Sting’s Son Reveals He Never Desired to Follow in His Father’s Footsteps

When it comes to the world of pro wrestling, Sting has definitely established himself as a legend. It is no surprise then that fans have been wondering what’s next following his retirement.

At Sting’s retirement match AEW Revolution, both his sons were present. Garrett and Stephen Borden were portraying past versions of their father, with Stephen being the Wolpac version, and Garrett being Surfer Sting.

However, it seems that Stephen has not really planned on following in his father’s footsteps. During a recent interview with WrestlingNews.co, Stephen had the following to say.

That’s a loaded question. Let me caveat this first. Easy answer, I think I understand what you’re saying. Because, you know, my dad is Sting, an all the time Great. But it is sort of presumptuous for me to because I’ve seen tweets. And I’ve had friends text me and say, ‘you decided what do you want to go out there? Have you ever thought about going out there?’ And it’s sort of presumptuous for me to assume that it would be my decision. It’d be my decision to try. But it’s not my decision to be accepted either by AEW or by the fans at this point. They care about my dad. They don’t care [about me]. He’s somebody who earned the right to be in the ring and have the stardom. I have not earned that. And so easy access is I wouldn’t call it that that the case at all. And then, to answer the question, I just wanted to get that caveat out of the way first, and then to answer the real question for my whole life.“

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“The answer to that question has been no, it’s very clear to me, it was my dad’s thing. I think my brother was the same way. I just liked leaving it as his thing. And I wanted to play professional football for a long time. So up until several years ago, that was that was what I thought I was gonna be doing. Didn’t quite pull that one off. And I think maybe [last] months of my dad’s career, maybe last year, it’s that answers maybe gotten a little bit more murky. And part of that might be because part of that might be because I’m not ready to see him step aside. He’s been Sting for my whole life, and you know, it’s just an odd experience to watch it all go away. And then part of it is probably just went on obviously, I have his genes.“

“We joke and talk, and we have similar mannerisms and things like that, and so I’ve heard throughout the course of my life, ‘man, you so much like your dad.’ I’m sure Garrett’s heard the same thing, and ‘You remind me of your dad and X, Y, or Z way.’ And part of me wonders… my dad is electric. Part of me wonders if any of that electricity was passed down if all those comments over the years were just people being nice, or if that’s real and the only way to really find the find out the answer to that question is to put yourself in the arena and let the world judge for themselves. So that’s I think those are probably two elements: not wanting to let the see that side of my dad go and then maybe wanted to answer a question for myself that said, I’m in a position right now where it doesn’t make a ton of sense for me to jump into wrestling and that’s this is all so hypothetical and theoretical that I’m just shooting from the hip here and giving you an honest answer of my current cognitive position.

It certainly seems like Stephen has given a lot of thought to this decision. It is clear that he has a lot of reverence for his father’s legacy, and for all the pros who have earned their place in the ring.

How do you think Stephen Borden’s thoughtful reflections on potentially entering the world of professional wrestling reflect on the complexities of navigating family legacies and personal aspirations in the industry? Let us know in the comments below.