Sting's Close Call: How a Stunt Gone Wrong Could Have Cost Him His Life in 1997

WWE Hall of Famer Sting has shared a chilling story about how a technical error almost cost him his life during a stunt on WCW Monday Nitro in 1997.

In a 2004 shoot interview, Sting recalled the dramatic event that took place on the 20 January 1997 episode of Nitro, when he made his first-ever descent from the rafters. He admitted that he had no formal training for the zip-wire stunt and instead, had practiced just hours before the show in Chicago’s United Center.

"My training happened on the very first day that I did it," Sting said. "We had a couple of stunt guys there working with me, and I rappelled four times earlier in the day to practice. When we were up there trying to talk to the guys on the ground earlier in the day, they couldn’t hear us. We had to use walkie-talkies."

As the time for the stunt drew closer, Sting recalled receiving conflicting advice from the stunt coordinator. "He said, 'Look, if you just go down it [at] one speed, and just control your speed on the way down, but just go a little faster, you’re not going to spin.'"

Despite his doubts, Sting voiced his concerns to then-WCW President Eric Bischoff. "I can’t do this, I tried it four times, and it’s just not working very good."

The chaotic atmosphere only added to the pressure. Sting described the scene just before the stunt, saying, "The crowd is as loud as you can imagine, and the sound just travels up, it’s deafening. Then we’re talking to each other up there, and then you’re screaming at each other, the pyro’s going off, the lights, and suddenly you can’t even think straight; you can’t even hear yourself think."

Just moments before the stunt, the crew realized that the rigging had been set up incorrectly. If they hadn’t corrected the issue, Sting believes that he could have suffered the same tragic fate as Owen Hart, who died in a similar stunt in 1999.

"If I’d stepped over and done it, the same thing that happened to Owen would have happened to me," he concluded.