When WWF bought WCW in 2001 many fans assumed “The Icon” Sting would soon be competing inside of a WWE ring just like so many of his fellow WCW stars. That didn’t wind up happening until 2014 as the multi-time WCW World Champion declined signing with WWE and instead joined a budding new promotion, TNA Wrestling (now Impact Wrestling). In a new interview on AEW Unrestricted, Sting recalled how Vince McMahon reacted once he heard about his decision.
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“After [WCW] ended, we never did talk,” Sting said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). “There was never any discussion, at least not immediately after. It was, maybe, a year after that Vince reached out and we had a conversation and talking with Vince was always good,” stated Sting. “But then you get his group of attorneys and my attorney and it all kinda falls apart. Long story short, I wasn’t willing to make the commitment that he wanted.”
“I was called by Jeff Jarrett. The guy who gave me my break originally — Jerry Jarrett [in the Continental Wrestling Association] — his son, Jeff, all those years later struck some deal with Dixie Carter. He said, ‘Hey, do you wanna come and just do a show?’ And I did one. Then it was, ‘Do you wanna do another one?’ ‘Alright.’ Then it was, ‘Can we get you to sign a deal and maybe do something with us. … I’ll never forget, I’m talking to him on the phone and I say, ‘Vince, I’m gonna go to TNA.’ He said, ‘The thought of you and the legacy that you leave behind! And you going to TNA is just BLAH!’ He literally said, ‘BLAH!’ Then I end up working for him a few years later.”
Sting wound up wrestling just a handful of matches for WWE in 2015 before suffering a career-threatening neck injury against Seth Rollins. He revealed elsewhere during the interview that he tried to set up a cinematic match with The Undertaker before eventually deciding to leave the company.
“I was pushing to get a cinema-style match with Undertaker,” Sting said regarding his final months in WWE. “For probably a litany of reasons, it just wasn’t going to happen. When Tony called and spoke with me, he said, ‘Are you interested in doing cinema-style matches?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ I’d like to come back and do that and not disappear with my tail between my legs. I don’t have to go out on top, I’d like to go out in a positive light.”
