10 Wrestlers Who Lost All Passion For The Business
3. Sting
In his incredibly moving Players' Tribune article, Sting - telling a better story with an opening paragraph bait and switch than Eric Bischoff did with his character at WCW Starrcade 1997 - described the scene in which he rappelled from a helicopter to thwart the New World Order.
It was the sort of incredible, location-specific booking with which AEW burst into what may well have been its peak early in 2020. There was no roof nor rafters at the outdoor beach club, which was stressed by the commentary team in order to put the swerve over. Sting described the exhilaration of the moment wonderfully before adding a swerve of his own:
He felt nothing but total misery.
He was an addict far more concerned about his next fix than winning a title. Outside of working hours, he was ingesting a near-lethal cocktail of "painkillers, muscle relaxers and booze" and was so dependent on opioids that cleaning up his lifestyle was unthinkable.
It is also unthinkable that a very wealthy 63 year-old who willingly performs balcony dives could possibly have lost his passion for wrestling, but that it was addiction entails.
It is all-consuming.