PWP Nation’s Zak Fellows rounds out the WWE Hall of Fame Legacy series, with the “Icon” Sting.
Inspired by attendance to a live WWE show, Steve Borden would be trained by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman alongside Jim Hellwig as the two began their wrestling careers in All-California Championship Wrestling in 1985. After a small stint with the Continental Wrestling Association, they would find themselves under the eye of “Cowboy” Bill Watts in the Universal Wrestling Federation and became the Blade Runners: While Hellwig took on the name of Rock, Borden would take up the mantle that he would soon become famous for: Sting.
The UWF would soon be purchased by Jim Crockett of the National Wrestling Alliance and Sting would soon catch the attention of Dusty Rhodes who saw potential in him as a megastar in the sport, potential that he sought to capitalise on.
It wouldn’t take long for the man called Sting to be touted as a rising star: At the inaugural Clash of the Champions he would wrestle the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and a man destined to be one of his long-time opponents, Ric Flair to a draw establishing him as someone to watch in the coming years and as a legitimate contender to overthrow the Nature Boy as the top star in the NWA. As his fans continued to support him through his ascension, Sting would win the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup in 1988 alongside Lex Luger.
On March 31, 1989 Sting would capture his first championship in the NWA when he defeated Mike Rotunda for the NWA Television Championship. He would find competition for the title in the Great Muta, ultimately spurring him to defend his one-time foe Ric Flair, joining the reformed Four Horsemen. Nonetheless, this was not to last long as Sting’s successful victory to become the number 1 contender to the NWA World Title caused him to be cast out by Flair and the Horsemen and on July 7, 1990 at the Great American Bash Sting would defeat Ric Flair to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the first time.
As the NWA reorganised itself into WCW, Sting would still remain a staple of the promotion winning the vacant United States Championship and the Battlebowl tournament in 1991 and through a feud with his former tag team partner Lex Luger, he would capture his first WCW World Championship at Superbrawl 1992. He would soon find himself in a feud with Big Van Vader after the man mountain injured him and won the WCW Championship from him in 1992 even going on to defeat him to regain the title the next year on March 11, 1993.
The arrival of Hulk Hogan in 1994 would prove to be an important long term moment for Sting: Sting would team with the Immortal one against his enemies such as the Dungeon of Doom and the Four Horsemen as he also reformed his tag team with Lex Luger in 1995 defeating Harlem Heat for the WCW World Tag Team Championships on January 22, 1996. Luger and Sting would find themselves opposed by the Outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, as they stood up for WCW against the insurgents. Sting and Luger, alongside the Macho Man Randy Savage, would be chosen to represent WCW against the Outsiders at Bash at the Beach 1996. However, Sting would find himself betrayed by his former ally Hulk Hogan as he revealed himself to be in collusion with the Outsiders forming the New World Order in the process.
Sting would stand by the promotion to which he made his name, even as the nWo began recruiting heavier numbers in an attempting uprising of WCW, but the nWo would a seed of doubt into the minds of his fans and his fellow wrestlers as it pertains to his loyalty. Thus, as the war with the nWo intensified one of WCW’s greatest defenders would escape into the shadows and transformed himself into an Icon for which he is still well known.
Trading in his signature colourful face paint for black and white markings similar to that of the Crow, he would present himself as a dark warrior who remained silent and made people question his true allegiances. At Uncensored 1997, everybody finally got their answer: Sting would attack the Insurgent New World Order making it known he was still loyal to his home. As he aided in the war with the invaders he would make his target very clear: Sting wanted the WCW Champion, the nWo’s leader, he wanted Hollywood Hogan.
And at the most purchased PPV in WCW history, Starrcade 1997, Sting would return to the ring after 15 months against Hogan and in, a controversial finish, he would defeat the leader of the nWo to win his third WCW World Heavyweight Championship. A feud between Hogan and his lieutenant Kevin Nash would soon cause the nWo to split into nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac in 1988 and Sting, still seeking to rid WCW of the corrupted Hogan, would side with Nash helping the Wolfpac to become a popular entity in 1998.
Sting would remain with WCW even as the likelihood of its folding became more and more apparent and on March 26, 2001 he would defeat his long-time rival Ric Flair in the final match of the company that he had become so associated with. By the time WCW folded, Sting was considered its Franchise and it’s most loyal and famous contribution to the industry. As WCW’s roster merged with the WWE Sting would not join his fellow alumni as his career on national television seemed to be over. But, he would soon join the ranks of a wrestling promotion on the rise and gaining attention.
After a short sting with World Wrestling All Stars, Sting would become involved in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling making several one off appearances before being signed to wrestle for the company full time on midnight of January 1, 2006. Sting would make his first PPV appearance in over half a decade at Final Resolution when he teamed with Christian Cage to victory against then NWA Champion Jarrett and Monty Brown. Sting would become embroiled in a feud with Jarrett culminating in the main event of Bound for Glory 2006 where Sting would win his second NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Bound For Glory would become Sting’s show: He would face and defeat Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for two consecutive years, he would face AJ Styles also and would even go on to face old rival Hulk Hogan in one of the better surprises of the past decade. Sting would be honoured by TNA for his contributions to its growth by becoming the inaugural induction into the TNA Hall of Fame. After holding the TNA World Tag Team Championship, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and main eventing its biggest show four times Sting would leave TNA in January, 2014 where he would find himself in the position a lot of us were hoping.
Survivor Series 2014, Sting would finally make his first appearance in the company that had eluded him for so long, the WWE, when he aided the downfall of the Authority and Triple H as he took down the COO of the WWE with the Scorpion Death Drop. Fans were excited to see the Stinger in WWE after so many years, his mass appeal remaining after close to three decades and many fans being introduced to him for the very first time.
At WrestleMania 31 Sting would make his WWE debut as well as his WrestleMania debut against the Cerebral Assassin and would even go on to receive a shot at the WWE Championship later in the year against Seth Rollins. Sting is still active as a wrestler and the future remains an uncertain one for the Icon except for one fact…this year he will be honoured as the headlining inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
So what is Sting’s legacy?
Sting has several factors that make him one of the all-time great performers and certainly one for which future wrestlers can draw inspiration from. His transformation from the Surfer Sting to the Crow Sting certainly deserves mention as it is one of the greater character transformations in wrestling. To take what people fell in love with and remake yourself into something that people love you even more for takes a lot of talent and often leads into the situation where going against what made you popular can either fail or turn you heel. It takes a lot of talent to be able to pull off an aversion like that and not only did Sting do so but he made it into such an iconic image that fans remember him more as the Crow than they do for who he was before then.
It’s also interesting to note that Sting’s ability to stay physically well and active even into his late 50’s is commendable. From the NWA style mat and technical wrestling of Ric Flair to the high flying and fasted paced AJ Styles Sting was able to work with a variety of opponents and that helped him achieve his longevity. To say nothing of his mike skills: Able to get over by talking and able to get over by NOT talking Sting serves as a good support and argument of the necessity of speaking ability in professional wrestling.
But his big lasting impression? He is one of the greatest protagonists in wrestling history. Very few wrestlers are able to go almost an entire career with being a hero because, unlike, villains, styles and audience attitudes ultimately decide which personality they will project themselves onto to make them their hero and role model. Even who I consider to be the greatest hero of all time, Hulk Hogan, had to turn into a villain because people were growing tired of him. Sting, meanwhile, always seemed to have a form of inherent likeability that always appealed to a constant evolution of audience.
Even with the aesthetical change and occasion personality change Sting was still Sting: He always appeared to have the same persona and character traits that made him someone that could be viewed as a positive role model by children and adults could get behind due to a mass appeal. It’s why his heels turns, once in WCW and twice in TNA, never worked because fans did not want to see him be the villain. It was Sting that they wanted to see beat Ric Flair, take down the nWo, give a heel what they had coming to him from the NWA to WCW to TNA to WWE now. And for that longevity, he will be rewarded with the enshrining that comes with the WWE Hall of Fame.
Will we see Sting vs. Undertaker?
[Zak Fellows doesn’t think so.]
Until next time folks.