Kurt Angle looks back on the beginning of the Main Event Mafia and says he doesn't think of Sting as a heel.
In 2008, several of TNA's top stars joined forces when Kurt Angle, Sting, Booker T, and Kevin Nash formed the Main Event Mafia. The group was later joined by Scott Steiner and Christian Cage, among other stars. Alongside the formation of the group, Sting turned heel, which marked a new role for "The Icon", as he had been a babyface for the majority of his career.
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, the TNA Hall of Famer was asked to share his thoughts on Sting as a heel.
“I don’t think of Sting as a heel. It just doesn’t happen. He was such a babyface his whole entire career. I don’t even know if he turned heel in WCW, not what I can remember. It was really difficult for Sting to do this. He took to it pretty well, but I know that he was uncomfortable because he’s never done it before, and he was always a babyface, and the people always adored him, the fans loved him, so it was a little difficult, I’d imagine, for Sting to do this," Angle said.
Later in the show, Angle was asked to describe how hard it was to get the crowd to boo Sting. Angle noted that it was practically impossible, as the fans continued to cheer him when he came out by himself. Angle stated that crowds would boo Sting when they entered as a group, but he emphasized that it was almost impossible to make him a heel.
“It was almost impossible [laughs]. Whenever he would come out alone, they were cheering him. When we all came out as a group, they booed us somewhat. But Sting, it’s just almost impossible to make him a heel," Angle said.
Angle also discussed Sting performing without face paint for the first time, as co-host Paul Bromwell noted that the Main Event mafia run was the first time fans saw the veteran without his classic look. Angle recalled how Sting was somewhat nervous, as he was so used to wearing face paint throughout his career.
“He did make a remark to me once. He was like, ‘Dude, I don’t know how I look without makeup. I don’t know if look like an idiot.’ I said, ‘Sting, you look great, man, and you’re speaking well. You’re communicating incredibly well. I don’t know why he was a little nervous about not having the face paint on. But you have to remember, he had it on for years, his whole career. So taking it off is like being naked," Angle said.
On the same podcast, Angle stated that he considered Mick Foley coming to TNA about as valuable as his own move to the company. Click here to see what he had to say.
Sting continues to wrestle on a somewhat regular basis in AEW. Darby Allin recently stated that the legend is doing great after his eye-opening dive off a ladder. Check out his comments here.
Check out the card for the July 12 episode of AEW Dynamite here. Fightful will have coverage of the show as it airs.
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