He was an extremely solid personality who had a couple of incredible runs. His match with Flair at Clash 1 is legendary and still one of my all time favorites. And I still think the moment WCW started to die was the moment that Sting got dicked over in the Starrcade 97 match. If you go back and watch tapes of WCW and WWF from that time frame the reactions to Sting were as loud and passionate as the reactions to Austin were in the WWF. The Crow character was insanely over, and should have been the catalyst for the final destruction of the NWO by WCW. So I can say I'll kinda miss the guy a bit. I would have liked to see him on one WM card, since really he's about the only long-standing star of the last 20 or so years not to be on at least one that I can think of. Goldberg doesn't count since he really only was around a couple years.
Sting ruled! The fans loved him and was one of the main reasons WCW was able to beat the WWF. The Crow Sting was a great move by the writers and it gave his character a longer life than he would have had with the superstar Sting. Borden was a great athlete and one of the few older WCW guys that didn't have a problem elevuating talent. While many fans would say he was overrated, I found him to be exciting and fun to watch.
I do agree the entire NWO storyline fell apart when Hogan refused to do a clean job to him at Starcadde. To me this singaled that WCW had no idea what to do after the storyline and tried to milk it for as long as its worth. The crime of that entire not was not only screwing the fans out of the inevitable end to the NWO, but making Sting look like an unworthy champion. From that point on Sting, the guy who never left WCW, would never get the gold for a long and the fans knew it.
I still laugh my ass off when WCW tried to turn Sting heel by attacking red and yellow Hogan only to have the fans cheer him on. That was beautiful.
A Fan- Best of luck, Steve, we wish you well. And thank you.
Being a brainwashed WWF mark, I can honestly say that I can't remember ever seeing a Sting match in my entire life. Having never been emotionaly attached to WCW I'm pretty indifferent to his retirement. That's no knock on him, I'm sure he was a good guy and people say he's a good wrestler, but since he never really did anything for me, his retirement means about as much as Joe Manager's retirement from the local McDonald's meant to me.
I experienced my most emotional moment when Sting and Flair hugged each other on the last Nitro. Saying thanks to the other guy for the great matches and memories! That was just pure emotion, no storylines, no gimmicks, only two of the greatest performers saying goodbye!
I don't think alot of fans got a chance to appreciate him - because of the fact WCW didn't appreciate the talent they had on their hands. He never had an extended World Title run where the fed got right behind him as their #1 guy when they should have.
They took a HUGE chance with a heel turn in the fall of 1999 - and his reward was a weak one month World Title run. That more or less summed up his WCW career right there as sad as it is.
Sting was supposed to be the Hulk Hogan on WCW... With the proper booking I think he could have been. Maybe not in terms of crossover appeal, or worldwide recognition - but the face associated with the company throughout the 1990's.
I think his title reigns were short because he simply didn't like being the champion. He preferred the role of the challenger chasing the title. How long was his longest title reign. Was it the one where he beat Luger at Superbrawl 1992 to whenever Vader literally squashed him? Or was it the run when Flair loaned him the title for a while? Either way, it was just a matter of months.
As to the heel turn, after a week or two, you could clearly tell his heart wasn't into it. Given the booking, I don't know how much I can blame him considering his past reputation of giving his all to WCW. It turned out to be only slightly less useless than Goldberg's heel turn (which Goldberg clearly tanked it on, and I do blame him, given Goldberg's reputation as a completely delusional douchebag who didn't realise that pro wrestling is worked).
No matter how bad things may get, just imagine what would happen if Vince Russo was booking again, and you will feel better.
He had all of one funny backstage vignette with Luger and (I think) Page, where he was playing the heel. IIRC, that was also the famed "red light" mishap, where one of them didn't know they were actually on TV at the time.
"The Scorpion Death Lock lives on with The Rock."
Ugh. The Rock's Sharpshooter sucks balls. Mainly because he's too damn tall to do it, so he can't cross his opponent's legs at the knee, and has to cross their ankles instead. Austin and especially Benoit can do the move pretty damn well though.
"The Scorpion Death Drop lives on with Christian."
That's another big negative. Sting always dropped straight down/onto his back. Christian drops forward. The Scorpion Death Drop and Christian's inverted reverse DDT are two completely different moves.
No matter how bad things may get, just imagine what would happen if Vince Russo was booking again, and you will feel better.
He was at his best chasing Flair, especially in that TV draw. Amazing match. I haven't had much use for most of his stuff in the Nineties, aside from a few of his matches in the early part of the decade--like the "King of Cable" match with Vader. He probably should have left WCW or retired after the mid-nineties. I thought the Crow angle was a misfire that could have been great.
It makes for more exciting wrestling to have a heel champion, so I definitely think it was a good call to only have Sting as champion for short periods.
"I'm not on some big ego rush. I'm not after the bright lights and the little women."--Stan Hansen.
The Crow gimmick was so over. They would show him in the rafters for just a second and the crowd would pop like Austin was coming down to the ring. The one that really turned off people to the stinger were his long hiatisishe'd take 12 months off at a whack. Regardless I'll miss the Stinger.
I'm really gonna miss Sting-- he was one of the greats.
A word about the period when he was a heel. I remember he was feuding with Hulk Hogan, and Hogan was in the parking lot giving autographs to kids. Suddenly, Sting came out and nailed him in the knee with his baseball bat, and then delivered one of his most hilarious lines:
“Can I have an autograph toooooo?”
WHOO! God bless you, Sting, thanks for the memories.
“I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.”
I don't remember many Sting moments. One that sticks out is when he was in the wolfpac and fought Goldberg on Nitro. I think it ended with interference, or maybe Goldberg won (i guess that would be the only other option for Goldberg matches around then). That was the night i started wanting Goldberg to lose. I always thought he would be much more interesting if there was actual drama in his matches. I also remember a pretty bad ppv match with Vampiro, that ended with a flaming stunt double falling off the top of the Nitrotron or whatever it was called.
Updating Ohio State's basketball record could get to be a chore. Just remember, Michigan sucks.
I have plenty of awesome Sting memories wrestling-wise, namely all the matches with Vader (one of the best feuds of the 90's, sez me) and Flair.
Of course, da Stinga was also a part of the White Castle of Fear, the lazer staredown with Jake Roberts, the Beach Blast mini-movie...yikes!
Sting got really popular as the Crow but his wrestling went down the toilet. He had a great match against DDP on Nitro in April of 99 when he won the World Title, but that's about it.
Can't say I'll miss Sting, but I'm glad he retired without any serious injuries.
I was a big fan of the blonde crewcut Sting. Never watched during his "Crow" years, but they seemed to drag that out forever....
I do give him props for showing up on the last Nitro and wrestling Flair. At one point during the match, I swear I hear Sting say, "C'mon Ric! It's just like old times!"
A word about the period when he was a heel. I remember he was feuding with Hulk Hogan, and Hogan was in the parking lot giving autographs to kids. Suddenly, Sting came out and nailed him in the knee with his baseball bat, and then delivered one of his most hilarious lines:
“Can I have an autograph toooooo?”
What was even funnier, was when Hogan threatened to continue to compete that evening, Sting bumrushed him and beat the hell out of him AGAIN with the bat.
Of course, Hogan recovered once again, and got the big triumphant return at the end when he beat up everyone on a bum leg. But seeing Sting attack twice was priceless.
Sting seemed the most over when he did nothing, but stand in the raftors. WCW screwed themselves by making him the ultimate solution to saving WCW and then not following through (At least Vince FINALLY killed the Invasion).
Sting never really did anything for me. His yell just seemed like a ripoff of Flair. The Stinger Splash is about as useful as the People's elbow or the Worm. He was in incredibly chessey angles. In the end he did nothing, but rip off bad movie lines from the Mask and others. He was clearly mailing it in towards the end. You could say why blame him, but he's the one that chose to stick with a loser.
Sting is a somewhat significant part of Wrestling in the 80's and early 90's, but he would probably barely crack the top ten.
I'm not saying the Crow angle wasn't over, just that it never delivered as far as wrestling. Of course, that isn't Sting's fault.
I rememeber the first time Sting spoke on the mic. Everyone was shocked. Up to that point, he'd been a silent enforcer type. It was sort of like when Kane first spoke.
Probably the funniest thing about the old Blade Runners angle was that they were sold as being crazy due to steroid abuse!
"I'm not on some big ego rush. I'm not after the bright lights and the little women."--Stan Hansen.
Hey, Chuck and Billy could be the first two entrants, but stand around refusing to harm one another, admiring one another's bodies. They'd be the Anti-Demolition. Wait... It's coming... a thought... here it is... FEMOLITION!