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Sting PROFILE |
Sting profile written by
Bruce Bostwick
Sting is perhaps one if not the most successful
wrestler in the Era of TV and PPVs to never work
with the WWE. When you think of the face of WCW
and someone who stuck there to the bitter end,
you would have to see him as the guy to do it.
Before anyone says Ric Flair as the face of WCW,
keep in mind however that he had a period of
time with the WWE in the early 90s.
WCW
Run: In the late 80s to the mid 90s, Sting was
starting out when WCW was apart of the NWA Brand
using NWA Championships. He came into the
company and was eventually put into a feud with
Ric Flair over the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
Keep in mind however that this was during a time
of which WCW had not branched off on its own
forming its own championship. He also held the
NWA TV Title during that time defeating Mike
Rotunda. Before the WCW Title came to be, Sting
finally was able to win the NWA World Title
after a long feud and a recovery time from
injury.
Sting would lose it back to
Flair. However, WCW was actually changing
forming independence for itself. Soon enough it
would be WCW Championships that actually was
something he would be going for. Eventually he
would get another chance at being the world
championship, time being the WCW Champion. One
of his biggest rivalries at that time before the
likes of former big stars that worked with Vince
McMahon like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage would
be the likes of Vader challenging him and vice
versa over the WCW Championship.
There
was another World Title if you count it as one
being the WCW International Title. He held it by
defeating Vader for the vacant as the previous
champion Rick Rude was forced out of the ring
for good after a freak accident in a match with
Sting in Japan. The belt would be shortly
dissolved, as it would unify with the WCW Title
at Clash of the Champions. Mostly he was the #2
face involved as WCW would acquire Hulk Hogan
but it didn't make him leave in the first place.
The Crow Era: After War Games when the world
believed Sting left but turned out to be a man
specifically being the fake Sting, he had
disappeared and developed into a dark silent
character. He was "no longer with WCW" and would
declare himself a "free agent." One of his
common traits was that he would look down from
the rafters. Sting eventually came down and was
testing loyalty of the offending wrestlers by
pushing and giving them the bat and turned
around. If they didn't hit him, he would nod
taking the bat and would be gone. Over the
course of a year and the most famous bout was
with Hulk Hogan, known as Hollywood Hogan, at
Starrcade '97 for the WCW Title. It had
tremendous build but the bout was regarded as a
flop because of the outcome and how it happened.
The match didn't justify the build and it just
made Sting look weird. Here is the run down, it
was probably going to be Sting getting the win
taking the championship clean but didn't happen
for one reason or another so a screw job was put
in when Nick Patrick was supposed to count a
fast three count. It didn't look like it but
then Bret Hart showed up and wouldn't let what
happened to him, referencing the Montreal
Screwjob, happen to Sting. The match got
restarted and Sting won the belt. Call it a flop
but it was something that just went wrong and
probably was slowly one of the things that hurt
WCW.
End of WCW: For whatever reason,
Sting was tried as a heel but didn't work. Why
because he was one of those guys you just can't
boo so easily. He pulled off tactics to win one
of his last run as WCW Champion defeating Hulk
Hogan only to see it officially vacant after
losing a bout with Goldberg, which wasn't
"sanctioned" much less a WCW Title bout. He
never officially lost it but never gained it
again.
Post-WCW: When WCW went under,
Sting was one of the wrestlers that had a
question of what would he do after WCW went
under. Would he go to the WWE or simply retire?
It wasn't that he got hit with a low money offer
but probably more so to do with travel.
Remember, Sting wasn't as young as he once was
and had to do what was best for his family. It
should be noted that he did go to World
Wrestling All Stars actually though that
promotion didn't last long. It lasted long
enough for him to be the champion there only to
lose it to Jarrett in a title unification match
involving the NWA World Title.
TNA: On
and off appearances in TNA during its early days
happened, as he was a face, his natural
position. He eventually became apart of the
company on a more regular basis in 2006. Prior
to that had made a couple appearances but not
really so much getting involved on a regular
basis. He has teamed with AJ Styles to defeat
Jarrett & Lugar. 2004 saw him just ref a match
but also doing a documentary called Sting:
Moment of Truth. When he returned in 2006, his
feud was mainly with Jeff Jarrett, not so much
getting the NWA Title but taking Jarrett out of
TNA as he said something to the effect of
"holding TNA back." The final match with the two
happened at Bound for Glory seeing Sting when
his second ever NWA Championship, his first
since 1990 by obtaining the championship against
Jarrett. He would go on to lose the belt in a
rule that states that the NWA Title can change
hands on a DQ or count out to Abyss.
The
feud with Abyss was not so much about the
championship but to try to convert Abyss away
from James Mitchell. The feud there was going
into 2007 between the two, as it became now a
conflicted Abyss deciding on whether to stick
with James Mitchell or go on his own. Eventually
that feud ended with Abyss eventually going face
and having his name revealed to the world as
Chris Parks.
He would later have a big
feud with Kurt Angle that went at Bound for
Glory III winning the TNA Title for the first
time. They were tag champs when Kurt Angle held
all three belts at the same time only to lose
them to Team Pacman. The TNA Title run would be
short lived, as he would lose it two shows later
on Impact to Kurt Angle. Not much was done with
Sting until late this year. He turned heel once
again, another dumb decision by creative in TNA.
If it didn't work before, why do something like
that again? Realizing this, Sting was pretty
much a tweener character, as a full-fledged heel
turn isn't going to work given his status in the
industry. Sting right now has the TNA Title and
is having a longer run with it winning it at
Bound for Glory IV making his mark at 3-0, all
in the Main Event challenging for the top title.
Sting has done it all despite never being in
the WWE. He is without a doubt a Hall of Fame
wrestler and would deserve to be put in. By the
time he retires, it would be nice to see a good
send-off for probably one of the all-time greats
in wrestling today.
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