Eric Bischoff allegedly wanted Sting gone from TNA over a family emergency.
At least that’s the story Vince Russo is telling years later in his book Total Nonstop Agony: The Rise and Fall of TNA, where he recalled what he describes as one of the most shocking backstage moments he witnessed during his time with the company.
According to Russo, it all started with a phone call while he was sitting at the Denver airport, getting ready to fly to television. On the other end was Sting, who told Russo he couldn’t make the show because he was dealing with a serious family issue during his divorce.
Russo wrote that he never even considered questioning Sting’s decision because, in his eyes, Sting wasn’t the kind of person who would ever miss television unless there was absolutely no other choice.
“Steve Borden was by far and away the ‘realest’ person I ever met in my 30-plus years in the business. There was no ‘Work Steve’ and ‘Personal Steve,’ there was ONE STEVE, and that guy was respectable, honest, sincere, truthful, kind, and loving all the time. Steve is never going to miss TV unless there is a problem that he absolutely can’t resolve.”
Rather than worrying about rewriting the show, Russo said his first concern was Sting’s family: “‘Steve, you do whatever you’ve got to do. We’ll figure it out.'” Russo claims everything changed the moment he hung up the phone.
He says he immediately called Eric Bischoff to explain why Sting wouldn’t be at the taping, expecting the conversation to be about changing creative plans. Instead, Russo alleges Bischoff went in a completely different direction.
“‘We need to fire him. We can’t have talent call us at the last minute saying they aren’t going to make the show.'”
Russo says he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. According to him, Bischoff didn’t cool off or reconsider after hearing the circumstances. Russo claims he immediately took the idea straight to TNA President Dixie Carter.
“Without missing a beat, Eric Bischoff went to Dixie and said, ‘We’ve got to get rid of Sting.'”
Russo says Carter wasn’t buying it. He wrote that Carter knew Sting well enough to believe there had to be a legitimate reason for missing television and wasn’t about to punish one of the company’s biggest stars for putting his family first.
“Thank God, in this case, Dixie felt as strongly about Steve Borden as I did. Dixie knew who Steve was, and she knew that he wouldn’t be canceling at the last minute without good reason.”
Looking back, Russo admitted he still doesn’t know what motivated Bischoff’s alleged reaction. He wondered whether backstage politics or Sting’s relationship with Carter played a role, but acknowledged those were only his own suspicions. For Russo, though, the moment left a lasting impression regardless of the reason behind it.
“Where did that come from? Could he have been a name on Hulk’s hit list, with Hulk maybe feeling that Steve’s relationship with Dixie was a little too close for comfort? Did he not care about the influence that Sting had on Dixie? Who knows. It could be any and all of the above. To want to get rid of a guy like Sting because he was dealing with a personal issue—that showed me the kind of guy that Eric really was… at work anyway.”
Years later, Russo is still talking about that phone call—not because Sting missed a television taping, but because of what he claims happened after he hung up. In Russo’s eyes, that conversation said everything he needed to know about working with Eric Bischoff during that era of TNA.
Whose side are you on here—Vince Russo’s or do you think there’s likely more to the story? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
