Over the course of nearly 40 years, wrestler Steve Borden made appearances as Sting in many major wrestling promotions, and was even inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame despite wrestling only a handful of matches there. By most accounts, Sting was one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling during arguably the industry's hottest period — the 1990s. However, former WWE star Mideon does not believe Sting is worthy of his nickname, "The Icon." Speaking on "Six Feet Under with Mark Callaway," Mideon (AKA Dennis Knight) explained why he feels Sting never made it to the highest peaks of the industry.

"He wasn't an icon," Knight said. "I love Sting — he's one of my favorite opponents and everything, but he's a WCW icon. You need to break through. You need to have Ole Anderson say, 'You're not gonna draw any f***ing money. Get the hell out of here.' And then you have the ability to call yourself ... an icon or something, if you do it somewhere else."

Unlike many other stars of the era, Sting never left WCW for WWE, even opting not to sign with the promotion immediately after WCW was shut down. Instead, Sting took some time off, spent several years with TNA, and eventually did make the decision to have a run with WWE. Sting's stretch with WWE was tainted in the eyes of many, as he was booked to lose to Triple H at WWE WrestleMania 31 before an injury brought an early end to the run.

Sting returned to wrestling in 2020, spending just over three years in AEW. During that time, he impressed audiences with shockingly athletic performances for an older man, and helped further establish Darby Allin's character by aligning with the younger star for the entirety of his AEW run.