The latest word from the wrestling world is that AEW star Steven Borden spoke with Q101 about various topics, including how seeing his father, “The Icon” Sting’s retirement contest at Revolution 2024 inspired him to pursue wrestling.
Borden shared, “Yeah. I mean, it’s like — I just realized watching him at Revolution, the decades just fly by. Like, I’m going to blink and I’m going to be 65. Additionally, and realizing that same thing is going to happen to me. What's more, and so, having that sense of urgency, like it’s sink or swim. You have to take the step at some point.”
On if staying away from wrestling was purposeful:
“The situation was a little bit of both. Interestingly enough, i mean, I think he wanted something different for us. He had — and to his credit, he went through a different era and saw all of the worst things in wrestling. Not that he didn’t love it and all of that, although I think he just — it’s like, you want your kids to go do something else. And so we were pretty isolated from it. It wasn’t until approaching his retirement that I in the end initiated to see what it is that he did for his whole life, what it truly was. And I think that’s where I got pulled in.”
On his dad’s experience in AEW: “What I’ll say is, I think he had more fun in AEW than he had anywhere else. And some of that’s the relationship with Darby and Charles, and some of the other guys there. But then, the relationship that he had with Tony was — you know, I don’t want to speak for him necessarily. But to me, that’s the happiest that I’ve seen him with whoever it is that’s managing a company. In a connected development, his relationship with Tony was so good. And yes of course, I think he felt extremely respected — but yeah, just watching him have fun. Along those lines, like, they had a wealth of fun. I initiated to come to some of the shows and like, just different levels of energy with Darby and some of the younger guys and him. Things were cool.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.