Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: aew, Sting, tony schiavone, wcw, wrestling

Sting Says Even Ted Turner Was Blindsided by End of WCW

Published Sun, 03 Jan 2021 18:35:56 -0600

Wrestling legend Sting rocked the wrestling world at AEW's Winter is Coming special when he made his AEW debut. Sting appeared recently on the AEW Unrestricted podcast where he talked about his debut with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards and revealed how the end of WCW made him feel and how Ted Turner didn't seem to see it coming.

Sting appears in AEW (Credit: All Elite Wrestling)

"Oh, man, it was surreal," said Sting, discussing the dying days of WCW. "I've always used that term surreal because it was. It was like we were the second class citizens for many, many years. Second to WWE. We launched Nitro. We kill it for so long. We almost put WWE completely under and out of business. And, you know, all of a sudden you've got these Monday Night Wars and their ratings are coming up. And it's like now it's neck and neck. They catch us now. Now they're ahead of us almost every week. And then rumors. Rumors. You hear all these rumors. 'Oh, you know, we're gonna be bought out.' And then you find out Vince McMahon might be buying us out. And then, sure enough, Vince McMahon is going to buy us out. And they show up in Panama City and they want Ric [Flair] and I to leave the fans with something good. They want it to be something positive. So we have a short little match, but it just it kind of felt like the enemy came in and took the women and children, you know? There was pillaging, raping, and there's just all this chaos, like what is happening here?"

Sting recalled talent meetings with Ted Turner where Turner admitted AOL/Time Warner executives wanted to ditch WCW but that Turner claimed he wouldn't let it happen. Of course, we all know how that worked out.

"I remember Ted Turner meeting with us and saying, in the very beginning, 'you know, I got all the suits and ties around me and they complain about you guys," he said. "They don't like you wrestlers because we're always in the red. But you know what I tell them? I tell them I love wrestling and I got some deep pockets. So you guys just keep doing what you're doing, you know?' And the billionaire, in the end, didn't even know what was going on, I guess. I don't know. We were put on the chopping block and sold for, like, next to nothing. So, second class citizens, we finally make it, you know, we're number one in the world, and then we get bought out and it's over and done and you disappear like a puppy with his tail between his legs. That was just a horrible time for me."

"What, the whole run up to that? Yeah. Because it was for me too," agreed Tony Schiavone. "And I tell you why. And you and I, we're all obviously different. I was an announcer and you were a talent but the rumors killed me. The uncertainty, every day, of not knowing what we were doing really grated on me and really, really put a bad taste in my mouth about the business."

But i nothing else, at least Sting got paid.

"Yeah. And then I had a contract that had another, I don't know, 18 months, 2 years left on it," Sting continued. "And I had a paycheck coming in. I mean, that was good. No job duties to perform anymore. And wow, what a way to go out after all those years. What a way to end it. It sucked."

That must have been a real bummer, kinda like the way The Chadster feels whenever AEW defeats WWE in the ratings, rendering The Chadster sexually impotent. You feel helpless. Confused. Like less of a man. The Chadster is glad to see that Sting was eventually able to overcome this and it gives me hope that one day I can too.

If you haven't already, give Sting's appearance on AEW Unrestricted a listen. In addition to all his thoughts on AEW that we'll be mining for clickbait articles over the next few days, Sting also looks back at his career, getting into pro wrestling with The Ultimate Warrior, working with Ric Flair, going through the Monday Night Wars, losing WCW, joining TNA, and getting his WrestleMania moment in WWE.

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