Tony Khan Talks Developing Sting's Son To Be A Wrestler For AEW

Steven Borden, son of "The Icon" Sting, has decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a professional wrestler. He's already wrestled on independent shows and in dark matches for AEW, with many people believing that Borden will eventually be signed to an AEW contract in the near future. AEW President Tony Khan was asked about Borden during a recent appearance on the "Battleground" podcast, and it's safe to say that Khan is very excited to see what Borden can bring to the wrestling business when he gets a little more comfortable in the ring.

"Steven still has never been on AEW TV, but he's somebody we're developing, and I have so much respect for Steven. He's a rising young wrestler, he played college football at Kentucky, I followed his football career and now I'm proud to say we're working on developing him as a pro wrestler for AEW. Again, AEW, we have the greatest wrestlers in the world, and one of the all-time greats, somebody who was undefeated in AEW is Sting, and absolutely Steven in developing him for the future is a huge priority to me and everyone in AEW."

One easter egg that fans who have some of Borden's dark matches in AEW is that he has been using his dad's old entrance music from his WCW days. The "Turbo Charged" music was used during the "Surfer Sting" era, and having Borden use the track was Khan's idea. "I wanted to use that song, it was my idea. It's a song that was in a library and we made a great deal to get a certain number of plays. We haven't used it on air yet, but we have a deal to use Turbo Charged...I love licensing great music, and that's one of my favorite songs from my childhood. I think about it all the time, and I thought it would be really cool for Steven to come out to it."

Unlike companies like New Japan Pro Wrestling or WWE who have dojos and the Performance Center, AEW doesn't have a specific training facility for young talent to learn the basics and get ready to work full length matches. However, Tony Khan revealed that AEW actually has a number of different facilities scattered across the United States in the form of several wrestling schools operated by AEW talent. a number of which Steven Borden has trained at.

"Well we have training facilities and we've had Steven stay for extended periods of time. There's great trainers in AEW," Khan said, before noting that FTR and Adam Copeland are planning to open up their own wrestling school in Asheville, North Carolina, which will join the facilities in New York, Georgia, and Texas respectively. "In the New York area, Pat Buck is a great trainer. In Atlanta, QT Marshall trains. Dustin Rhodes is training wrestlers in Texas. We have some of the best trainers developing wrestlers in the different areas. So absolutely, the wrestlers have gone there and benefited. Steven's done a lot of training and development work with is in Texas, but also in going to Georgia in the Nightmare Factory and working with QT."

Khan rounded off by saying that he understands the importance of having a home base for all talents to travel to and train, but he also knows that the best experience wrestlers can get is in front of crowds, which is why a lot of Borden's learning has been in dark matches before AEW shows. Nothing was mentioned about Borden actually appearing on AEW programming in the near future, but Khan reiterated the fact that he's very excited for the future of AEW, and that Borden will be a big part of it.

Please credit "Battleground" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.