The duo surfaced in the Universal Wrestling Federation, an organization run by Bill Watts and based in Shreveport, Louisiana where they were known as the Blade Runners. Borden changed his ring name from Flash to Sting, while Hellwig became known as Rock. They soon joined Hotstuff & Hyatt International, a heel stable headed by "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt. Together with "Russian" Wrestler Kortsia Korchenko, the Blade Runners became henchmen in Gilbert's on-screen feud with Watts. Hellwig, who would later become The Ultimate Warrior in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), left the promotion in mid-1986, leaving Sting without a partner. Sting won the UWF World Tag Team Championship twice with Gilbert in 1986 and a third time with Rick Steiner in 1987.

Sometime after Sting's arrival to the NWA in July 1987, Dusty Rhodes used the opening bout of Crockett's first foray into pay-per-view, Starrcade '87, to showcase the young superstar. Sting partnered with Michael P.S. Hayes and Jimmy Garvin in a six-man tag team match against Gilbert, Steiner, and Larry Zbyszko that ended in a 15-minute time-limit draw.

Won while the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was defended in World Championship Wrestling when WCW was part of the National Wrestling Alliance. The same goes for any other NWA championship or honor won after November 1988.

Borden appeared in the music video for the song "Fire in the Hole" by Lȧȧz Rockit in 1989.

On the other hand, Steve Austin has taken exception to the notion that Sting was not a profitable Wrestler. Reflecting on Sting in the early 1990s, veteran Wrestler Kevin Nash said: "There weren't many draws in WCW at that point, but he was one of them". Former WCW booker Mike Graham asserted that Sting was a television ratings success during the Monday Night Wars, while fellow booker Kevin Sullivan said of Sting's rivalry with Ric Flair: "If I needed to draw a rating, Sting and Flair always drew. It was like [Muhammad] Ali and [Joe] Frazier". The inaugural Clash of the Champions event in 1988, which aired opposite the WWF's WrestleMania IV and was headlined by Sting vs. Flair, generated a record-setting 5.6 rating on TBS. The pair also main-evented The Great American Bash 1990, which was the NWA's biggest pay-per-view success up to that point.

Borden appeared in the syndicated TV show Super Force as Hallor / ... (3 episodes, 1991-1992)

Near the end of Sting's battles with the Dangerous Alliance, the seeds were sown for what became arguably one of the most famous feuds of Sting's career. Sting defended his WCW World title on April 12, 1992, at The Omni in Atlanta against the 450-pound Big Van Vader. During the match, Vader splashed Sting, cracking three of Sting's ribs and rupturing his spleen. Sting recovered and defended his title on July 12 against Vader at The Great American Bash, dropping the belt to Big Van Vader after missing a Stinger Splash, hitting his head on the ringpost, and receiving a powerbomb. After beating Cactus Jack in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Beach Blast and WCW newcomer Jake Roberts in a Coal Miner's Glove match at Halloween Havoc, Sting defeated Vader, who had lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in August, in the "King of Cable" tournament final at Starrcade.

The Sting-Vader feud continued into 1993, with Vader, who was again WCW World Heavyweight Champion, defeating Sting in a bloody Strap match at SuperBrawl III. Sting exacted revenge by beating Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on March 11 in London, England, but lost it back to Vader six days later in Dublin, Ireland. Sting then teamed with WCW newcomer Davey Boy Smith to beat the team of Vader and Vicious at Beach Blast in a match that was set up by a mini-movie in which an evil midget blew up Sting's boat. At the end of 1993, Sting was one of the first people to congratulate Flair, who had just returned from the World Wrestling Federation, after his WCW World Heavyweight Title victory over Vader at Starrcade.

Sting feuded with Vader and Rude through the first half of 1994. Sting won the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship from Rude in April. Rude recaptured the title on May 1 at Wrestling Dontaku 1994 in Japan, but the decision was reversed because Rude had allegedly hit Sting with the title belt during the match; this was to cover for a real-life back injury Rude sustained in the match that forced Rude into retirement. Sting refused to have the title handed to him and instead defeated Vader for the vacant WCW International World Heavyweight Championship at Slamboree. Soon afterward, Flair turned heel and defeated Sting in a title unification match at Clash of the Champions XXVII. Sting spent the second half of 1994 and most of 1995 teaming with new arrival Hulk Hogan in his battles against Kevin Sullivan's Three Faces of Fear and its successor stable, The Dungeon of Doom.

At The Great American Bash 1995, Sting defeated Meng to win another tournament for the WCW United States Championship. Sting defeated Meng in a rematch for the title at Bash at the Beach 1995. Sting was on the first ever Monday Nitro in a match where Flair defeated Sting by disqualification as a result of a run-in by Arn Anderson to attack Flair. At Fall Brawl, Sting teamed with Hogan, Luger, and Randy Savage to defeat the Dungeon of Doom, consisting of Kamala, Zodiac, Shark and Meng, in the event's WarGames match. In October 1995, Flair convinced Sting to team with him in a match against Anderson and Brian Pillman at Halloween Havoc. Anderson and Pillman had attacked Flair earlier in the night, rendering Flair unable to come out for the first part of the match. Sting fended off his opponents until Flair emerged. Later in the match, Flair turned on Sting and reformed the Four Horsemen with Anderson and Pillman, later adding Chris Benoit to fill out the group.

The next night on Nitro, Hogan protested the decision claiming that Patrick's decision should have been considered final and a rematch was granted. The match ran over Nitro's allotted time slot and the finish was aired later in the week on the inaugural episode of Thunder. Similar to the Starrcade result, two different referees declared the two different men as the winner. Later that night, Dillon vacated the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, forcing Sting to surrender the belt. Sting responded with his first words (on mic) since October 1996 when he told Dillon, "You've got no guts!" Sting turned to Hogan and said, "And you... You're a dead man!".

Sting was a major attraction in 1997, being WCW's top merchandise seller (second only to the WWF's Steve Austin overall) and, versus Hollywood Hogan, headlining the biggest-grossing pay-per-view event in the company's history at Starrcade 1997. Sting went on to join the nWo Wolfpac stable, which dominated WCW's merchandise sales at events in mid 1998. Discussing Sting in WWE, Kevin Nash said that he is "so valuable to the company as a trademark".

He starred in a pay-per-view only film titled The Real Reason (Men Commit Crimes) (1998).

Borden was featured in a Sprite commercial in 1999. He also appeared in three episodes of the action-adventure series and Hulk Hogan vehicle Thunder in Paradise as the character Adam "Hammerhead" McCall. Borden made a guest appearance on Walker, Texas Ranger as biker and drug dealer Grangus in the episode "Unsafe Speed". He also appeared in Ready to Rumble (2000) as Sting.

WCW officials Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff, in an attempt to save the fading company, rebooted the storylines on April 10, 2000, and declared all titles vacant. At Spring Stampede 2000 the following week, Sting advanced to the finals of the United States Championship tournament by defeating Booker T and Vampiro in the first two rounds. Vampiro cost Sting the championship in the finals against Scott Steiner, leading to an intense feud between Sting and Vampiro. Sting pinned Vampiro at Slamboree 2000 in May, and Vampiro beat Sting in a Human Torch match at The Great American Bash the next month; for the climax of the match, Borden switched with a stuntman, who was set on fire and thrown off the top of the frame of the stage's entrance video screen. At Bash at the Beach 2000, he returned wearing another Sting mask as men wearing cloaks and Sting masks carried him in a casket, and then he attacked Vampiro.

Sting went on to feud with Jeff Jarrett and then Scott Steiner. Steiner attacked and injured Sting in November 2000. Sting stayed off WCW programming until the final episode of Nitro on March 26, 2001. WCW had been purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, and the final match in WCW history pitted Sting against his longtime rival Flair; the two had also competed on the very first edition of Nitro on September 4, 1995. Sting defeated Flair and the two embraced at the end of the contest.

Rather than sign with the WWF in 2002, Sting performed for smaller promotions, becoming the centerpiece of TNA by the mid 2000s. His pre-WWE career included "dream" matches against former WWF stars Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart in WCW, as well as bouts opposite names such as Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Kurt Angle and Mick Foley. Sting often wrestled Steve Austin in WCW; he had positive negotiations with WWE in 2003, with his proposed debut angle being a confrontation with Austin at the conclusion of WrestleMania XIX. He was also "very, very close" to making a deal with the company in 2011, which would potentially have involved a match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII. Although Sting twice wrestled Mark Calaway in his pre-Undertaker character, Mark Callous, at WCW live events in 1990, WWE viewers clamored for a televised Sting versus Undertaker match.

In 2003, Sting signed a contract committing him to four appearances with the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. He debuted in TNA on the June 18 one year anniversary show, teaming with Jeff Jarrett to defeat A.J. Styles and Syxx Pac. Following this, Borden engaged in a comprehensive series of sitdown interviews with Mike Tenay, discussing his career and his faith. Sting returned to TNA on November 5, 2003, defeating Jarrett by disqualification in a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On November 12, Sting teamed with A.J. Styles to defeat Jarrett and Lex Luger. He made his final TNA appearance of 2003 on December 17, defeating Jarrett in a non-title match. On March 24, 2004, Borden was interviewed once again by Mike Tenay as part of the promotion for his direct-to-video biographical film, Sting: Moment of Truth, and on March 31, he returned to the company for one night only as the special guest enforcer for the main-event, a four-way match between Abyss, A.J. Styles, Raven, and Ron Killings, which Raven won.

His book, Moment Of Truth, was released on December 1, 2004.

On December 11, 2005, at Turning Point, as Jeff Jarrett stood in the ring celebrating his victory, the Lights in the arena went out as images of a scorpion—Sting's symbol— appeared on the arena screens, along with the date "January 15, 2006". Spotlights then illuminated the ring, revealing a chair bearing Sting's signature trench coat, boots, and a black baseball bat in the center of the ring. His return to TNA was officially announced one minute after midnight on the January 1, 2006 episode of Impact!. On January 15 at Final Resolution, Sting and Christian Cage defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown in a tag team match after Sting pinned Jarrett following the Scorpion Death Drop. His heavily promoted return was greeted with chants of "welcome back" and "you've still got it" by the Orlando, Florida audience. TNA later revealed that Final Resolution was "by far the most-purchased TNA pay-per-view event in company history, breaking all previous numbers". On the January 28, 2006 episode of Impact!, Sting made his Spike TV debut and first appearance on national television in almost five years, coming to the ring at the end of the show to make a "major announcement". Sting noted that he had never had a chance to properly say goodbye to his fans. He then announced that Final Resolution had been "his goodbye", before thanking the TNA management and the fans. Sting then dropped his bat, with a spotlight appearing over it, and left the ring, shaking hands with various TNA Wrestlers on his way up the ramp.

On July 16 at Victory Road, a four-way number one contenders match was held for a shot at Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Jeff Jarrett, disguised as a cameraman, came into the ring with a bottle of gasoline and squirted it into Sting's eyes. Sting was taken by security into the back and as a result, taken out of the running for the number one contender match. As the match continued as a three-way, Sting returned to the ring with his head wrapped in bandages, performed the Scorpion Death Drop on Scott Steiner, and Sting pinned him to become number one contender. After the match, Sting had a confrontation with Christian Cage in the ring that ended with them shaking hands, and Cage showing respect for Sting. Sting received his title shot on August 13 at Hard Justice, but failed to capture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Jeff Jarrett after Christian Cage turned heel and hit Sting with Jarrett's guitar. On the following edition of Impact!, Sting stated that he wanted a rematch with Jarrett at Bound for Glory, TNA's biggest pay-per view of the year. Jarrett accepted the match, with the implication that Sting put his career on the line, a stipulation Sting accepted. Sting then retreated to train for what could have been his final match. Meanwhile, Impact! began showing videos of Sting going through a so-called transformation with many biblical references. On October 22, 2006, in the Title vs. Career match at the Bound for Glory PPV, Sting returned debuting his new look, a Hybrid of his surfer, Crow, and nWo Wolfpac styles, looking much leaner physically. He went on to claim his second NWA World Heavyweight title when he made Jarrett submit to the Scorpion Deathlock marking the first major championship title Sting had won since 1999. With that victory, Sting became the oldest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA era, as well as the only person to ever win the title both before and after the inception of TNA. This would also go on to make Sting the longest superstar to recapture his second NWA title from 1990 to 2006 (16 years).

On the August 30 edition of Impact!, Sting defeated A.J. Styles, Christian Cage, and Samoa Joe in a four-way match to become the co-holder of the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Kurt Angle. Yet after only thirteen days, Sting and Angle lost the titles to Adam "Pacman" Jones and Ron "The Truth" Killings at No Surrender. During the match, Karen Angle claimed that Sting had slapped her, which led to a falling out between Sting and Kurt Angle and on the first two-hour edition of Impact!, Kurt Angle was shown via satellite (kayfabe) stalking and assaulting Sting's son Garrett. It was announced that Sting would face Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound for Glory. The match was billed as return to his roots for Sting, who enjoyed enormous popularity and success in the Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling earlier in his career. On October 14 at Bound for Glory, Sting overcame interference by both Karen Angle and Kevin Nash to defeat Angle and win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. On October 16, at the tapings of the October 25 episode of Impact!, Sting lost the championship back to Angle after Kevin Nash interfered on Angle's behalf. Sting then challenged Angle to a tag team rematch at Genesis. Angle was forced to Kevin Nash as his partner, while Sting's partner was a mystery until during the event where his partner was revealed to be Booker T. In the match, whoever scored the pinfall would win the TNA World Championship, which Angle won after pinning Sting to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. This would be the final TNA appearance of Sting in 2007 as he would take some time off to be with his family.

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. On October 23, Sting joined The Main Event Mafia (Kurt Angle, Booker T, Sharmell, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, and himself) and by doing so, he fully turned heel for the first time in years, although Sting did not participate in sneak attacks and was cheered by the crowd, making him more a tweener (neutral character). Sting went on to successfully defend the title against AJ Styles on November 9 at Turning Point, The TNA Front Line in an eight-man tag team match with the Main Event Mafia on December 7 at Final Resolution, Rhino on January 11 Genesis, Kurt Angle and both members of Team 3D in a four-way match on February 8 at Against All Odds, and against Angle on March 15 at Destination X. At Lockdown 2009, Sting lost the 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.

He also appeared in the Christian film, The Encounter (2010) and was featured as the lead actor in the TV movie Shutterspeed (2000). He makes a cameo appearance as Sting on an episode of Upright Citizens Brigade. Borden played an outlaw biker in the film Revelation Road (2013).

After a four-month hiatus, Sting returned to TNA on February 24, 2011 at the tapings of the March 3 edition of Impact!, where he appeared as a surprise challenger and defeated Jeff Hardy to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. On March 13 at Victory Road, Sting successfully defended the title against Hardy in a No Disqualification rematch that lasted ninety seconds. According to word from backstage, the match was planned to last longer, but Sting, believing that Jeff was in no shape to perform from looking at him, deliberately ended the match early, and was later heard agreeing with a fan's claim that the match was "bullshit". The following month at Lockdown, Sting successfully defended the title against Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam in a three-way steel cage match. In May, Sting was allowed to pick his number one contender and chose Van Dam, whom he went on to defeat at Sacrifice. The following month at Slammiversary IX, Sting lost the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to Mr. Anderson, following outside interference from Eric Bischoff.

Borden was an anabolic steroid user in the 1980s. He became a born-again Christian in August 1998, after confessing his adultery, and substance and alcohol abuse to his then-wife. Borden has two sons, Garrett Lee and Steve, Jr. and a daughter named Gracie, who was born in 2000. His elder son Garrett attends Azusa Pacific University, where he plays college football as a running back. Steven attended Kilgore College, where he played tight end; on December 19, 2012, he committed to attend the University of Kentucky. After the 2015 NFL Draft, Steven was invited by the Kansas City Chiefs to try out for the team at their rookie mini-camp. Borden married his second wife Sabine in 2015, shortly after WrestleMania 31.

Sting returned on the January 3, 2013, episode of Impact Wrestling, saving Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe from Aces & Eights before beating the group down with a baseball bat. Sting wrestled his return match the following week, defeating Aces & Eights member Mike Knox after he injured Kurt Angle. Three days later at Genesis, Sting gained his revenge on DOC by defeating him in a singles match. On the February 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting teamed up with Bully Ray to defeat Devon and DOC in a Tables match. On March 10 at Lockdown, Team TNA, consisting of Sting, Eric Young, James Storm, Magnus, and Samoa Joe defeated Aces & Eights, consisting of Devon, DOC, Garett Bischoff, Mike Knox, and Mr. Anderson in a Lethal Lockdown match. After Bully Ray won the World Heavyweight Championship and revealed himself as the leader of Aces & Eights later that night, Hulk Hogan blamed Sting as he had encouraged Hogan to give Ray the title shot while also encouraging Hogan to support Ray's marriage with his daughter Brooke. Sting proceeded to walk out on Hogan. Sting returned on the April 25 Impact Wrestling, saving Hogan from an attack by the Aces & Eights. The following week, Sting reconciled with Hogan and became the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship later that night after defeating Matt Morgan. On June 2 at Slammiversary XI, Sting unsuccessfully challenged Bully Ray for the World Heavyweight Championship in a No Holds Barred Match after an interference by Aces & Eights. Per stipulation, Sting would never get another World title opportunity again.

Prior to his signing with WWE, Sting was widely considered the greatest Wrestler never to perform for the company. He had "really good conversations" with the promotion during his career, but did not appear there until 2014, at the age of 55. His loyalty to WCW, even in its dying days, has been noted. That organization was purchased by the WWF (now WWE) in 2001, and Sting's contract with its parent company AOL Time Warner expired in 2002, but he still refused to make the jump, alternately attributing this to the WWF's creative usage of former WCW talents and negative dealings with attorneys. The company's onerous live schedule and the content of its programming were also factors. Sting has, however, downplayed rumors of a difficult relationship with WWE.

In October 2015, WWE released a second Sting DVD titled Sting: Into the Light. The three-disc set features a behind-the-scenes documentary with Sting himself as he prepares to step into a WWE ring for the first time ever at WrestleMania 31.

In August 2016, Sting appeared on the WWE Network show Legends with JBL and talked about his career. He also stated that he has not undergone surgery as that would definitively be the end of his career, as he still holds hope for a match with The Undertaker, claiming that to be his "unfinished business" in wrestling.