Goldberg the same evening . In 2000 he began a feud with the newcomer Vampiro , which greatly increased his popularity. After being injured by Scott Steiner , he left WCW. After the promotion by competitor World Wrestling Entertainment , he returned for the final edition of the TV show WCW Monday Nitro and defeated his long-time rival Ric Flair in the last WCW match ever.

In contrast to other wrestlers such as Booker T , Bill Goldberg, Ric Flair or Scott Steiner, Borden was one of the few top-class WCW wrestlers who, despite the efforts of Vincent K. McMahon, did not compete for the former competitive league WWE after the acquisition of WCW .

World Wrestling All-Stars (2002-2003)

Borden returned to the wrestling business in late 2002 and toured with the Australian-born promotion World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA), which unsuccessfully wanted to succeed WCW as the second strongest promotion on the North American market. His first match was a tag team match with Lex Luger against Buff Bagwell and Malice (Jerry Tuite). On December 23, 2002 he received the WWA World Heavyweight Champion title in Zurich . He finally lost it at the last event of WWA on May 25, 2003 in New Zealand to the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett . This unites the two titles.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003-2014)

Sporadic appearances and feud against Jeff Jarrett (2003-2006)

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting after winning Bound For Glory in 2006 .

Borden made his first appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2003. After a tag team match with Jarrett against AJ Styles and Sean Waltman in June, he mainly conducted interviews with TNA commentator Mike Tenay. It was not until November that he played his second match, in which he defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett by disqualification. The following week he defeated AJ Styles Jarrett and Lex Luger. On December 17, he played his last match for the time being.

In 2004, a biographical feature film about Steve Borden, in which he embodies himself, was released under the title Sting: Moment of Truth . The film was never released in Germany.

After further brief appearances in the following two years, Borden was firmly in the service of TNA since January 2006. After his appearances had previously always taken place at the first weekly, then monthly PPVs, he returned to the edition of TNA iMPACT! returned to national television on January 28 for the first time in five years. He announced that he wanted to say goodbye to the fans with his appearances for the promotion, as he had never had the chance to do so before. His match at the event Final Resolution 2006 , in which he defeated Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown together with Christian Cage and was frenetically celebrated by the fans, was his final farewell.

Shortly thereafter, however, Borden returned and feuded against the group "Planet Jarrett". Then he was involved in the action for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . After a two-month break, Borden returned to the Bound for Glory 2006 event with a new outfit combining his three gimmicks (Surfer, Crow, Wolfpac) and won the NWA World Heavyweight Champion title for the second time in over 16 years against Jarrett. After a month at Genesis 2006 he had to surrender the title to Abyss.

The Main Event Mafia (2007-2009)

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Sting as a member of the Main Event Mafia.

In September 2008 one wrote him in a feud program against the younger generation of wrestlers, which was mainly represented by AJ Styles and Samoa Joe . Borden then founded the stable The Main Event Mafia (MEM for short) on October 23, 2008 together with Kurt Angle , Booker T, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner . At the major event Bound for Glory 2008 , Borden defeated Samoa Joe for the TNA Heavyweight Champion title. In April 2009, he lost his title at the 2009 PPV Lockdown in a steel cage match against Mick Foley . He then became the leader of the MEM, but the stable turned against him.

Feud against Immortal and final appearances (2011-2014)

After several breaks, Steve Borden returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in February 2011 and won the TNA World Heavyweight Champion title for the third time on February 24 at the record age of 51 after defeating Jeff Hardy . At Slammiversary IX on June 12, 2011 he lost him to Mr. Anderson , but was able to win him back from the same on July 11, 2011 in the records of Impact Wrestling . On August 7, 2011, he lost the title on Hardcore Justice to Kurt Angle . At Bound for Glory on October 16, 2011, he ended a January 2010 lasting feud with Hulk Hogan victorious, which TNA President Dixie Carter their power to TNA got back . Borden then acted as a kind of general manager until March 2012.

At Slammiversary X on June 10, 2012 Borden was announced as the first member of the TNA Hall of Fame . The official recording took place on October 13, 2012.

WWE (since 2014)

Triple H Sting at Wrestlemania 31 .

In April 2014 Borden signed his first contract with the market leader WWE , making him the last of the big WCW superstars to switch to WWF / WWE. On July 14th, the new video game WWE 2K15 was presented with him as a pre-sale bonus character at Monday Night RAW , and Sting merchandise has also been available in the WWE shop since then.

At the Survivor Series , Sting made his in-ring debut for the WWE on November 23, 2014 when he intervened on behalf of Team Cena in their match against Team Authority. This resulted in a feud program with Triple H , through which Borden played his first Wrestlemania match, which he lost.

In the RAW edition on August 24, 2015, Sting attacked the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins , which resulted in a match at Night of Champions 2015, which Sting lost.

On April 2, 2016, Sting was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame . During his speech he announced his retirement from active wrestling.

Outside of wrestling

Borden appeared in the 1989 music video for the song Fire in the Hole by Lääz Rockit . He made his acting debut in Super Force . In 1998, Borden starred in a pay-per-view film called The Real Reason . He also appeared with Hulk Hogan in three episodes of the action adventure series Thunder in Paradise as Adam "Hammerhead" McCall. In Walker, Texas Ranger's "Unsafe Speed" episode , Borden starred as Grangus, the biker and drug dealer. He also appeared as a Sting in Ready to Rumble in 2000. He also appeared in the film The Encounter (2000) and starred in the TV film Shutterspeed (2000). He appeared as the Sting in an episode of Upright Citizens Brigade . Borden played an outlaw biker in the 2013 movie Revelation Road .

His book Moment Of Truth was published on December 1, 2004. In October 2015, WWE released a DVD entitled Sting: Into the Light . The documentary shows Borden behind the scenes as he prepares to play his first WWE match at WrestleMania 31 .

Private life

Borden married his longtime girlfriend Sue in 1986. The marriage, from which the sons Garrett (* 1991) and Steven (* 1992) and daughter Gracie (* 2000) emerged, was divorced in 2010. He has been married for a second time since 2015.

His sons developed an enthusiasm for football at an early age and were specifically encouraged by him. Garret played for Azusa Pacific University , Steven was with the University of Kentucky in 2013 and 2014 .

Borden has been a born again Christian since August 1998 . The reason for this step for him was the loss of quality of life and the negative personal development in the previous years: The physical strain from daily training and regular matches, several injuries and the separation from his family due to the extensive schedule resulted in depression and dependence on Pain relievers, muscle relaxants, and alcohol.

Titles and awards

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Sting after winning Bound for Glory IV .
  • World Wrestling All-Stars
    • WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sting: Moment of Truth in the IMDb
  2. ^ Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TV-taping, February 24, 2011, Fayetteville (North Carolina)
  3. ↑ WWE: Sting signs contract - report on cagematch.de
  4. ↑ Mike Johnson: Lots of Sting updates, including where you will see him next . July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  5. ↑ WWE Survivor Series 2014 results . November 23, 2014. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  6. ↑ Before WWE "Wrestlemania 32: Sting Announces Resignation" . April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  7. ↑ Player profile of Steven Borden
  8. ↑ 'Sting' Out of the Ring , accessed June 2, 2020
  9. ↑ Wrestler turns to God to overcome drugs , accessed June 2, 2020

Web links

Commons : Steve Borden  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Sting profile on wwe.com
  • Sting profile on impactwrestling.com
personal data
SURNAME Sting
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borden, Steven James; Borden, Steve
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska , United States