The history of professional wrestling could have been a lot different if WWE managed to land Sting before the start of the "Monday Night Wars" with WCW.

After WWE bought out WCW in 2001, Vince McMahon moved quickly to sign most of their top stars. Sting was one of the few notable names that opted against joining WWE, however.

Instead, Sting signed with the new TNA promotion in 2003. The Vigilante would spend the next 11 years there before eventually landing with WWE in 2014.

As it turns out, WWE made a play for Sting before he became a household name in WCW.

On the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast (h/t Marco Rovere of WrestlingInc.com), the Executive Director of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live detailed the brief contract talks WWE had with Sting in 1988.

"We had talks in 1988, "Prichard explained. "We had talks at different times about 'Hey Steve, would you be interested in coming over?' They just never really materialized beyond that."

"At the same time we had (The Ultimate Warrior) and I believe Vince looked at it as ‘I’ve got Warrior, what do I need another Warrior for?’ I think Sting kind of looked at it like that. Warrior’s doing our gimmick up there, I’ll do it down there and there was a comfort, there was a comfort with WCW and Sting."

And so, Sting wound up signing with WCW. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sting is widely regarded as the greatest and most beloved WCW superstar of all time. His lengthy feud with Hulk Hogan and the New World Order played a pivotal role in helping WCW move ahead of WWE in the battle for several years.

RELATED: TNT Was Upset Over AEW Keeping Sting's Debut A Secret

WCW nearly put WWE out of business, but financial issues and costly booking decisions quickly led to the company's demise.

Everything Worked Out For Sting

For Sting, things couldn't have worked out any better. He was the face of WCW for about a decade, and then he went on to put TNA on the wrestling map. Even though his short tenure with WWE wasn't as exciting as fans had hoped, he at least got to experience working in the world's largest wrestling promotion. And now, Sting is enjoying a thrilling final chapter in the young AEW promotion.

Sting had the rare opportunity to work in three of the world's largest promotions before landing in AEW. That's a special legacy that few wrestlers will ever match.

NEXT:Sting Says He Was "In Shambles" After The Cinematic Match At Revolution