Steven Borden On Wearing Sting’s Face Paint: The Last Thing I Want To Do Is Play The Hits
Darby Allin and Steven Borden will always honor Sting, but don’t want his son to merely copy what “The Icon” did.
Debuting for AEW earlier this year, Steven Borden, the son of Sting, is one of many second-generation performers in wrestling today. He wrestles with, and was trained by, Sting’s former tag team partner Darby Allin, though, before his first match, many wondered if Borden would take on a similar look what his father had during his career. To this point, we’re yet to see him wear face paint or carry a bat like “The Icon” did, and now we know that Steven is reluctant to rehash what came before him.
In a recent interview with 1010 XL, Darby Allin and Steven Borden discussed whether Steven would embrace some of Sting’s most notable traits to help him connect with the crowd, like donning face paint. However, this isn’t something they think he should do regularly, if at all.
“Look at how sexy he is. He doesn’t need the face paint. Big thing about that is it’s gotta come from him. He’s gotta feel it. Otherwise it’s just like playing his dad’s greatest hits. Everybody will see right through that. So whatever he decides to do, if it comes from here [the heart] and it’s pure to him, then incredible. You can’t just take the easy way out and be like, ‘Alright, Steven. You’re gonna rock the bat. You’re gonna have the face paint. You’re gonna come down from the ceiling.’ We’re not doing that. We want him to write his own chapter, his own book with this world of wrestling.”
-Darby Allin
Borden himself confirmed that he wouldn’t be retreading on what his father did, and admitted that he needs to follow his own path.
“The last thing I want to do is be playing the greatest hits. I think you can do callbacks when it makes sense at the right time. But I think if I were to have come out with face paint and a trench coat and a bat, I probably could’ve been booed out of the building in the beginning. And I’m still in the beginning right now, so kind of taking it week by week.”
-Steven Borden
In just a matter of hours, Borden will compete inside Blood & Guts in what will be his first in-ring appearance since suffering a match-stopping midair collision at AEW All Out. Elsewhere, Borden discussed how he’s feeling heading into such a hellacious match just over a month after his injury. You can read more about that here.
For a final reminder of tonight’s lineups, including the women’s alteration that was made on the most recent AEW Collision, you can click here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Steven Borden and Darby Allin as soon as we hear more.
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