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Rick Bassman Doesn’t Think Sting Will Wrestle in AEW, Doesn’t View AEW as a ‘Threat’ to WWE

January 20, 2021 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Sting AEW Image Credit: AEW

– During a recent interview with The Wrestling Inc. Daily recently spoke to UPW founder Rick Bassman, who discussed Sting signing with AEW and what he thinks about Sting wrestling in the promotion. Bassman was the person who discovered Sting and got him into professional wrestling. Below are some highlights from WrestlingInc.com.

Bassman on if he thinks Sting will wrestle in AEW: “On the matches, I’ll just get that out of the way first. I don’t think so. If he were to do a match, it would have to be really really carefully constructed. Sting, Steve, is a really intelligent guy. He’s been smart about how he’s taken care of himself health-wise and financially both. I don’t think his financial well-being is at risk. If anything, it’s further bolstered by what he’s doing at AEW right now, but I think he’s too smart to put his health at risk. Why would he? He doesn’t need to. A lot of the guys will tell you, a lot of the guys in the business, even at the top, they’ll tell you they’re still marks for themselves. And that’s not a bad thing necessarily. It means that they feel the need to be in there. They need to perform. They need to do a match. They need to get that buzz from the fans. Sting just doesn’t have that, man. He loves it. He loves the business.”

“He respects it, but I don’t see him putting himself at risk. I don’t know why he would do that. Here’s the thing, you and I both know, we’ve been around this business for a long time, you don’t necessarily have to get in the ring and do a match to have a huge impact and to help move the needle. And I think if stuff is written for him properly and executed properly, he can be a very significant player there without having to be in the ring. [On how he would book Sting] I haven’t thought that through. I don’t have an off-the-cuff answer.”

His thoughts on AEW and how they aren’t a threat: “I don’t think they’re a threat by definition of that word, as we might perceive it. I think that they established a solid foothold in this industry, and I think that’s great. If they’re beating NXT — I know NXT doesn’t want to get beaten. Hunter (Triple H) doesn’t want that certainly, but at the end of the day, WWE still has RAW. They still have SmackDown.”

“Still, making it a sound like it’s a secondary thing. It’s not. They’re huge successful brands, and I don’t think any company will ever come along in the pro wrestling world that will, back to the word threat, that will threaten WWE in so far as the idea of WWE’s business being at risk. They’re always going to be solid. They’re always going to do what they’re doing. Hopefully, they’ll always find better ways to do it. I’m not the first person that’s going to say the following. There are thousands that will say it. I think it’s great when there’s more than one player out there because it gives the boys and the girls another another place to go. I know someone on their way to NXT right now that was able, I wouldn’t say to negotiate their deal, but to leverage it a little bit and do a little better than they would have had there not been another company out there that was vying for their services. You’ve heard a million people say it. I’m only one more. It’s great for the talent. It’s great to have to have more than one choice out there, and I don’t think it hurts WWE in the least. That may sound a little Pollyannaish, but that’s how I look at it.”

article topics :

AEW, Rick Bassman, Sting, WWE, Jeffrey Harris