Pro wrestling star’s newfound faith puts him at odds with his profession

Professional wrestling star Sting says his toughest battles take place outside the ring, where he tries to keep the increasingly lurid professional wrestling industry from going too far in its search for TV ratings.
   
“The envelope is being pushed way, way too far,” says Sting, who talks about his new Christian faith in the May/June issue of New Man magazine.
   
“It’s too sexual, too raunchy. It’s just filth. At times, there’s nothing there that you’d want your children to see. And it’s nothing good for adults to see, either. I’m trying to stand up with integrity against it all,” continues Sting, whose real name is Steve Borden.
   
Borden says he’s found himself more and more at odds with his profession — which he calls “adult entertainment with a little wrestling sprinkled on top” — since becoming a Christian.  “Sometimes I feel like I’m standing alone,” he told New Man magazine in an exclusive interview. “Being a Christian makes it really hard. I’ve been around long enough that if I don’t feel comfortable with something, I just won’t do it. The moment that it does start to go too far and it just continues and I don’t see any change, then I’ll have to bow out.”
   
The 40-year-old Sting says he’s shared his new faith with his longtime wrestling colleagues, including the legendary Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. “They all know that I’ve changed,” he says. “For the most part, everybody has accepted it. They know me and I think respect me for who I am and what my choices are now and the integrity that I have in certain situations. There are really only one or two that just don’t understand it and love to talk behind my back, but that’s OK. I can deal with that.”
   
Borden became a Christian in 1998 through the witness of his brother, Jeff, among others. Although his professional life was in high gear, his personal life was falling apart. “Fourteen years of being a wrestler and being away from my wife and children took its toll,” he admits. “We went through some really tough times. Everything on the surface seemed to be great, but at one point I felt like I was losing my family.” Borden was also influenced by Promise Keepers and by the autobiography of ex-wrestler Ted DiBiase, who is now an evangelist.
   
Becoming a Christian made an immediate difference in Borden’s life. “I felt all of a sudden, at that moment, that the Spirit was there,” he says. “I just felt forgiven and cleansed, and it was an incredible experience. I accepted Jesus Christ into my life, and that was a long time coming. It should have been long ago.” (EP)