Steven Borden, former UK TE and Sting's son, makes pro wrestling debut
Remember Steven Borden Jr., the JUCO transfer tight end who picked up seven catches for 96 yards and a touchdown in 18 career games at Kentucky? The son of Hall of Fame wrestler Sting was Mark Stoops’ very first commitment for the Wildcats back in December 2012, coming from Kilgore College in Texas.
Now, he’s following in his father’s footsteps as a professional wrestler himself, making his debut at 52W HARDWAY: LIVE WRESTLING NIGHTS in New York City over the weekend.
The event took place at NYC’s 52 Walker, an exhibition featuring wrestling-related drawings by artist Raymond Pettibon surrounding the wrestling ring inside the gallery. It’s the first of two events in the space on back-to-back Fridays on October 3 and 10, set up by two-time AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin, who has trained Borden over the last year.
The former Wildcat teamed up with JD Drake to face Allin and Killer Kross in the tag-team match, but lost — he still landed a Stinger Splash, made famous by his dad, Sting.
I’m not going to pretend to know what any of it means, but it sounds pretty cool. And the video looks brutal, Borden taking some big hits, but holding his own in his pro debut.
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Not bad for a former Kentucky tight end.
Borden was initially reluctant to enter wrestling, but opened up to the possibility after his father’s career came to a close — he actually participated in Sting’s AEW retirement match, paying tribute to his old man by wearing his iconic Wolfpac Sting attire and showing off some of his old moves.
Borden opened up about his transition from football to wrestling last spring in a conversation with WrestlingNewsCo.
“I just liked leaving it as his thing. I wanted to play professional football for a long time, up until several years ago that was what I thought I was going to be doing. I didn’t quite pull that one off,” he said. “In the last months of my dad’s career, maybe the last year, that answer’s gotten a little bit more murky. Part of that might be because I’m not ready to see him step aside — he’s been Sting for my whole life, so it’s an odd experience to watch it all go away. I have his genes and we joke and talk, have similar mannerisms, I’ve heard, ‘You’re so much like your dad!’ …
“My dad is electric and part of me wonders if any of that electricity was passed down, if all of those comments over the years were just people being nice or if that’s real. The only way to find out the answer to that question is to put yourself in the arena and let the world judge for themselves.”
The process has officially begun for the former Kentucky tight end.
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