At its core, professional wrestling is a family business in that some of the biggest stars the industry has ever seen have been born into it. Now, another second generation star is making their way into the business in the form of Steven Borden Jr., the son of “The Icon” Sting. Steven Jr. made his in-ring debut on October 3 at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event at the 52Walker art gallery in Manhattan, New York, teaming with JD Drake of The Workhorsemen to take on former WWE Superstar Killer Kross and his trainer, current AEW star and close friend Darby Allin.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer touched on Steven Jr’s debut, and while he didn’t get to see the full match, Meltzer stated that Steven Jr. not only looked like a very good athlete for someone working their very first match, but even went as far as saying that he looked better than his father did at the same age. However, Meltzer did note that Steven Jr. has been training under the guidance of Darby for well over a year, while Sting made his in-ring debut just a few months after he began training as we wanted to make money as quickly as possible.

AEW fans have already become familiar with both of Sting’s sons thanks to “The Icon’s” retirement match at AEW Revolution 2024 where Steven Jr. and his older brother Garrett both got involved in their dad’s final match. Both men dressed as previous versions of their dad, with Garrett dressing as “Surfer Sting” while Steven Jr. donned the red and black attire of “Wolfpac Sting.” The Borden boys impressed a number of people with their performances at the event, so much so that AEW broadcaster Renee Paquette joked about giving Steven Jr. an AEW contract based solely on how much hang time he got performing his dad’s trademark Stinger Splash.