10 Backstage Stories About Sting We Can't Believe
Sting remains one of the most popular wrestlers in the history of the industry. Noteworthy runs with WCW, TNA and WWE led to Sting winning over countless fans all over the world. Sting became an icon for WCW and was arguably the most successful wrestler in company history. TNA made Sting one of the faces of the franchise at an older age. WWE finally brought him in for a few matches before his career ended.
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The legacy of Sting is always going to be strong in the wrestling community for his accomplishments. Much like any wrestler with a successful career for such a long time, many stories have circulated about Sting.
10 Refused to sign with WWE for years due to fearing Vince's booking
The Untold show on WWE Network provided the confirmation from Sting about the rumored reason for him avoiding WWE for decades. Sting believed Vince McMahon would bury him like other WCW superstars to struggle in WWE.
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The belief is that wrestlers will have a harder time getting over if Vince didn’t create their characters. Sting admitted he regretted thinking this and enjoyed working for Vince for the two matches before retirement.
9 Begged Eric Bischoff to bring back Lex Luger
The on-screen friendship of Sting and Lex Luger was inspired by their real relationship as best friends behind the scenes. Eric Bischoff revealed that Sting was the main reason he chose to re-sign Luger after his WWE deal ended in 1995.
Luger was on Bischoff’s hate list for how he left WCW, but Sting worked on him to bring Lex back. Bischoff wanted a big return on the first episode of Nitro and Sting’s selling finally won him over to sign Luger.
8 Didn't want to put over Vampiro
Vampiro was placed in a feud with Sting for the biggest opportunity of his WCW career. The hope from Vince Russo was that Vampiro would become a huge star after getting wins over WCW’s biggest legend.
Sting and Vampiro never had much chemistry together and their matches often disappointed. Vampiro revealed in future interviews that Sting wasn’t fun to work with. Rumors of Sting not wanting to put him over were confirmed in later years.
7 Was livid backstage after Jeff Hardy incident in TNA
The calm demeanor saw him rarely losing his cool or having volatile backstage moments like other top stars of his era. One of the few times Sting was livid came during his TNA tenure after Jeff Hardy was allowed to perform under the influence as Sting’s opponent.
The post-match chants of unhappiness from the crowd saw Sting vocally stating that he agreed with them. Sting was reportedly livid about the situation backstage from Jeff’s actions to TNA putting them both at risk by letting him wrestle in that state.
6 Controversial WCW divorces
The urban legend of Sting playing a role in multiple WCW wrestlers’ divorce stemmed from his own issues. Sting reportedly got in hot water for cheating on his wife and named his friends Lex Luger and Rick Steiner as others that cheated on the road.
The aftermath saw Luger and Steiner both getting divorced after Sting’s wife revealed the information to their wives. Sting’s marriage continued as they tried to get past the issues, but his friends saw their marriages end.
5 WWE turned down his pitches for Undertaker match
Sting coming to WWE in 2014 saw him pitching ideas to wrestle The Undertaker, but management never went through with it. Even the Hall of Fame induction of Sting saw him trying to set up a match with Undertaker according to his Untold special.
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Sting has teased coming out of retirement for the one dream match he has left vs Undertaker. WWE didn’t believe in the match for whatever reason and always turned him down. The recent Boneyard match inspired fans to hope for a similar match of Sting vs Undertaker with less bumps and more cinematic elements.
4 Spike TV paid his contract for TNA
Eric Bischoff revealed a huge scoop about the old TNA days when breaking down his time there. Wrestling fans were confused for years about Sting getting paid seven-figures to skip house shows with minimal presence on the ratings.
Spike TV were the ones funding Sting’s contract since they loved him as a marketing and branding asset for the product. Many of the opportunities offered to TNA from Spike came after Sting joined. Sting getting ready to leave and Spike cutting bait with TNA around the same time was more than a coincidence.
3 Requesting to join the New World Order
Sting found even more success in WCW as the Crow version of his character looking to take down the New World Order. WCW fans viewed Sting as the one wrestler with the ability to stop the heel faction with his incredible attacks.
Sting however wanted to join the nWo and was the one behind him becoming part of the Wolfpac. Many fans overlooked the lack of logic since Sting was now part of a fun group, but most of the wrestlers made Sting’s character miserable for years. The Stinger still wanted to be part of one of the coolest acts in WCW.
2 Showing up to Starrcade 1997 out of shape
The most controversial WCW booking decision came at Starrcade 1997 when the refereeing led to a shady finish before restarting Sting vs Hulk Hogan. Fans still complaint about WCW ruining the biggest match in company history with the shenanigans.
Eric Bischoff tried to shut down the idea of Hogan using his political power for the finish. The excuse from Bischoff was that Sting looked out of shape and didn’t have a tan. Bischoff claimed this warranted the booking changes.
1 Seth Rollins breaking down in ambulance after injury
Sting’s final match in wrestling came against Seth Rollins where he suffered a brutal neck injury. The Untold episode from WWE showed an emotional Rollins discussing the emotional pain he dealt with when seeing Sting was out of it.
Fans were happy to see Sting finish the match, but he was taken to the hospital afterward. Sting revealed Rollins jumped into the ambulance after the match to apologize and even uttered out that he once dressed as Sting on Halloween. Rollins wanted to express the respect he had for Sting and Sting stated the injury was not Rollins’ fault.
