Sting's in-ring future in the WWE's squared circle is up in the air, but there's no denying the impact the former WCW and TNA icon has had on many people throughout his illustrious career -- including Bill Goldberg.
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Goldberg recently praised Sting as the reason for why he broke into wrestling in the first place as he met The Icon and decided to go for it after he saw how he carried himself.
Goldberg spoke with Sports Illustrated's Extra Mustard Blog and heaped praise onto Sting for paving the way for him.
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"Sting was the guy who changed my mind," Goldberg said. "He and Lex Luger used to own a gym called Main Event Fitness in Atlanta. When I was with the Falcons, I used to work out there. I would have never imagined in a trillion years that I would have followed this path, but what made the decision realistic for me was the way Sting carried himself. When I met Sting, and observed him leading his family, business, and social life, it was completely different than what I'd ever seen in the past. I thought, 'You know what? I can do this.' So I bought thousands of dollars of old tapes trying to perfect moves that nobody had ever done before. I saw something that I liked, then I'd change it and make it my own."
Goldberg ended up joining WCW in 1997 and he was booked to go on a historic 173-0 streak in which he dismantled the locker room until it was ended by Kevin Nash at Starrcade 1998.
Goldberg had several accolades in his career, including winning the WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Championships once each.
Sting, meanwhile, had a great career in WCW, where among his many successes he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times. That success carried over to TNA, where he won Dixie Carter's organization's Heavyweight Championship on four occasions.
Sting always came close to signing with WWE, but nothing came to fruition until the sides finally inked a deal last year, which saw Sting make his long awaited WWE debut at Survivor Series in November.
Sting then made his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 31 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on March 29.
The clash was very memorable and saw run-ins from nWo staples Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash as well as D-Generation X stablemates X-Pac, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and eventually Shawn Michaels.
Triple H defeated Sting to put the war between WCW and WWE to bed once and for all and while nothing is planned for "The Vigilante" within the squared circle, he said he'd be open to another match in the future.
"I don't know," Sting said when Renee Young asked him about his future in the WWE following WrestleMania. "I don't know what the future holds, but I do know this...I don't know. I don't know what the future holds, I really don't know. I don't know what opportunities the WWE might throw my way, but whatever they do throw my way, I'm gonna reach out and I'm gonna grab it. And if they don't throw anything my way, well that's just too bad. It's a crying shame as far as I'm concerned."
Sting is set to appear on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's WWE Network podcast somewhere down the line, so it's possible his future plans could be revealed then.
While The Vigilante's future is a mystery, there's no denying his past impact on wrestling and the likes of Goldberg.
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