You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Now, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Well, welcome back to It's Time to Man Up with The Russian Nightmare.
Well, actually, The Devil's Nightmare. And what a privilege to bring back. If you tuned in last week, man, you heard an amazing interview with the one and only icon Stinger talking about his journey in professional wrestling. And as promised, we said last week that we would continue this conversation and talk about his recent debut in AEW Wrestling. Stinger, welcome back to It's Time to Man Up. Nick, thanks for having me back again.
Good to be here. Man, the last show went so quickly, so fast that, and I appreciate you agreeing to doing a second show and coming back. And, you know, we ended off last week talking about, of course, your career in WWE and some of the memories that came to mind in WWE. And most recently, you shocked once again, as you have many times in your career, by appearing on AEW.
And from what I saw, and I saw a few clips, you were very well received. Talk about shock. I'm shocked myself. Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I didn't think that I would be doing, or going back, you know, at any sort of capacity into pro wrestling.
It's not hidden from anybody. I made it very public over the years. I really wanted to have, you know, one last match against Undertaker.
Right. A cinema-style match, and it wasn't going to happen, and I knew that. And, you know, I got a call, oh gosh, earlier this year, could have been even late last year, actually a text message from Tony Khan, sort of putting out feelers, and I was still with WWE. And so I never did contact Tony, except for just, you know, informalities, just, yeah, I hope you're doing good, you know, and good to hear from you again, because I met Tony through the NFL. He contacted me, and so we go back before he ever got into wrestling, so I just said, man, I hope you're good, and blah, blah, blah, but nothing ever happened, and, you know, with WWE, we were trying to work things out, and just unable to come to an agreement, and I thought, you know, I'm going to call Tony, and just to see, I didn't think I'd be able to offer him really anything, but I thought, he reached out, so I'm just going to see what he has in mind. So he asked me, he said, would you be interested in doing cinema-style matches?
I said, matter of fact, yeah, I would. So that's where it is, and so I signed a multi-year deal with AEW, and Tony Khan has been just phenomenal in every way, and what a great organization, a great group of guys, a young group of guys, of course, my age, I'm going to say everyone's young, but generally speaking, they're just a young group of guys, and you talk about talent, though, and talk about being innovative and creative, these guys are unreal, I mean unreal. You've got some of the most talented wrestlers and wrestling matches, some of the most creative matches I've ever seen, and great storytellers, and just phenomenal all around.
Kudos to you. In all sincerity, if anyone deserves this opportunity, you do, and I really mean that. You have stayed the course in the past, you've kept yourself in physical shape, you have good mental health, you're spiritually, you're on rock-solid ground, we'll talk about that today and a little later in the show, and so if anyone deserves it, you certainly deserve it, and what I envision is you taking that plethora of knowledge and experience that you have gained all these years, and be able to really transfer that to, as you mentioned, some of these younger guys and even help them as talented as they are, be able to help them even excel their careers even more so because they've got Sting now in the arsenal and available to them.
Absolutely. It's time to give back, and so I'm looking forward to that. I've had so many of the guys in every wrestling organization that I was with, even back with WCW, TNA, WWE, I mean all of them, and now with AEW, you've got some of the younger guys saying, you know what, if you ever watch one of my matches, could you just please give me a critique on it, I'd really love to have some advice, or what do you think about this or what do you think about that, and so I'm loving that and I really want to be a part of it, and I remember how Rick, without even knowing it, he was mentoring me and all the horsemen, and even you in those days, I was learning from you too, but I'd love to be able to give back to some of these guys in some way, and how I navigate my way through and how it translates, I'm not exactly sure yet, but just watching and giving input for starters is the route that I'm going to take. Yeah, well and you and I, we were learning from each other, and I think back to some of the matches we had against each other, as well as when we were part of Sting Squadron, and some of those memories certainly. You almost killed me in Chicago at the USC Pavilion, I'm just saying. Well, so here's what's funny about that, so I was going to say, hey, share with us some highlights from your career, although you've already shared a lot or some memorable moments, and I figured you would not bring that up as a highlight or a memory, but I was hoping you'd say, you know that Russian chain match in Chicago where you almost choked the life out of me is certainly a memory. Yeah, yeah.
Tell our listeners, go ahead, tell them that story. I think Hot Stuff had something to do with this at the same time. Remember Hot Stuff, a lot of the guys, you'd spray it on and kind of oil up your body, and I hated that stuff. They still use it, by the way, but yeah.
It would wash out your skin, it would bring the red blood cells to the skin, and kind of make you look darker than you really were, and so a lot of the guys would use it just because they never had a tan. So I have no idea why, I must have used it that night, but anyway, I had some of that stuff on Russian chain match, and here I am with Nikita Kolov's Chicago URC pavilion, sold out, unbelievable crowd, and you wrap that chain around my neck and throw me over the top rope, and I'm hanging, I'm hanging, and the thing is wrapped around in opposite directions, so it sort of does a constricting type of a deal, sliding on that oily Hot Stuff around my neck to the point where it's a choke hold that's going to put anyone out within seconds. Yeah, you're trying to get your fingers in between your neck and the chain, right, to allow you to breathe, right? Oh well, with one hand I was doing that, with the other hand I had your ankle and I was giving you the office, and it wasn't working in the beginning. No, I was paying no attention, just for the record, so from my perspective, just for the listeners out there, I'm watching you, because everybody knows that, sell this thing, so I'm watching you sell this thing, and the referee's out on the floor asking if you're ready to quit or give up or whatever, and in my mind I'm like, wow, he's like really putting this part over, while all at the same time you're like almost out of life and breath because you're getting choked by the moment, right? Yeah, I honestly, I think I was just, I had to have been a few seconds away from passing out. Yeah, for real, like for those who think wrestling's all fake, this is the real side of it, so. Right, yeah, I used to tell people, when I have somebody like Sid Vicious, who's 6'10", press me over the top of his head and throw me out onto the cement, they go, how do you do that? I'm getting hurt. I say, well, you know what, I get about eight, nine inches from the ground, and I just, I slow the ball down, and I just sort of ease right on into it, and they give you this look like, oh.
Right, I just ease on into the pavement, you know, I just slow my momentum down in mid-air. Yeah, right. Anyway, yeah, that was a night to remember in Chicago.
Okay, so for our listeners, not necessarily a highlight of Sting's career, but certainly a memorable moment of the Stingers' career, and you know, and again, I just think back and all the amazing moments we've had together and against each other as far as our careers go, and I can really relate to, Stinger, what you said about, you know, about the younger guys. I did a tour just a few years ago, a 21-city tour in 21 days across Canada, and we logged in, hey, this was old school, Stinger, we logged in 5,500 miles in 21 days. Yeah, I was going to say, you drove the whole thing, didn't you?
We did, absolutely. There was no flying involved other than flying into Canada and out of Canada, but all that, honestly, it brought back so many amazing memories of those early days in the Mid-Atlantic and Crockett Promotions, with Uncle Ivan and Don Cunato and Crusher Khrushchev, and I can remember this, ultimately, you, myself, Road Warrior Animal, and Luger, a number of times on some of the loops would travel together, like in the same car, and sometimes stay in the same hotels. That was back before the days of Marriott. It was more Motel 6 kind of thing, but you remember those days, when the four of us traveled together? Yeah, wasn't it Sioux City, Iowa, where Lex had the fit?
Meltdown? All the mosquitoes, because the air conditioning wasn't working, it was hot and humid, and you and Lex, you had a really good time teasing Lex on that one. Lex was just so, anything that was imperfect like that, just drove him up a wall, and he was always sweating and hot and uncomfortable. He liked to see fog coming out of his breath, that's how cold he liked it in the hotel rooms, and the AC was not working, and the only hotel in town, and we had some bizarre kind of like a bunker type of a room or something, it was really weird, but you, me, Lex, I don't know who all else was there, but anyway, Lex was freaking out over the mosquitoes and bugs.
Yeah, well, in fact, let's hold that thought, just for a second, when we come back, we'll pick up right there with that story, because there's more to that story, so hang tight, we'll be right back. The man of show is honored to have Dr. Johnny Gayton as one of our longest running supportive sponsors. Dr. Gayton is regarded as one of the world's leading elite eye surgeons. He is motivated by his faith in doing all things heartily as unto the Lord. His desire to do his best has contributed to success in his eye care practice, performing over 70,000 eye surgeries. In addition, he's a world-renowned speaker, writer, and author.
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You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Well, welcome back to It's Time to Man Up. We're going to talk about that here in just a few moments with the legendary stinger. We were just for the break talking about that time in Iowa when it was actually, not only mosquitoes, it was flies as well. When we went to breakfast the next day, all I heard was how he had to stay up all night swatting flies and spraying bug spray and never got a wink of sleep. And then to cap it all off, we're eating that morning. He was very particular on his food too, right?
I'll never forget his expression when they set down his omelet layered with oil how beside himself he was that they didn't make it per request. Anyway, lots of amazing stories there with him and those traveling days as well. I was just going to say one last note on the wrestling. I do want to transition here and I know our listeners want to hear some more of your story outside of wrestling.
I was going to mention that tour across Canada. I can really relate to what you're saying about your time in AEW and the young guys coming to you because I had that happen all across Canada. Like the guys would come to me, they go, can you watch my match?
And would you mind giving me some pointers? And I go, man, it's hard to remember every match. And literally one young guy came the next night with a notebook. He went and bought a notebook for me so I could be writing down and recording all the things from all the matches to be able to mentor these guys.
Yeah, it was an incredible, really a humbling experience and they were very sincere in wanting to kind of pick my brain or wanting to hear critiques of their matches. So Stinger, I know you're going to be an incredible asset to AEW. Well, that is my goal for sure. I mean, it's not about me anymore and I know that and I've always known that. And really from August of 1998, when I got saved, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. That's when I realized it's not about me.
That's when I first realized it and it's just more so now than ever. Yeah, let's transition right there and I'll give a little more backstory. I leave wrestling so I make a decision.
You know, I walk away under my own terms. I mean, I did get injured in my last match against Van Vader. I had a couple injuries, got a hernia, injured my neck. It was not technically career ending per se. However, I made a decision on my own.
In fact, it was over Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday. I had hernia surgery. I'm rehabilitating my neck. And I just make a decision to walk away. I'm like, all right, I'm done. It was part of my goal anyway when I broke in. Again, a business, right, that I was going to walk away from active wrestling by the time I was 35.
And not that I would completely walk away, but from active wrestling. And so it's 1992, I find myself, as you just testified to, at an altar. October 17th, 1993, I find myself at an altar surrendering my life to Jesus. And as you said, everything changed, right? My eyesight changed, my attitude changed. I mean, and it's been a journey since that time, but I had an encounter with Jesus at the altar that day. And it set me on a whole different trajectory, a whole different course and a path for my life. I didn't see you guys again, any of you guys, until, fast forward, December 1995 at the Old Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I don't know how much of this you remember.
Here's what I remember, and then you can kind of maybe fill in the gaps. I grow out my hair. I mean, I actually grow out a mullet. I shave off the Fu Manchu.
I have a completely different look. In one sense, I'm kind of incognito. And I find myself during that evening at some point being able to, well, maybe pun intended, kind of pinning you in a corner. And for what seemed like, to me, probably a half hour or more, and I phrased it this way, I basically vomited up Jesus all over you that night to the point where you're like, yo, dude, like, I gotta go. I'm like, okay, but we'll continue this conversation. I was so excited about Jesus, right? Yeah, yeah, and I'm under my breath saying, no, we're not going to continue this conversation.
Right! Yeah, oh, it was so awkward, and so, I mean, things changed so much, and you were such a different person. And I could tell something really, really happened. There was a real, sincere change that happened. And, you know, really what it was, you had a big, bright, shining light, and you were shining it all over me.
Yeah. And, you know, cockroaches when they, you know, I just, it's like, I just wanted to get away. Really, I don't want to hear about Jesus right now. I don't want to hear about all this stuff. You know, let me just go on with my life. I want to continue partying and, you know, living my life the way I'm living it. Living in the fast lane, right?
That's the way it's going to be, yeah. Yeah, and for our listeners out there, to his credit, I mean, you were very gracious to sit there and take that whole barrage and tell the point where you really did have to go to the ring and wrestle. And so you were very, very gracious in that. But let's fast forward to what you just made reference to August of 1998, where you yourself had your own encounter. And tell our listeners about that, how, as you mentioned already, but everything changed for you.
Well, you know, in pro wrestling, you know, you're in the entertainment industry. And, you know, I went after everything our world calls success and got it. And along the way, I made all the wrong choices that led to really severe consequences. And, you know, in desperation, probably 18 to 24 months before August of 1998, just after, you know, I spoke to you, you know, 96, 97, a real dark period in my life because I had gotten myself addicted to painkillers and muscle relaxers, drinking every day. And in desperation, you know, realizing, wow, you know, this has really got a hook on me and I can't, the only time that I was sober is when I was in the ring, repelling out of a helicopter or repelling from the top of the United Center in Chicago or wherever we were.
That was the only time I was really ever sober. And, you know, tried to stop all the nonsense, but just did not have the ability to do it under my own power. And so in desperation, you know, I remember going back home to California where my younger brother, I'm the oldest of four, he was an elder in church and he invited me to go to church with him every time. And so I'd bring the kids, the wife, everybody, we'd leave Atlanta, we'd go back to California and he'd talk to us and say, why don't you come to church on Sunday, you know? And so I'd go and, you know, the pastor would always give the sermon and at the end of the sermon, okay, all heads bowed, all eyes closed, if you'd like to receive Jesus as your Savior, take eye contact with me, raise your hand right now and we're going to say a prayer, you know.
And so I'd look to see if anyone was looking real meek-like, raise up my hand really quick, make eye contact, then put my hand back down, hope that nobody saw me. And I had a couple moments like this and, you know, I thought, well, you know, based on what these Christians are telling me, if I just say this prayer, at least I got my fire insurance, at least I know when I die. Escape from hell, yeah.
Yeah, I'll escape from hell and, you know, I'd get back on the saddle again, it would be just life, business as usual. But things got worse, Nick, every time, I did this two or three times, and things got worse, things got darker. I mean, I don't know how to describe it until, you know, I finally ended up in what, you know, the Bible would call deep, dark despair, or what I call deep, dark despair.
You know, I have all this power, all this money, fame, recognition all over the world, and everything is slipping through my fingers. I know that I'm a hair away from losing my wife, my marriage, my kids, two sons at the time, I can't stop drinking, I can't stop taking these pills, I'm addicted to all of it, and I have a moment of truth. One day in California, I finally talked my wife into moving from, my ex-wife now, from Atlanta back home to California to be around my family, because I told her, I said, we need God, we need to get God in our lives somehow. You know, we went back and she confronted me, as she had done many times in years past, about women, and I always lied to her, I was a great liar, I could lie so well that I could make her feel so guilty for even asking the question or making the accusation, but one day in August of 1998, I think I was probably close to having a nervous breakdown, so much going on at one time, but I ended up making a confession to her, in that month I confessed to her about taking pills and drinking, she didn't even know, and I confessed about the women as well, she asked me again one last time, and Nick, you know, there had to have been just a, you know, the Bible says flickering flax, I will not quench, so there was just enough of a spark there that it's like God was trying to blow it into a flame and keep it alive before it went completely out. I believe that was a defining moment in my life. Something happened, I could not lie to her, I had to tell her, and I fessed up about everything, I confessed everything.
I mean, she asked a lot of questions, and it was a horrible, horrible time. I went in the closet in the house and I prayed to God, I said, okay, I have given you lip service up to now, I didn't mean what I said, I wanted you to change me from the outside in, and I need to be changed in my heart, you know, from the inside out, I need you to clean me out here, I messed things up so bad, the consequences are so severe, I can't overcome this, I can't stop taking pills, I can't stop drinking, I can't fix my marriage, I can't do any of this unless some supernatural happens. I knew that there wasn't any big wrestling match, no amount of money, no drug, no amount of alcohol, no woman, no doctor, no psychiatrist, psychologist, I mean, nobody was, nothing was going to be able to fix me, I knew that I needed something supernatural, Nick, and I said, God, please come and save my life, save me, save me, pull me out of this, I can't do this on my own, and it was in that moment that I know Jesus came, I stopped taking pills and drinking literally overnight, and you remember, there were so many of the guys that died, taking pills and drinking like that, they didn't wake up, the body couldn't take it anymore, and I was on my way to being one of those types of statistics, but I went to the One Step Jesus Christ, I should have gone to a rehab and had blood transfusions or something because I had a mental and physical addiction, but God, Jesus got me through it, I mean, he healed me, and overnight I remember, it's like, wow, you know, I have all these consequences and it's horrible, but I knew something had happened, something supernatural did happen, Jesus came, he came inside of me, you know, James 5.16 says, confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed, and the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much, and it wasn't until I made that confession, one to another, I mean, that means confess your sins to those you've sinned against, and of course I had sinned against my wife, so I came clean, and then the greatest gift aside from my salvation and my eternal life was godly remorse, 2 Corinthians 7.10, it talks about godly remorse, the kind of remorse that brings repentance that leads to salvation, it has an alarm for your sin, an indignation over your sin, and an earnestness to clear your name, and it leaves no regrets, whereas in the same verse it talks about worldly remorse, you and I have seen this over and over again, worldly remorse is the kind that gets ticked off because you got caught, and now the old lady is going to get all the money, she's going to get the car, she's going to get the house, blah blah blah, that's called worldly remorse, the Bible says it produces death, but godly remorse, it leaves no regret, and although my marriage after 10 years of battling for it, after that time in August of 1998, it ended, I have no regrets, I would do it all the same way again, I would make the same confession the way I did, he whom the son sets free is free indeed, and god set me free literally overnight, so Jesus came and he saved my wretched soul, and I haven't looked back since August of 1998. It's a powerful testimony, so much more we could talk about, I guess we're going to sometime have to have you back again and talk about the time you and I and Ted DiBiase teamed up and ministered over 43,000 teenagers in Indianapolis, over 10,000 responded to the altar that day through our testimonies, but man I can't thank you enough, and if you're listening out there and there's something that Stinger said that just really resonated in your heart and in your spirit, and you don't have, maybe you've played the game, raised the hand, didn't raise the hand, prayed a prayer, didn't mean it, but today would be the day to make that decision real in your life, like you just heard a powerful testimony from the Stinger how Jesus became real in his life, and as he had testified to in 1993 how Jesus became real in my life, today would be a great day to make that decision and surrender your life to Jesus. So grateful to have Stinger on, thank you, will you come back again sometime?
Nick, anytime you want me to come back I'd be happy to come back for sure. Tune in to Dynamite, TNT Dynamite, catch Stinger on AEW Wrestling and be praying for him as he's a salt and light into that world because that world needs salt and light. God bless you, tune in next week. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts.
May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to Koloff.net and donate today. Hi, Nikita Koloff.
Be sure to check out The Man Up Show, now available on television, broadcast, and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. Nikita Koloff here.
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