The Stinger's real name is Steve Borden. Sting has consistently been pushed as a main event wrestler since the late 1980s. He is perhaps best known for his 14-year career with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on six occasions. Combined with one NWA World Title reign, and two WCW International World Heavyweight Title reigns, Sting has been a World Heavyweight Champion nine times, the second most in NWA/WCW history behind Ric Flair. In his time after the closure of World Championship Wrestling, he has won the WWA (World Wrestling All-Stars) World Heavyweight Title and achieved a 2nd NWA World Heavyweight Title reign under the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling brand bringing his total number of World Heavyweight Title reigns to 11. He is arguably the most successful and popular American professional wrestler of the modern era to have never worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Borden was recruited as the fourth member of Powerteam USA, a professional wrestling stable headed by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman and containing Borden and three other former bodybuilders. Borden trained under Bill Anderson as well as Bastien and Bassman for 10 weeks and debuted in November 1985 as Flash Borden.

Power Team USA disbanded in 1986, and two of the members, Borden and Jim "Justice" Hellwig(later The Ultimate Warrior), formed a tag team known as the Blade Runners. Borden changed his name initially from Flash to Sting while Hellwig became Rock. The Blade Runners wrestled in the Universal Wrestling Federation based in Shreveport until Rock(The Ultimate Warrior) left the promotion in mid-1986. Left without a partner, Borden joined Hotstuff and Hyatt International, a stable headed by Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt. He won the UWF Tag Team Championship twice with Gilbert in 1986, and a third time with Rick Steiner in 1987. Initially a heel wrestler, Sting turned babyface following a match against Terry Taylor in mid-1987, where former manager Gilbert interfered on Taylor's behalf, costing Sting the match. Following a two-on-one gangup, Gentleman Chris Adams cleared the ring and became instrumental in Sting's face turn when Adams asked if Sting was with him or against him in his feud with Taylor and Gilbert.

In late 1987, the Universal Wrestling Federation was purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions. Quickly rising through the ranks, Sting began a lengthy feud with then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair in 1988, with he and Flair wrestling one another to a 45-minute time limit draw at the inaugural Clash of Champions. Sting lost to Flair in several untelevised rematches following the Clash and later that year got more involved in tag team matches against other members of the Four Horsemen and also challenging Barry Windham for the United States Championship. As 1988 ended, Sting teamed up with Dusty Rhodes at Starrcade'88 and defeated The Road Warriors by disqualification.

Sting then returned to singles matches in 1989, starting the year off on New Year's Day wrestling Ric Flair to a one hour draw in Atlanta's Omni. After a long push, he finally won his first title in the NWA when he defeated Mike Rotunda for the NWA Television Championship. He defended the TV Championship actively but tended to face sub-par challengers. Sting eventually lost the championship to The Great Muta in one of the year's greatest feuds. Sting and Muta met on July 23 at the Great American Bash with Sting getting the win by pinfall but a replay showed Muta's shoulder was up at the count of two and the NWA decided to declare the title vacant. Sting and Muta battled in many rematches but they would always end in disqualification giving neither man the championship. Eventually Muta won a no disqualification match against Sting to win the title after using a blackjack foreign object to get the win.

On the July 23 card where Sting and Muta faced each other the first time, Ric Flair faced Terry Funk in the main event and Flair was attacked by Muta after the match. Sting came to Flair's rescue which was an amazing surprise to fans given the history between Sting and Flair as fierce rivals the prior year. Sting and Flair feuded with Funk and Muta for the rest of the year in one of the NWA's most memorable feuds. When Flair re-formed the Four Horsemen in late 1989, Sting was quick to join Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Flair.

Sting was thrown out of the Four Horsemen on February 6, 1990 at the Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout after demanding a title shot from Flair, thus restarting their rivalry. Later that evening, Sting suffered a knee injury while interfering in a steel cage match featuring the Four Horsemen. Sting's injury forced WCW bookers to find a new opponent for Flair for the forthcoming Wrestle War pay-per-view. Sting was eventually replaced by Lex Luger, who unsuccessfully challenged Flair for the title in a series of matches while Sting recuperated.

Upon his return, Sting and his allies, the Dudes With Attitudes, continued to feud with the Four Horsemen, and Sting finally defeated Flair for the NWA World heavyweight championship at the 1990 Great American Bash. He went on to feud with title contenders Lex Luger and Sid Vicious. Vicious appeared to defeat Sting in a title match at Halloween Havoc 1990, but the "Sting" who he pinned was revealed to be an impostor, played by Horseman Barry Windham. The real Sting appeared soon after and pinned Vicious to retain his title when the match was restarted. His reign ended on January 11, 1991 when he was defeated by Flair. In the same month, WCW seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance, in the process recognising a WCW World Heavyweight Championship and a WCW World Tag Team Championship. Sting then feuded with Nikita Koloff in the summer of 1991 and took part in what many consider to be one of the best matches of 1991, teaming with Lex Luger to face The Steiner Brothers at the first Superbrawl pay-per-view.

At the end of 1991, Sting became embroiled in a feud with the Dangerous Alliance, headed by managerPaul E. Dangerously. The stable targeted Sting because he was the so-called "franchise" of WCW, and vowed to destroy both him and the promotion that he was the face of. Sting engaged in many memorable matches with Dangerous Alliance members, especially "Ravishing" Rick Rude, who was the group's main star. It was during this feud that he won the first of his six WCW World Heavyweight titles, defeating Lex Luger at SuperBrawl II on February 29, 1992. The feud ended when Sting and his allies, named Sting's Squadron (consisting of himself, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff) defeated the Alliance (Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Bobby Eaton) in a brutal War Games match at Wrestle War in May 1992.

Near the end of Sting's battles with the Dangerous Alliance, the seeds were sown for what would arguably come to be the most famous feud of his career. In April 1992, he defended his WCW World title at The Omni in against a 450-pound bull of a wrestler named Big Van Vader. During the match, Vader splashed Sting, cracking three of his ribs. Sting recovered and defended his title against Vader at The Great American Bash in July, dropping the belt to him after missing a Stinger Splash, hitting his head, and receiving a powerbomb. After beating Cactus Jack in a falls-count-anywhere match at Bash at the Beach and newcomer Jake "The Snake" Roberts in a "Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal" match at Halloween Havoc, Sting again faced Vader in the "King of Cable" tournament final at StarrCade. Once again, Sting endured a harsh beating, but this time emerged victorious.

Notice the very young Rick Steiner?

The Sting-Vader feud continued into 1993, with Vader defeating Sting in a bloody strap match at SuperBrawl III. Sting exacted revenge by beating Vader for the World title on March 11 in London, England, but lost it back to him six days later in Dublin, Ireland. Sting then teamed up with newcomer Davey Boy Smith(The British Bulldog) to beat the team of Vader and Sid Vicious at Bash at the beach, a match that was set up by an atrocious mini-movie that saw an evil midget blow up Sting's boat. At the end of the year, Sting was one of the first people to congratulate the newly-returned Ric Flair after his title victory over Vader at StarrCade.

Sting would feud with Vader and Rude through the first half of 1994, defeating Vader in a match for the vacant NWA World title (referred to as the WCW International World title) at Slamboree after Rude was forced to vacate due to his suffering a career-ending injury against Sting in Japan. Soon afterwards, Flair turned heel and defeated Sting in a title unification match at Clash of the Champions XXVII. Sting would spend the second half of '94 and most of 1995 teaming with new arrival Hulk Hogan in his battles against the Three Faces of Fear and, later, the Dungeon of Doom.

In October 1995, Flair convinced Sting to team with him in a tag match against Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman at Halloween Havoc, as Anderson and Pillman had attacked Flair earlier in the night. Flair was unable to come out for the first part of the match and Sting fended off both Anderson and Pillman alone. Finally, Flair came out, but eventually turned on Sting and reformed the Four Horsemen with Anderson, Pillman, and later Chris Benoit. Sting would close out 1995 by feuding with the Horsemen. His alliances with Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage led the Horsemen to attack them as well.

The first part of 1996 had Sting teaming with Lex Luger (who had returned to WCW in September of '95) to win the WCW World Tag Team titles from Harlem Heat. When Luger became temporarily unavailable in March of '96, Harlem Heat member Booker T teamed up with Sting on one memorable occasion to successfully prevent the titles from changing hands. A rematch between Harlem Heat and the team of Luger & Sting then came the following night, in which a mutual respect was displayed between Sting and Booker T. Harlem Heat eventually won the titles back on the June 24, 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

Sting also received a World title shot against The Giant(The Big Show) at Slamboree, but lost after accidental interference from Luger.

In the summer of 1996, Sting was the first to stand up to two "invaders" from "Up North" known as "The Outsiders" (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall). They would have a match at the Bash at the Beach 1996 with Sting being joined by Randy Savage and Lex Luger. The Outsiders announced they would have a 3rd man in their corner as well. In the opening minutes of the bout, Hall and Nash's partner was nowhere to be seen, but the WCW contingent's 2 on 3 advantage was short lived as Luger had to leave the match early due to an injury. Sting and Savage fought against Nash and Hall until the arrival of Hulk Hogan, who teased at coming out to back up the WCW wrestlers until he attacked Savage with his Leg Drop finisher. The three subsequently formed the nWo at the end of the match, which was ruled a no-contest.

The nWo soon introduced an imposter Sting (played by Jeff Farmer), which led the crowd to believe that Sting had turned his back on WCW. When the real Sting returned he was upset by the fact that many wrestlers believed that he had in fact betrayed WCW, that he himself felt betrayed, and so he left WCW by declaring himself a "free agent". His last words on camera for 18 months, was in response to a question leveled to him about joining the nWo. His response: "The only thing that's for sure is nothing's for sure.". However, at certain events, he appeared mysteriously in the rafters; his new silent persona, complete with corpse paint, was quite obviously inspired by The Crow. He was joined in the rafters on a few occasions by "Macho Man" Randy Savage, but Savage eventually joined the nWo. He also began using a baseball bat as his signature weapon. The nWo, in turn, began to paint Farmer's face in the same fashion to try to continue the confusion, becoming known as nWo Sting. While appearing on a WCW/nWo merchandise special on QVC Sports in late 1999 and recovering from his match at Halloween Havoc 1998, Sting admitted that Scott Hall initially suggested the idea of painting his face like The Crow. Sting continues to use the facepaint up until recently.

In what was apparently an odd means of testing loyalty, Sting would at first appear before certain WCW wrestlers in the ring and shove them a few times with his bat until they were provoked enough to advance on him, at which point he would draw the weapon back into a more threatening stance, causing them to stop. He would then hand the bat to the offended wrestler and turn his back, offering them a chance at retaliation. When the wrestler declined after a moment's pause, Sting would nod, retrieve the bat, and leave the ring. In more memorable developments, he would, in later weeks, begin coming to the aid of many of these wrestlers (often at the end of a television taping) during group battles with the nWo.

In what has been widely regarded as the biggest match in WCW history Sting made his long awaited return to the ring to challenge "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan at Starrcade 1997 for the WCW World Championship, winning controversially due to a decision by special guest referee Bret Hart when he reversed the decision made by referee Nick Patrick after Hogan pinned Sting after what he believed to be a "fast count". The match was restarted and Sting made Hogan submit to the Scorpion Deathlock. It was heavily rumored that Sting was supposed to get a "clean" victory in the match, but in the days leading up to the match, Hogan, invoking his "creative control" clause in his contract, would change his stance on the outcome from a "clean" finish to finish that didn't weaken his character to defeating Sting. The compromise ended up being the controversial ending of the match. The next night on WCW Monday Nitro, Hogan would protest the decision which led to a rematch. The rematch would meet with the same result and later in the week on the inaugural episode of WCW Thunder, on-camera commissioner J.J. Dillion held the title up and forced Sting to surrender the belt. It was during this situation that Sting would say his first words on camera in a year and a half. Upon handing over the belt, he would tell Dillon, "You have no guts!" and then turn to Hogan and said, "And you....You're a dead man!". Sting would eventually re-take the title with help from Randy "Macho Man" Savage at Superbrawl VIII. He later lost the title to Savage at Spring Stampede in April 1998, due to interference from Kevin Nash.

Later in 1998, nWo split up owing to differences between Hogan and Nash. Nash formed the face group known as the nWo Wolfpac. Months later, debate arose as to whether Sting would join one of the factions. Sting made an entrance, sporting the black & white shirt, only to reveal his true stance with the Wolfpac. Soon after, he would change his white face paint to red as well as his ring attire accordingly. Sting would go on to win the tag titles as part of Nash's stable. When the nWo recombined and went fully heel again after the Fingerpoke of Doom incident in 1999, Sting left the stable and went out on his own once more. In 1999, Sting teased turning heel by first attacking Hulk Hogan at Fall Brawl, hitting Hogan with his baseball bat several times en route to regaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting's heel turn and subsequent attitude change did not go over well with the fans. They still cheered him despite the fact that he was supposed to be the bad guy. He retained against Hogan at Halloween Havoc, but promptly lost an unsanctioned defense to Bill Goldberg at the end of the night. Sting was stripped shortly thereafter (due to an attack on referee Charles Robinson), and returned to facedom. He was given the opportunity to regain the title in a tournament, but lost to Bret Hart in the semi-finals. He then began a feud with former partner Luger.

In 2000, Sting had an intense feud with the newcomer Vampiro. Vampiro would set him alight in a "Human Torch Match" (in actuality, it was a stuntman), but came back to even the score with Vampiro. He was "injured" by Scott Steiner in 2000, leaving WCW TV for good. However, he would return for the last episode of WCW Monday Nitro, on March 26, 2001 and defeat his long time rival Ric Flair, embracing in a sportsmanship fashion at the end of the contest. It would be the very last WCW match ever.

Sting is the highest profile wrestler in WCW history who has not worked for the WWE at any point throughout the 1990s, or 2000s and remained with WCW in the late 1990s and early 2000s when dozens of other wrestlers "jumped ship" to the WWE. Many consider him to be the most loyal big name player in the history of the business. His nickname of being the franchise of WCW was, according to his peers, earned.

Sting returned to professional wrestling in late 2002, touring Europe with the World Wrestling All-Stars(WWA) throughout November and December. His first match with the WWA was on November 28, 2002 in Dublin, Ireland, and saw Sting team with Lex Luger to defeated Buff Bagwell and Malice. On December 6, 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland, Luger defeated Sting in a match for the vacant WWA World Heavyweight Championship following interference from Jeff Jarrett. On December 13, 2002 in Zürich, Switzerland, Sting defeated Luger to become the WWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Sting toured Australia with the WWA in May 2003. On May 21, 2003 he successfully defended the WWA World Heavyweight Championship against Rick Steiner an Shane Douglas in Sydney, Australia, and on May 23, 2003 in Melbourne, Australia he retained the title in a match with Disco Inferno, despite interference from Chris Sabin and Konnan. On the last ever WWA show, on May 25, 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand, Sting lost the WWA World Heavyweight Championship to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett in a championship unification bout following interference on Jarrett's behalf by Rick Steiner. This last show aired on pay per view in the United States on June 8, 2003.

In 2003, Sting signed a contract committing him to four appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling(TNA) promotion. He debuted in TNA on the June 18, 2003 one year anniversary show, teaming with Jeff Jarrett to defeat A.J. Styles and Syxx Pac.

Sting returned to TNA on November 5, 2003, defeating Jarrett by disqualification in a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On November 12, 2003, Sting teamed with A.J. Styles to defeat Jarrett and Lex Luger. He made his final TNA appearance of 2003 on December 17, defeating Jarrett in a non-title match.

After refusing a WWE contract, at TNA Turning Point 2005 on December 11, 2005, as Jeff Jarrett stood in the ring celebrating a victory, the lights in the arena went out. Images of a scorpion — Sting's symbol — then appeared on the arena screens, along with the date January 15, 2006". Spotlights then illuminated the ring, revealing that a chair bearing Sting's signature trench coat, boots and black baseball bat had been placed in the center of the ring. His return to TNA was officially announced one minute after midnight on the January 1, 2006 episode of iMPACT!.

At TNA Final Resolution 2006, Sting and Christian Cage defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown after Sting pinned Jeff Jarrett following the Scorpion Death Drop. His heavily promoted return was greeted with chants of "welcome back" and "you've still got it" by the Orlando, Florida audience. TNA later revealed that Final Resolution was "by far the most-purchased TNA Pay-Per-View event in company history, breaking all previous numbers."

In his first cable television match in five years, Sting defeated Eric Young on April 13, 2006 episode of iMPACT!. After being attacked by Jarrett, Steiner, and America's Most Wanted, Sting was saved by A.J. Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino, who he announced as his teammates in his Lethal Lockdown match with Jarrett's Army. At TNA Lockdown 2006, Sting, A.J. Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino (billed as "Sting's Warriors") defeated Jarrett, Steiner, and America's Most Wanted after Chris Harris tapped out to the Scorpion Death Lock.

Following Lockdown, Sting proceeded to seek out partners to help him defeat Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner for good. After bringing out Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, and Rick Steiner as options, he settled on Samoa Joe. At TNA Sacrifice 2006, Sting and Samoa Joe defeated Jarrett and Steiner when Joe pinned Jarrett with a Muscle Buster.

Still having proven unsuccessful at putting Jarrett away, Sting defeated Scott Steiner by disqualification to earn as spot in the King of the Mountain match at TNA Slammiversary. Due to a confrontation with Christian Cage during the match, Sting was distracted, allowing crooked referee Earl Hebner to knock over the ladder both were on, sending both to the floor and allowing Jarrett to win.

At Victory Road 2006 in July, a 4 man Number 1 Contender's match was held for a shot at Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt. During the match, Jeff Jarrett, disguised as a cameraman came into the ring with a bottle of gasoline and squirt it into Sting's eyes. Sting was taken by security into the back and as a result, taken out of the running for the Number 1 Contender's match. As the match continued as a 3-man contest, Sting returned to the ring with his head wrapped in bandages. After performing the Scorpion Death Drop on Scott Steiner, Sting pinned Steiner and won the Number 1 Contender's match. After a confrontation with Christian Cage in the ring right after the match. They both shook hands and Cage showed his respect for Sting.

On August 13th at Hard Justice 2006, Sting failed to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship losing to Jeff Jarrett after Christian Cage turned heel and hit Sting with a guitar.

On the August 17th edition of TNA IMPACT!, Sting stated that he wanted a rematch with Jeff Jarrett at Bound For Glory 2006. Jarrett accepted the match, with the implication that Sting put his career on the line, a stipulation Sting would accept. Sting then retreated to train for what could have been his final match, meanwhile iMPACT! began showing videos of Sting going through a so called transformation with many biblical references.

On October 22nd 2006, in a Title vs Career Match at Bound for Glory PPV, Sting returned debuting his new look, a hybrid of his surfer, crow, nWo Wolfpac styles, looking physically a lot leaner. He went on to claim his second NWA Heavyweight Title when Jarrett submitted to the Scorpion Deathlock marking the first major championship title Sting had won since 1999. With that victory, Sting became the oldest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA Era.

He lost the title to Abyss at TNA Genesis 2006 by DQ after pushing aside the referee and pushing Abyss into a stack of tables covered in barbed wire(under TNA rules, titles can change hands on a DQ).

In the weeks following Genesis, Sting's feud with Abyss continued as he tried to get in Abyss' head by telling him he was being used by his satanic manager James Mitchell. Abyss was visibly affected by this, but remained by Mitchell's side. Sting's former friend Christian Cage and his bodyguard Tyson Tomko were also thrown in the mix, with Cage claiming he knew a dark secret in Abyss' past. The three would finally meet in a Three Way Dance at TNA Turning Point 2006, with Abyss retaining the title. After Turning Point however, Sting continued to try to convince Abyss he was nothing but a machine for Mitchell, and he got so far into Abyss that Abyss grabbed Mitchell by the throat, almost chokeslamming him on an edition of iMPACT!, but ultimately convinced himself not to. Since coming back at Bound for Glory Sting, began to wear the same tights again but his facepaint has remained different. Coming soon, we will detail Stings run with the Mafia and his feud with Kurt Angle.