Sting Talks About Wrestling, Training, His Faith, Acting, and More

Former TNA and WCW Champion Sting recently sat down with Matt Tuthill of Muscle & Fitness magazine for an interview. Sting, real name Steve Borden, talks about his wrestling career, upcoming movies, Christianity, his training, his future, and more. Here are some highlights from the interview:

On his upcoming straight-to-DVD film, Revelation Road, and his faith in God: “My character is a bad guy in a biker gang. Brian is the leader of the gang and we’re creating havoc everywhere we go. I’m a guy who’s had the short end of the stick his entire life so I end up in a biker gang. This is the story of the end times, a story of how God is trying to grab hold of each one of us and get through to us. The reason why I wanted to do it is because of the message. It’s not just an action movie. It’s a movie with a message. It’s something beyond pro wrestling and beyond entertainment, and beyond this life. In August of 1998 my life was turned upside down. I gave my life to Jesus Christ who became my Lord and Savior, right at the peak of career where I had all the money and power and fame you could ever want. It’s just like in this movie. God kept trying to reach me, to open my eyes. And I was like, “Don’t talk to me about Jesus. My life is fine.” But in August of 1998, I had a moment of truth with a confession I made to my wife. There was drugs, alcohol, adultery, the whole package, and I wound up coming clean and confessing it all.”

On his training regiment during his prime: “I never did the powerlifting thing, but the goal was to lift heavy. Four plates squatting for reps – 4-5, 8-10, 315 for 20, 225 for 50 – leg extensions, leg curls and that’s how we trained every single week. On the bench , my best was 435 – I was younger and I was on the gas, too. There were guys who weighed a lot less than I did who could easily do that. But I didn’t really train for power or strength. I trained for size. That’s all I was training for. My knees are arthritic now. I don’t have a whole lot of flexibility left. Thankfully, I got smart somehow or another in 1990 and stopped taking steroids – totally stopped. A lot of the guys I ran with all those years continued to take steroids year after year – those guys are having their knees and their hips replaced. I’m not saying everybody who gets their knees and their hips replaced took steroids. I just noticed that the guys who did that were too big, too bulky, too heavy, and the body couldn’t handle it and it took its toll. So that was my one saving grace, but I would train differently now. I’m actually doing pretty good for a guy my age – I just turned 54 – and I’m still hanging in there. I can move a little bit in the ring. I can’t do half of what I used to be able to do, but I get around.”

On his toughest opponents in the ring: “The best and most memorable feuds were with Rick and Hulk Hogan. One of the toughest opponents was Kurt Angle. He’s an Olympic gold medalist and they call him “the Wrestling Machine” and that’s exactly what he is. His pace and work ethic in the ring is top notch. There’s nothing he can’t do… Lex Luger, aesthetically he trained to look good like I was doing, but he had freakish strength as well. I saw him squat 500 easily. I saw him bench 405 for reps. It was easy for him. I saw him incline 405. He was just a really strong guy.”

On his future: “I’ve learned not to give a time. I can’t go on wrestling much longer. I’m taking it, literally, one month at a time. I’m under contract until January of next year, so we’ll see what’s happening. I do want to do more movies. I’m looking at a few different things, reality shows being one of them. I’m just trying to move onto the next season of my life. As far as wrestling goes, I’ve stayed away from the creative part of it all these years, I just don’t want to sit in on the meetings and babysit wrestlers and personalities and all that. But, there are things I’d like to see happen in pro wrestling and I may try to make it materialize. I don’t know.”

You can read the entire interview here. And for all you “Undertaker vs Sting at WrestleMania” marks, is that what he was talking about wanting to see materialize before he hangs up his boots?

 

Follow Doug McDonald on Twitter