Sting Discusses Arguments When WCW Closed, His New Movie, more
Submitted by Matthew Tremley on Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 11:15 AM EST







• Daniel Edler sent in the following:
  
  Show: The Interactive Interview
  Guest: ‘The Man They Call’ Sting
  Date: 23rd September 2004
  Your Hosts: Daniel Edler & James Walsh
  Recap by: James Walsh
  
  [NOTE: You need the Real One Player to hear the show, which you can download by Clicking Here]
  
  When a man's heart is full of deceit, it burns up -- dies. And a dark shadow falls over his soul. From the ashes of a once great man has risen a curse. A wrong that must be righted. We look to the skies for a vindicator. Someone to strike fear into the black hears of the same men who created him. The battle between good and evil has begun. Against an army of shadows comes a dark warrior. The purveyor of good with a voice of silence and a mission of justice. This is Sting.
  
  The Interactive Interview is honored to bring you the longest interview with Steve "Sting" Borden in quite some time. For all of you who ever painted your face, spiked your hair, or wore black in honor of this wrestling legend, this one's for you.
  
  We cover it all. From his early days as a Blade Runner with the Ultimate Warrior to his new movie, The Interactive Interview has struck another home run. And, you can listen to this 51 minute interview now, for free, by simply clicking the link below.
  
  Sting
  
  -- The show opens up with a little "Seek & Destroy" by Metallica -- Sting's final WCW theme song. Immediately following is a sound clip from the http://www.campchaos.com Metallica mocking "Napster Bad" series. James explains his dislike for the band as Daniel admits to being a fan. But, the boys quickly get back to the point and introduce the upcoming guest, Sting.
  
  -- A sound clip of Sting screaming "It's Show Time" is played as the famous dark Sting introduction from Clash of Champions 1997 is played including Sting's original black and white theme music. As the music ends, James and Dan welcome Sting to the show.
  
  -- James points out a few former guests such as Randy Savage and Ric Flair. But, of all the guys TII has already interviewed or even have not yet gotten to, none have been requested more than Sting. Sting seems surprised to hear this and asks James if he said the same thing to Ric Flair. James says he didn't and thinks Flair hates him for it. Sting laughs and compliments James on his "honest answer."
  
  -- Sting has been keeping busy since his last appearance for TNA. He says he is busier now than he was when he was working full time with WCW. He mentions his movie, his church, his little bit of wrestling, and being a father.
  
  -- Sting was not a wrestling fan growing up. Recently some old friends have tried to tell him they watched wrestling with him while growing up but Sting doesn't ever remember watching wrestling on TV. He got involved in the business when he was going to the same gym as Hulk Hogan. Hogan would come in and everybody would go crazy over him. "I knew him from the Rocky movie but for whatever reason, I was oblivious to it. I didn't know anything about the wrestling," said Sting.
  
  -- After being lured to the ring by the above-mentioned experience, Sting went to Red Bastine's training camp for 3 months. After that, he got a job working for Jerry Jarrett.
  
  -- Larry Zbyszko told TII in our second interview ever he felt Sting "stole the name of a rock star guy." Sting feels he did not steal the name from Sting, the lead singer of the Police. "I think based on what I thought my style was in the ring ... Actually, it was Stinger. People just called me Stinger. Yes, I knew of the singer. I don't believe it would be a copy, though."
  
  -- "Well, he was definitely on the cutting edge when we started," said Sting about the Ultimate Warrior. "He was a real intense kind of guy. The way he looked physically is the way he was mentally. He looked at things in a completely different way I did."
  
  -- Sting's AWF tag title partner was Eddie Gilbert. "Eddie taught us a lot at the beginning. He really worked with a lot and tried to teach us a lot of the psychology and timing." Sting feels Eddie helped him a lot after the Warrior went to the WWF and he stayed in UWF.
  
  -- When talking about Sting's 45-minute match with Ric Flair at the Clash of Champions, Sting says, "He had the choice to make me or break me -- Make me look really mediocre. He chose to make me look really good. He had the ability to see beyond what I could see. So, I just followed his lead and he just took me under his wing and really showed me the ropes and taught me a lot. The first 12 months that I was in story lines and matches with Flair, I learned more... I was light-years ahead of where I was because of Ric."
  
  -- Sting's favorite matches with Flair would be either the 45-minute draw or Great American Bash 1990 where he took the strap off him.
  
  -- Sting's major knee injury is explained. "A week or two earlier, I did a move with Lex Luger. I landed wrong and I felt something kind of go in my knee. So, I ended up seeking anti-inflammatory pills they worked great! I didn't feel any pain at all. A couple weeks later, I was cold and not warmed up. I was supposed to run down the aisle and climb over the tubed cage. I just ran to jump and I remember Doug Dillinger and a couple other guys holding me down. Just as I jumped, I felt something snap. I literally thought a fan took a bat or pipe and whacked me in the knee as I went by." Later, "I was hobbling around on one leg and Ric was confused and thought I was confused so he climbed over the cage and started coming at me."
  
  -- "Lex is trying to come back and trying to repair a lot of damage in his life. He's been through a lot. I'm there for him and he knows that," said Sting about Lex Luger. "He's on the mend."
  
  -- When Jake Roberts' remarks about Lex "killing" Elizabeth on a recent edition of the show, Sting says, "Is Jake compassionate about anything or anyone?" Sting feels Jake just blasts everyone these days.
  
  -- Sting feels Rick Rude was a great heel. He enjoyed working.
  
  -- "I used to love working with the big guys," said Sting about working with Vader. Sting explains he was difficult at the beginning because he was fresh out of Japan and very stiff but Sting feels he "tamed him."
  
  -- "Most of them" is Sting's answer to who he had differences with that were in charge of WCW. "It wasn't until Eric Bischoff came in..." Sting feels Eric is responsible for taking WCW to the next level.
  
  -- "I thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel for the first time ever," is Sting's response to his thoughts when WCW announced Nitro and going head to head with the WWF.
  
  -- "When Hulk Hogan came in, it was "Sting, step aside." But, I was okay with it because it was Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan was Hulk Hogan. It wasn't like it was a cake walk for me to take it but I did. And then when Savage came in, it was "Oh, Savage is here. Step aside again." That one I had a struggle with."
  
  -- Sting had his ups and downs with Randy Savage. But, mostly ups.
  
  -- Sting was never unhappy to see the bad guys, the nWo, getting cheered. "I wanted to not be a second class citizen. When the nWo was born, I remember Kevin and Scott had shot one of the first videos they ever shot. Man, they showed that thing and I watched it and went "wow." I knew our company was changing and wrestling was changing. I knew they were on the right track and I had to get on the right track too."
  
  -- Sting remembers a match in San Francisco where he and Hulk teamed. Hulk got boo'd out of the building. So, Sting feels Hulk realized it was time for a change. And, Sting realized he had to change too. So, he embraced the new "crow" look.
  
  -- Sting's training for the rafter drop was the day of the event. It was so high, he had to use walky talky's to converse with the guys on the crowd because the roof was too high. Sting kept spinning while going down and it looked bad. The guy running the rig said he should go down faster not to spin. He was nervous about it because it had to look good.
  
  -- "I've heard what happened up there and I don't even want to say," said Sting about the night Owen Hart died doing the same stunt. Sting feels it is tough to talk about the volume up there is so loud, you can't think straight. Sting feels he had a close experience because one night it was rigged backwards and they had to flip it around quickly.
  
  -- When asked about Starcade 1997, Sting says, "That was a really weird time because I felt the tension of WCW, the whole company had huge tension now. The creative juices weren't flowing because everybody was worrying about themselves. Hulk was struggling with how he wanted to do it and how he wanted to put me over. There were a lot of closed door meetings with Hogan and Eric all the way up until not long before we walked to the ring." Sting wanted to know if Hogan didn't want to do the job or what the situation was but Eric was reassuring. Sting feels he came in and was ready. "I knew the build up was so big that I was worried that the match wouldn't be able to follow the build up. In my opinion, it didn’t. His knee was real bad and my personal life was all messed up. I'm taking some of the credit too. There was a mess up with the count. What was that all about? How could that have failed? Where was the mistake there? Did the referee get paid off? I don't believe that happened... At least, I don't want to believe it happened."
  
  -- Sting then adds, "Why can't this be how it was? Easy and fun!" Sting feels WCW tried to fix a wheel that wasn't broken.
  
  -- Sting enjoyed being the red and black. Sting feels some thought "Well, that's all they could think of." Sting feels the fans really got into it, though. He feels it could have gone somewhere. He feels politics prevented it from going anywhere.
  
  -- Sting feels you cannot compare his matches with Flair and Bret. He feels he jelled better with Flair.
  
  -- Sting found God in August of 1998. "We did our Nitro shows and it ultimately ended up with me drinking, taking muscle relaxers, and pain killers. Out of that, watching every part of my life getting out of control. All the dirt, it just started coming to the surface. I couldn't live with it... I couldn't live with myself. I had a lifestyle on the road that wasn't pleasing to my wife. It wasn't pleasing to God either. I knew there wasn't a big pay per view, a big pay check, or a big contract, or a psychologist, or any kind of power that was going to be able to fix it. I actually believed in my heart that the only way for me to be fixed was for there to be something supernatural happen. Until Jesus Christ entered my life, that's when things really started to change for me."
  
  -- The show then goes to a short commercial for the archives of the site where you can hear 90 top wrestling stars' interview right now!
  
  -- When the show returns, Sting's "Man Called Sting" theme plays loud and proud bringing us back to the Stinger.
  
  -- Sting struggled Vince Russo. "The shock and raunch that Vince McMahon used to salvage his company. And, it worked. That's easy. You know what a cheap pop is, right? Well, that was a cheap pop. Every man in America is going to tune in to see the girls doing the negligee matches and necrophilia.." Sting then goes on to say he is glad WCW was a Ted Turner company because that prevented them from pushing the envelope too far. James agrees.
  
  -- When asked about his feud with Vampiro, Sting says, "I'm trying to put it out of my mind. Vampiro was tough because I felt they were adding somebody to the company... The gimmicks were so close. He was looking more and more like me as time went on." Sting does not dislike Vampiro, but he just feels no matter how far he reached to try to make it work. He feels, "that one didn't work."
  
  -- "I was just so over it at the time and just sick of all the crap. I looked at it as just being more crap that wasn't going to help the company... It wasn't going to help anyone," said Sting about the Bash at the Beach incident with Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, and Vince Russo.
  
  -- "The enemy had come into our camp and held us prisoner," said Sting about the last Nitro. He feels the new owners treated him okay but he changed a promo they had given him to do. He wanted that to be a shout out to the long time WCW fans.
  
  -- Sting didn't know if that would be his last match or not.
  
  -- "I want it to work. I want someone to succeed out there," said Sting about TNA.
  
  -- Sting refused the appearance with TNA at first but reconsidered when he thought it through and remembered Jerry Jarrett gave him his break.
  
  -- About the return that Sting will join the Smackdown brand, "it's news to me."
  
  -- "It's my life. It's a movie that wasn't made for the big screen... This isn't like a Rock movie. This is my life... My testimony really. It takes place from the time I was a kid all the way until present day." Sting says it takes you through his life including and especially August of 1998 when he found God and the miracles that lead up to him being reborn.
  
  -- Sting feels the movie will appeal to non Christian fans as well in that it has authentic footage of matches such as himself against Hogan at Starcade, as we talked about.
  
  -- The film can be picked up at Wall-Mart, Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, and Family Christian book stores nation wide. You can check out http://www.sting-themovie.com and you can see a 2 minute preview of the film.
  
  -- James mentions he loved Sting's film "The Real Reason Men Commit Crimes." Sting seems shocked by this and says the film was shelved. He feels Shutterspeed was as well. Sting feels Shutterspeed was killed because it was linked to Eric, who had since been let go, and didn't want something he was involved with to succeed.
  
  -- We then roll into word associations with names like Ted DiBiase, AJ Styles, Ricky Steamboat, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Road Warrior Hawk, & More!
  
  -- Daniel and James return for a recap lead in by "Mean" Gene Okerlund (best wishes out to Gene with his current ill state of health). The recap covers the interview, this week in wrestling, and talk of Daniel’s IPW UK show this coming weekend! The show then wraps up with the greatest Christian hard rock band of all time performing, "To Hell with the Devil." Yes, Daniel and James have a little Stryper action coming your way!
  
  ***We at The Interactive Interview are very keen to know if readers enjoy the product we, and this website, provide you with in these regular interviews. We also like feedback on each individual interview and what bits you liked and didn’t like or felt could’ve been added. Thus, please send through feedback (positive or negative) to us at daniel@theinteractiveinterview.com & tiikingofnoise@hotmail.com.
  
  
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