Sting Implies Top AEW Star Was Backstage Months Before Big Debut

Sting admits that he feels the toll of his long career in professional wrestling but also says he sometimes feels 40-years younger during his appearances in AEW.

"There are definitely days when I'm putting on my boots and I feel every bit of 62, believe me," Sting wrote in a new article for The Players' Tribune. "And then there are days when everything is clicking, and the building is electric, I still feel like I'm 22."

Sting is relishing his role as a veteran in the AEW locker room and shared some of his interactions with younger wrestlers in the company. In one story, Sting implied that CM Punk was backstage at an AEW show months before he signed with the company and made his on-screen debut.

"(CM Punk) came up to me backstage on one of my first days in AEW," Sting recalled. "And he's such a student of history that he just wanted to pick my brain a bit. And I remember he told me, 'I'm sorry, but I'm going to bother you every day. I've got so many more questions!!!'"

Sting made his AEW debut on Dynamite in December 2020 with Punk officially arriving in AEW more than nine months later, in August 2021.

The legend also says AEW wrestlers have shared pictures with him, showing themselves dressing up like Sting or meeting him when they were children. Some have told Sting he is the reason they got into professional wrestling.

"But the best one was probably Isiah Kassidy," Sting recalled. "He showed me this picture from some WCW autograph signing like 20 years ago. He must've been about five years old, and he's standing next to me with this huge smile on his face. It kind of leaves you speechless. Somehow, with whatever I was doing, I was able to transmit a little bit of magic through the TV and reach this little kid growing up in Brooklyn."

Sting says his own children are also enjoying his run in AEW with some not old enough to remember the peak of his popularity when he was in WCW.

"The coolest part, for me, is that my kids get such a huge kick out seeing their dad on TV, still flying through tables," Sting explained. "Especially my daughter, Gracie. She was born a couple years after I got sober, and she completely missed all the WCW stuff. It's only since I joined AEW that she's really started to poke around YouTube and understand my career."

Sting's article in The Players' Tribune traces his entire career from its beginning to his current run in AEW. He also described his past problems with substance abuse and addiction.