During a recent interview with Paste Magazine, Sting commented on his upcoming match at AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view event, AEW being supportive of him, the atmosphere backstage, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On how he’s preparing for his first match in six years: “I’m trying to work a lot on mobility, that’s for sure. I don’t recover as quick as I used to, either, so I have to really watch how I train, so I don’t overtrain because, I’m telling you, you just don’t recover the same. I’m still feeling the effects of the powerbomb that I took from Brian Cage [in February 2021]. There are a few kinks I still have from that one. Otherwise I’m preparing the same. It’s the same kind of stuff, I just have to think about when I do it and what intensity levels and all that. I’m trying to get the heartrate up as much as I possibly can, so the stamina’s there to go with these young guys. Yeah, I’m getting ready—I am ready.”
On how the partnership with Darby Allin came together: “Just to be straight-up, it was something that was put in front of me. It was Tony Khan. I’m grateful for that. To be honest with you, I don’t know who’s mentoring who. [Laughs] Of course I do have some things I can bring after 35 years of being in the wrestling industry. But one thing that I found after being out of it for five, six years, as far as actually physically being in the ring and wrestling, is that it evolves, it changes. And man, it changed a ton. And Darby, he’s kind of getting me up to speed, to be honest with you. He really is. He’s a go-getter kind of a guy, for sure—very talented in the ring, and extremely talented outside the ring. He’s got a mind for the entertainment industry in general, from his own reality shows that he’s getting ready to do, and the innovation that he brings in the ring, the creativity that he has, not just for himself but for others. You know, I was him all those years ago. I feel like I came into my own during those “Crow” Sting years, you just, after all the years, you kind of… it’s not that you’ve arrived or figured everything out, but you really have your finger on the pulse of the wrestling industry and the fans, and what they think, and how to manipulate, and how to just be victorious in your storytelling, let’s say. And Darby, he’s that guy. He’s that guy right now.”
On the atmosphere in AEW: “It is a place where you’ve got a bunch of male and female soldiers all sort of marching in the same direction, and pretty much everybody’s marching to the same beat. There isn’t really any factions or cliques or groups of people. Everybody is looking out for everybody and everybody wants AEW to succeed. Everybody wants… they’re really involved with other matches. They’re watching, and somebody will finish a great match, and they’ll walk back out and you’ll hear the entire locker room area clapping and applauding. I think there’s a great unity, really, to be honest with you, with most everybody there in AEW. Something that I’ve never experienced. The closest I ever got was WCW, years ago, when Eric Bischoff took over and he was up there in the nosebleed sections, listening to fans and how they were reacting to the storylines and to each individual wrestler. You’ve had some of the biggest names in the business, Hall and Nash and Hogan, all of us, Luger… we were all sort of like walking together. Everybody was looking out for everybody else, and the creative juices were flowing, not just for yourself, with no hidden agendas. We had about 12 months of that, I’d say, and then it all ended. But here, I’d heard that’s the way the atmosphere was in AEW, and I walked into it and have experienced it firsthand now for six months, and that’s exactly the way it is. It starts at the top, and filters its way down. Tony [Khan] is a very personable guy, a very approachable guy. I’ve noticed he’s like that with just about everybody, it doesn’t matter who you are. It’s a good atmosphere.”
On if he knows why a match with the Undertaker never happened: “No. No. To this day, I honestly don’t know. I don’t even know, it could be Taker. Maybe Taker just never really wanted to work with me. Maybe they brought it up and he kind of snubbed his nose and said he didn’t really want to do that. For whatever reason, even though Taker and I have always gotten along great. I don’t think he has issues with me, I certainly don’t have any issues with him. I just have a great amount of respect for him. But I have no idea why that match never happened. I think it was not right that it didn’t happen. It’s something that I believe should have happened. I said it for 20 years, I made it clear, you know, “I’d love to have that match, I’d love to have one with that guy.” With the two characters, I had so many ideas of how we could’ve done that, and made it definitely a night that nobody would ever forget. But you know what, I’m here, I’m with AEW, I love what’s going on here, and I love what’s getting ready to happen. And I’m glad I made that move and came here.”
Speaking of AEW Double or Nothing, you can check out the latest “Countdown” show below:
