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FAREWELL STINGER - LOOKING AT STING'S CAREER & FINAL MATCH TONIGHT

Passion.

In the world of professional wrestling, many talented performers become champions.  Some of those champions even become legends. But, only a few professional wrestlers ascend into the stratosphere and remain there forever, rising above all others to become one with the majesty of professional wrestling eternally.

Steve Borden, professionally known to fans the world over as Sting, is one of those men and tonight, pro wrestling gets to have a rare happy ending moment when he wrestles for, what is assumed to be, the last time, teaming with Darby Allin against The Young Bucks.  While others have wrestled while older, one really does get that feeling, in their gut, that this will be the last time Sting walks that aisle as an active professional wrestler.

Steve Borden is 64 years old.  The face paint and the costuming helps mask that, allowing Sting, like Mil Mascaras, Rey Mysterio and Jushin Liger to be one of those personalities who will be eternally young to the mind's eye, but to his credit, he's made the call that this is it tonight.  

So, we get a happy ending, something that at one point looked to eluded fans and Sting alike when he was medically disqualified by WWE - and eluded everyone before that when he just disappeared from TNA - and even before that, was robbed from fans when WWE bought WCW and the final episode of Nitro saw a short Sting bout against Ric Flair that was a far departure from their legendary March 1988 bout in Greensboro at the first-ever Clash of Champions on TBS.

Life has a weird way of twisting and turning and now, it brings Sting back to Greensboro for one last sold out house with Ric Flair alongside him, bringing back echoes of what made Jim Crockett Promotions great and reminding everyone one last time why even before the florescent Surfer Sting character faded to the brooding black and white version of Sting who lurked in the rafters like The Phantom of the Opera, Sting was the Franchise of WCW, the heart and soul of that promotion and why he remains, forevermore, one of the most popular men to ever enter the squared circle.

Passion.

I don't know that Steve Borden was much of a professional wrestling fan when he first got into the business.  He's told stories of not really knowing who Hulk Hogan was when he spied him working out at Gold's Gym.  My best bet is that when he was recruited to get into the business by Rick Bassman, it was about making money more than having passion or love of the game.

But, you don't stay in professional wrestling as long as Sting has unless you really need the money or you really love it - and by all accounts, Sting didn't need the money.  Even if he did, wrestlers trying to hang out don't dive off ladders through tables when they are trying to eek out those last paydays.  Those talents, God bless them, are grabbing side headlocks and running out the clock.  No, that man had passion.

I don't know when Sting might have fallen in love with performing.  Was it that first taste of appearing on live TV without a net on Memphis TV as half of the Blade Runners with The Ultimate Warrior?  Was it clicking with Eddie Gilbert in the UWF and then breaking off from The First Family, leading to crazy brawls all over buildings with Chris Adams, Terry Taylor, Shane Douglas and Rick Steiner?  Was it those early Jim Crockett Promotions appearances where fans just LOST IT for the guitar riffs when he came out to the ring?

Or, was it those magical 45 minutes where Ric Flair made him a star for life in Greensboro, NC?

I don't know if we'll ever know for sure, but Sting was the spine of the book for WCW.  Without him, that promotion falters in the eyes of the fans well before it ever ends up in WWE's hands.  From Lex Luger to Terry Funk to Vader to The Four Horsemen to The Great Muta to Hulk Hogan to Goldberg, the entire history of World Championship Wrestling cannot be told without Sting in every single chapter.  Had he jumped to WWE at any point, that would have been the death of WCW.    

Sting was WCW.   There were many facets of what made Sting so special. The face paint, the howls, the Stinger Splash, the robes, the energy.  Sting was the passion threadline of WCW, the one hero that fans could point to as their guy in that company.   It was with the hope that he could be that guy and that hero for TNA that the company hired him and for many fans, Sting being there was enough to keep them watching as he battled Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles and others.  Good or bad, fun or not, Sting in TNA kept that place alive.

Then, the unthinkable happened - Sting came to WWE a decade ago.  While fans dreamed of The Undertaker showdown that never happened, they did get him against Triple H and Seth Rollins.  While Sting coming to WWE was the last big "shock" debut of a star from elsewhere, the reality is that not being a WWE creation in an era where that handicapped him, WWE never got the full Sting experience and never monetized him the way Sting should have been monetized.

Then, with a Hall of Fame induction, it was over.

An ending that wasn't really an ending - and it sucked.

Until Tony Khan came along - and wrestling returned to the former Turner cable networks.

While this Sting who returned was older - Obi-Wan Kenobi to Darby Allin's Luke Skywalker - and was originally only going to do cinematic matches, things evolved over time and we got to see a few flourishes of the old Sting, most notably against FTR in NYC, but the real beauty of this final run is that it even got to happen and that Steve Borden hopefully got to enjoy himself again one last time, while trying to give back.  I just hope everyone in that AEW locker room realized how lucky they were to roam those same halls as Sting.

Tonight, Sting walks out a winner, no matter what the planned finish is.

Steve Borden goes out the way he deserves, as a legend, remembered for all the good memories he provided for fans over the course of their lives.

Here's to one last Stinger Splash, delivered with the passion that has driven decides of a career.

Thanks Sting.

We all appreciated the passion - and you.

Enjoy your well earned retirement.

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