Steve Borden, better known to wrestling fans as Sting, wrestled for TNA between 2003 and 2014 after his legendary tenure in WCW. WCW would be bought by their main competitors the WWE, then-WWF, in 2001.
During a conversation with Bill Apter, Sting reminisced on his negotiations with the WWE prior to signing with TNA, as well as Vince McMahon’s reaction when told he would be heading to Total Nonstop Action.
“I had probably had three… on three separate occasions, I had a conversation with Vince [McMahon] and I was close on a couple of those occasions to leaving [WCW],” Sting remembered.
He explained that a primary reason he would never leave the WWE’s primary rival was that “WCW always ended up giving me what I asked for as far as…it wasn’t just financial – it was how much I work. I wanted to have it be in black and white, contractually. ‘I want to work X number of days and blah, blah, blah, only a certain number of house shows that I want to do throughout the year,’ so they gave me what I wanted.”
“That’s Exactly What He Said…”
When Sting confessed to Vince that he was bound for TNA, he can still remember Vince McMahon’s reaction.
“I’ll never forget having that conversation with Vince,” Sting recalled. “He’s on the phone with me and he says, ‘you know, Sting,’ he said, ‘I find this hard to believe. The legacy that you leave behind and the thought of you going to TNA is just, blah.’”
“That’s exactly what he said, ‘blah!’ And so then you fast forward to me coming back to do WrestleMania [31], I sent out a text to Vince and Triple H, and I simply said, ‘have you guys turned the page on Sting yet?’ because I honestly didn’t know. Did they turn the page? Are they done or would they consider a run up there?”
Sting would finally wrestle for the WWE at Wrestlemania 31. He would face off against Triple H in an eventual loss to the King Of Kings.
H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcribed quotes
