Thank you, Sting.

[The Natural]

I became a fan of wrestling at 5 years old and my favourites were Bret Hart and Sting. Still are as a soon to be 39 year old. I found WCW VHS harder to get than WWF in shops but I remember vividly my parents getting WCW The Great American Bash 1990 as Sting beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and WCW Halloween Havoc 1990 as Sting defended against Sid Vicious. Sting appealed to me through the face paint, the bright colours, the flat top blonde hair and the energy he had.

My favourite version of Sting however was Crow Sting particularly September 1996-December 1997 as Sting representing WCW battled the nWo. This Sting grew out his hair long and brown, wore black and white, he didn't speak. Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan was the best built match in wrestling history with the worst payoff in wrestling history at WCW Starrcade 1997. Fuck Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff for that more so Hogan pulling a "That doesn't work for me, brother". Sting should have run through Hogan in winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. WCW Starrcade 1997 was the beginning of the end for WCW. My least favourite version of Sting is nWo Wolfpac Sting, Sting in the nWo just wasn't right and the red facepaint looked like he'd overslept in the tanning booth.

We now turn to TNA. My two favourite periods of this part were Sting briefly ditching the long singlet for tights as an amalgamation of his gimmicks from October 2006-November 2006. Sting regained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the second time 16 years after his first. The second was Joker Sting. Kudos to Sting for reinventing himself like that. Naturally (no pun intended) appealed to me as a huge Batman fan.

In 2014 Sting made his WWE debut at Survivor Series which we never thought possible. Sting would have his first WWE match at WrestleMania XXXI and there's a lot I hate about this. The wrong opponent in Triple H, the wrong winner, the nWo helping Sting. Fuck it all. It should have been Sting vs. The Undertaker. The man who never left WCW vs the man who never left WWF. Worse still was Sting suffering a severe spinal injury vs Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions 2015. Sting somehow finished the match. Sting would headline the Hall of Fame 2016 class announcing his retirement. Cinematic matches became a thing and that's how Sting thought he'd get his match with The Undertaker but sadly never came to pass.

We were all taken aback when Sting signed for AEW in December 2020. Sting had his first match in six years at AEW Revolution 2021 in a cinematic match and wrestled regularly in 2021-2024 in tag team matches with Darby Allin and jumping off high things. I'm so glad Sting was able to go out on his terms and get his flowers. Sting had his final match ever at AEW Revolution 2024 three years after having his first AEW match there.

Thanks for reading.

Edited March 3 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Sting's best matches:

10. Sting vs. Cactus Jack. WCW Beach Blast 1992.

9. Sting vs. Ric Flair. WCW The Great American Bash 1990.

8. Sting/Darby Allin vs. FTR. AEW Dynamite, 22nd September 2021.

7. Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page. WCW Monday Nitro, 26th April 1999.

6. Sting vs. Vader. WCW SuperBrawl III.

5. Sting/Lex Luger vs. Steiner Brothers. WCW SuperBrawl I.

4. Sting vs. Vader. WCW The Great American Bash 1992.

3. Sting vs. Cactus Jack. WCW Power Hour, 23rd November 1991.

2. Sting vs. Vader. WCW Starrcade 1992. *****.

1. Sting's Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance. WrestleWar 1992. *****.

Edited March 3 by The Natural

[Technico Support]

8 hours ago, The Natural said:

Great American Bash 1990 as Sting beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship

I was at that show!  

Lance Storm told a story on this week’s Alvarez show where he asked Sting back in the day why he never signed with WWF in the 80s/90s and Sting told him something to the effect of, “every time I talked to them, they were more about how signing me would hurt WCW than about how it would help them.”  GOD DAMN, we should all strive to be that good a dude.

Edited March 3 by Technico Support

[Log]

We'll see how things go tonight, but I'd say this last Sting run has been waaaay better than I would've imagined. 

So, where do we put this in the pantheon of old man runs with a promotion?

I have to think Funk's ECW run is the standard. Is this #2?

[SirSmUgly]

6 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I was at that show!  

Lance Storm told a story on this week’s Alvarez show where he asked Sting back in the day why he never signed with WWF in the 80s/90s and Sting told him something to the effect of, “every time I talked to them, they were more about how signing me would hurt WCW than about how it would help them.”  GOD DAMN, we should all strive to be that good a dude.

Huh, I interpreted your paraphrase as Sting being self-serving. WWF wasn't interested in doing anything with Sting's career and had no ideas for how to use him right because they just wanted to take a WCW centerpiece.

And considering how they did use him once he finally got there, he wasn't wrong! The HHH match is especially egregious for many reasons. 

 

[Technico Support]

13 minutes ago, SirSmUgly said:

Huh, I interpreted your paraphrase as Sting being self-serving. WWF wasn't interested in doing anything with Sting's career and had no ideas for how to use him right because they just wanted to take a WCW centerpiece.

And considering how they did use him once he finally got there, he wasn't wrong! The HHH match is especially egregious for many reasons. 

 

Ahhh, maybe.  I’m giving him the benefit of a doubt since it’s his retirement and also Lance’s interpretation was of Sting just being a stand up guy.

(And I’m probably feeling sentimental)

Edited March 3 by Technico Support

[SirSmUgly]

4 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Ahhh, maybe.  I’m giving him the benefit of a doubt since it’s his retirement and also Lance’s interpretation was of Sting just being a stand up guy.

He can be both! Human beings are multitudes, after all. 

[BloodyChamp]

I’m not able to keep up with wrestling anymore but I think everybody knows I was the biggest Sting fan and WCW fan. I think everybody knows that I maintain that Starrcade 97 was the death blow, no matter what else everybody always comes up with. I agree that that was the best build to a match in history. I don’t even count it as a payoff because they weren’t even trying for a payoff and there was none to any extent. I came to this topic to mention that this whole run has been milked like hell, but that that’s ok since it doesn’t amount to half of the screw job that Starrcade was, that he never got over that, that always in part kept him from doing anything else that we all wanted to see. TNA almost doesn’t exist to me. Watching Sting in TNA was like watching Joanie and Chachi on whatever other show they were on. And besides Sting it was just all so dumb.

So then I saw where somebody said it was the number 2 run of it’s kind behind only Terry Funk. I guess they wouldn’t be milking it if it weren’t worth it. I did like what they looked like they were building towards in his WWF run. I’d be proud if this went down as number 2 behind Funk and ECW.

I loved Sting and I’m happy for him. I doubt he’s happy for 1 reason that I’m happy about it but I just have to say that he should be happy that he’s doing this now, his way most as possible, all while getting paid good money for it while the rest of all the people who were scared to do business with him have no other business to do besides their podcast. Tell me again how it was all Sting’s fault guys. It’s not like you’re doing anything else.

Jeeze I can sure still get all juiced up and mad talking about how it went though. Maybe I’ll do a top 10 matches of my own list later. Thank you Sting, for sure. He was great man. I really did love him and still do. 

Edited March 4 by BloodyChamp

[The Natural]

Thanks everyone.

[The Natural]

For the last time:

10. Sting vs. Ric Flair. WCW The Great American Bash 1990.

9. Sting/Darby Allin vs. FTR. AEW Dynamite, 22nd September 2021.

8. Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page. WCW Monday Nitro, 26th April 1999.

7. Sting vs. Vader. WCW SuperBrawl III.

6. Sting/Lex Luger vs. Steiner Brothers. WCW SuperBrawl I.

5. Sting vs. Vader. WCW The Great American Bash 1992.

4. Sting vs. Cactus Jack. WCW Power Hour, 23rd November 1991.

3. Sting/Darby Allin vs. Matthew Jackson/Nicholas Jackson. AEW Revolution, 3rd March 2024. *****.

2. Sting vs. Vader. WCW Starrcade 1992. *****.

1. Sting's Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance. WrestleWar 1992. *****.

[BloodyChamp]

Wow was it really 5 stars? I don’t know how you can’t put it as number 2 behind Terry Funk forever now if it was really 5 stars. I’ll get around to catching up on it 1 day. 

[The Natural]

2 hours ago, BloodyChamp said:

Wow was it really 5 stars? I don’t know how you can’t put it as number 2 behind Terry Funk forever now if it was really 5 stars. I’ll get around to catching up on it 1 day. 

It was a spectacle and I was emotionally invested. Sting's a sentimental favourite as well. It's why I have Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista at WrestleMania XXX as a ***** also. Probably only one who ever has. I tend to be more generous with ***** as well. I'm too nice, man.

Edited March 4 by The Natural

[The Natural]

https://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/10224-wcw-starrcade-1997-25-years-later-the-start-of-the-end-for-wcw/#comments

[SirSmUgly]

5 hours ago, The Natural said:

For the last time:

10. Sting vs. Ric Flair. WCW The Great American Bash 1990.

9. Sting/Darby Allin vs. FTR. AEW Dynamite, 22nd September 2021.

8. Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page. WCW Monday Nitro, 26th April 1999.

7. Sting vs. Vader. WCW SuperBrawl III.

6. Sting/Lex Luger vs. Steiner Brothers. WCW SuperBrawl I.

5. Sting vs. Vader. WCW The Great American Bash 1992.

4. Sting vs. Cactus Jack. WCW Power Hour, 23rd November 1991.

3. Sting/Darby Allin vs. Matthew Jackson/Nicholas Jackson. AEW Revolution, 3rd March 2024. *****.

2. Sting vs. Vader. WCW Starrcade 1992. *****.

1. Sting's Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance. WrestleWar 1992. *****.

While I don't totally line up with this list, I line up with it enough that I would like to submit it as evidence that Vader was Sting's best opponent, and it's not even close. If Flair is second, it's a distant second. 

[BloodyChamp]

2 hours ago, The Natural said:

It was a spectacle and I was emotionally invested. Sting's a sentimental favourite as well. It's why I have Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista at WrestleMania XXX as a ***** also. Probably only one who ever has. I tend to be more generous with ***** as well. I'm too nice, man.

It is Sting, which makes it great to begin with. Sting is my Meng. Ftw.

[BloodyChamp]

21 hours ago, SirSmUgly said:

While I don't totally line up with this list, I line up with it enough that I would like to submit it as evidence that Vader was Sting's best opponent, and it's not even close. If Flair is second, it's a distant second. 

It’s been a long time but I remember it being discussed that Vader was Sting’s best opponent, followed by the Steiners, complete with the match he had vs Scott on TNA TV in the beginning there being a huge letdown because people were expecting so much from it. Luger was even ranked higher than Flair to some when it was considered that they had 2 very good matches in 1989 before Luger quit caring, followed by his getting worse and worse in the ring all the matches later.

Ric Flair did alot for Sting on the other end of the business. He could have had a good match with Sting back in 1988 without making him look as good as he did but he didn’t and did both Xs 1000. Ric had a point about fans expecting certain wrestlers expecting certain moves also, especially when they’re named after the wrestler doi. Stinger Splash. They could have mixed it up a little more though. Granted a real, unspoken reason for Flair’s explanation was that he just plain couldn’t do anymore than he was doing by about 1988. He was still great but he wasn’t as great as he was in the ring in 1983. Sting knew all that Flair did to help him so he wasn’t about to have a match with him any way besides Flair’s way.

The fact that only the GAB 90 match comes up anymore is a testament to what we’re talking about because that’s only there for the heat. That match wasn’t that good. At all. And the good Flair matches were topped when Sting was in there with somebody who was all out.

Edited March 5 by BloodyChamp

[Curt McGirt]

Just remembered (and I think this is correct) Sting and Foley being stuck together by circumstance and Sting balking at the combination; Foley says he's got some ideas and if it doesn't work out, no harm no foul. They work the match and go to the back. Foley asks him what he thought and Sting says "You're great."

[BloodyChamp]

Lord at the matches I still haven’t seen, by my favorite childhood wrestler even. I knew that already but hadn’t thought hard about until just now when I tried to make a list. I could make a list that would be respected IMO but that still wouldn’t cut it. I’m going to get around to watching something here soon though dang it. Him retiring to rave reviews has motivated me to do it. I have a real big effing problem watching matches without watching the whole show. I have almost all the matches on the 2 DVD sets, and I never missed a TV show back in the day. I even have a pretty good tape collection but those last 2 examples obviously came altogether. The DVD sets were obviously cherrypicked and there’s a difference to me. I’m going to have to get tf over it though I know.

Edited March 5 by BloodyChamp

[Octopus]

I was a WWF kid. I hated Hogan and Goldberg. I could not deny how cool Sting was though. NWO was just a bunch of old guys trying to be DX (lol) but Sting was a legitimate dream opponent for the Undertaker. Outside of the cool luchadors in the video games, Sting was the only thing WCW had going for it in the eyes of a child. 

[Mike Campbell]

My first experience with Sting was at the age of six, when he was teaming with Flair and feuding with Terry Funk and Muta. I was 14 when he came down from the rafters and laid waste to the entire nWo at Uncensored 1997. My youngest daughter is 12, and she thought I was just teasing her when I told her that I'd been watching him wrestle since I was younger than her. I had to fire up YouTube and show her some actual dates on matches before she beleived me.

 

And just to take the generational anecdotes the other way. When Dynamite was showing the highlights of the match and Sting's post match interview, I'm not ashamed to admit that I was tearing up a little bit. My phone goes off and it's my father (who only lives about 1,900 miles away) texting me to say "Don't cry, Mike."

[Technico Support]

The first time I saw Sting wrestle (not in person) would have been on UWF TV, post Blade-Runners, managed by Eddie Gilbert and teaming Rick Steiner (who was post name change, no longer wrestling under his shoot name).  I am old.

Edited March 8 by Technico Support

[evidence]

I noticed that Sting's run in AEW has led to a lot of people who didn't consider him great to re-evaluate their stance. I feel like the blame people would often place on Sting about how he wasn't a draw is finally being rightly placed on the incompetence in WCW (ex. Mike Sempervive on F4W and Kris Zellner on the Between The Sheets podcast both talking about how WCW's issues with attracting fans wasn't any fault of Sting's). 

Sting and Bret Hart were my all-time favorites and I'm happy that Sting was not only able to get a retirement on a grand stage but also get what I felt was universal praise from the fans and people in the wrestling industry. 

It's great that he had a promoter who was willing to allow him to go out on his own terms (I know there was talk that he wanted to lose the last match, but thankfully he was talked out of it). He could have retired when he got injured by Seth, but I'm glad that an injury didn't dictate the ending of his career like it did with Bret. He could have retired in 2009 when he put over AJ Styles at Bound For Glory or back in 2001 when WCW went under but his retirement and his career wouldn't received the recognition that it deserved. 

 

 

[southofheavy]

I just turned 43 and I'm still a little Stinger. Have been since I was 8. Always will be.