page_title: Sting (wrestler)
section_title: The Main Event Mafia (2008–2009)
hierarchical_section_title: Sting (wrestler) / Professional wrestling career / Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / The Main Event Mafia (2008–2009)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Main Event Mafia (without Kurt Angle) at Final Resolution 2008
context_page_description: Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American retired professional wrestler, actor, author, and former bodybuilder. He is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, having cultivated a legacy over a career spanning more than three decades. He has held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, WCW International World Heavyweight Championship twice, NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship twice and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship four-times.
  Sting is widely known for his time spent as the public face of two major American professional wrestling promotions: the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling, which displaced the World Wrestling Federation as the leading professional wrestling organization in the United States from 1995 to 1998, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
  Sting's 14-year association with WCW and its predecessor, Jim Crockett Promotions, began in 1987. He quickly rose to main event status and has been described as the WCW counterpart to the WWF's Hulk Hogan.
context_section_description: On October 12 at Bound for Glory IV, Sting challenged Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and was successful in claiming the title, after Kevin Nash returned and hit Joe with Sting's baseball bat. After the PPV, Sting with Kurt Angle, Booker T, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner created The Main Event Mafia, a stable formed by veterans and former World Champions and feuded with younger wrestlers, called TNA Frontline. Sting defended the title against Frontline's AJ Styles at Turning Point and Rhino on January 11 at Genesis. Sting also feuded with the leader of The Main Event Mafia Kurt Angle. At Against All Odds, Sting defended the title angainst Angle, Brother Ray and Brother Devon and against Angle in a singles match at Destination X. At Lockdown, Sting lost the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to Mick Foley inside the Six Sides of Steel, ending his reign at 189 days (his longest world title reign for any organization). On May 24 at Sacrifice, Sting defeated Kurt Angle to become the new Godfather of the Main Event Mafia. On June 21 at Slammiversary, Sting defeated Matt Morgan in a singles match, thus preventing Morgan from joining the Main Event Mafia. On the following episode of Impact!, Sting's fellow Main Event Mafia members attacked him, removed him from the group, and Kurt Angle reclaimed his role as Godfather. The following week, Sting took his revenge upon the Mafia, when he attacked every member of the group and stole Angle's world heavyweight championship belt, becoming a fully fledged face as a result. On July 19 at Victory Road, Sting was defeated by new Main Event Mafia member Samoa Joe in a singles match after the debuting Taz interfered on Joe's behalf. On August 16 at Hard Justice, Sting unsuccessfully challenged Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat match, which also included Matt Morgan. On September 20 at No Surrender, Sting lost a five-way match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship that also included A.J. Styles, Hernandez, Kurt Angle, and Matt Morgan. Instead of pinning Angle, he opted to attack Morgan, to allow Styles to pin Angle and become the new World Heavyweight Champion. As a token of gratitude, Styles offered to give him a title shot at the following month's PPV Bound for Glory in a match billed as possibly being Sting's retirement match. At the PPV, Styles defeated Sting to retain his title, ending Sting's undefeated streak at Bound for Glory. After the match he announced that he didn't know whether he would continue his career or not, Saying that "the way you fans are reacting right now, makes me wanna stay forever!" At the end of the year the match was voted the match of the year by the fans of TNA.
caption: Sting with The Main Event Mafia
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