In the late 90s, my cousin Alana was watching WCW because she loved the Macho Man Randy Savage and WWE because she loved Shawn Michaels. I am two years younger than her, but I find that now, as I look back on my childhood, I was heavily influenced by her on things I liked. I liked the New Kids on the Block, the Ghostbusters, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and eventually wrestling all because of her. (Can you tell I grew up in the late 80s early 90s?) I remember watching a ppv match, long before all of this, with Alana and my Aunt Barbara in which Hulk Hogan faced off against Earthquake. I can't tell you now, for the life of me, what ppv it was or why we were watching it, but we were. Sorry, getting sidetracked.
So, because of her, I watched wrestling. This was right around the time, in WCW where Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had come onto the scene. Given that I didn't watch WWE and had no idea who they were, I didn't understand the impact of what was happening. But I remember watching the heel turn by Hulk Hogan in which he leg dropped the Macho Man. I was hooked from there. But I didn't really like the NWO, even though they were cooler. I was very sort of black and white in my good vs. evil thing. The NWO was bad. WCW was good. So, as the NWO started adding people and continued to feud with the Four Horsemen, I was indifferent to that. But the fake Sting bit with limo sticks out in my mind. All while I'm watching WCW I knew Sting was a good guy. It seemed unfathomable to me that Sting would turn into a bad guy. I mean, he was Mr. Hero, to me more than Hogan was. I didn't grow up a Hogan fan, but I remembered watching Sting matches every now and again when he had the blond flat top and the face paint. Sting was the perennial good guy.
Back to my story, when "Sting" turned and leveled Luger, I never believed it was really him. First of all, they never actually showed you his face. The body type was similar, but when you look at the fake Sting, the nose was different. And I remember Luger and the Nasty Boys and several others roaming through the parking lot looking for Sting. Then at the War Games match, he came out, leveled some people, and then walked out. After that, on Nitro, Sting gave his last promo for a whole year. And he said, and I will never forget this because I used to quote it to Alana when she told me he was going to turn to the NWO, that "The only thing that's for sure about the Stinger is nothing's for sure."
And in that year, we only got sporadic spots with Sting in the rafters. We had a Nitro in Birmingham that my Aunt Barbara took me and Alana too and we were RING SIDE! It was amazing. And Sting, much like Roman Reigns does now, came down from the crowd, climbed in the ring, and it was the happiest moment of my life. I was in the same building with Sting. The Sting I loved! He was silent, he didn't have to say a word. His presence was enough to scare the shit out of the NWO and I loved it. As someone who hated the bad guys, I was thrilled to see someone standing up to them and not getting punked out. He started coming into the ring and putting his back to his "former" friends like Luger, the Steiners, and even the Giant. He would give them the bat, hold his arms out as he put his back to them as a test of faith. If they hit him, they would become his enemy. Everyone seemed to know that. While this would occasionally happen, the NWO kept telling people how Sting was with them. My faith was never shaken. Sting would not be with the organization that made him stop wrestling in the first place.
Looking back on it now, what Sting did with his character was game changing. He went from this wild man in the ring, with plenty of skill. Instead he went to become this menacing presence, a vigilante for justice. And he started to make it very clear that his aim was Hogan. The bat pointed in his direction became infamous. And everyone knew that when Sting got his hands on Hogan, the one that had seemingly started all of this mess, there would be Hell to pay.
Enter Starcade! I managed to talk my dad into ordering this ppv for me because by this point I was totally and completely obsessed with wrestling. Alana was still a Macho Man fan and so when he joined the NWO she followed. But I stuck with Sting. And so, this match, which had been building for over a year made me so excited I could hardly stand it. I remember wanting all other matches to be over and just to see Sting get his hands on Hogan. When the intro for Sting hit, I remember that I had literal goosebumps! That little piece about how a man seeks revenge all called back to The Crow and it was intense to watch. Sting standing across the ring from Hogan, Hogan basically taunting him, and there was nothing WCW could have done to make that match as good as we had wanted. Oh, yeah, except to have Sting win clean. Which he didn't. It was a wonky ending, but Sting ended up with the belt, and the WCW ran out and cheered.
After that, some weird things happened with Sting joining the NWO Wolfpack, and I can't even say anything about that because I had a NWO Wolfpack shirt just because he was on it (remember when they used to sell those shirts at Walmart? I owned a Kevin Nash one, too). But eventually, I lost interest in the product, whether it was because I was growing up and moving on to college, whatever the reason, I stopped watching.
However, Sting was still my favorite. I even took my nephew Landon to see a TNA match in Huntsville just because I knew Sting was going to be there. I was more excited to go than he was! And Sting came out of the crowd from the entrance beneath us and at 31 years old I was freaking out. The teenager inside of me was so happy I could hardly breathe. Landon, my wonderful nephew who humors me sometimes and watches wrestling with me, sat with me while we watched videos of old Sting matches and how he had the bad, and the one with the vulture, and where he came up out of the ring, and lets not forget the multiple "Stings". He was excited (to be fair, his favorite is the Undertaker).
As I started watching wrestling again somewhere around the beginning of 2014 (because of Daniel Bryan) I knew Sting was still with TNA. However, he did, finally, sign with WWE that year. I remember being at work and watching that clip of him showing up to WWE's panel at Comic Con. It was amazing. I was so excited. And the thought that we might actually get to see him compete in a WWE ring was thrilling. The dream match of everyone who ever watched wrestling could actually come true. We could see Sting vs. the Undertaker. But that looked less likely as the Undertaker went into seclusion after his Wrestlemania match against Brock Lesnar.
Fast forward to Survivor Series 2014. Like everyone else seemed to be, I was convinced the Authority was going to win, by any means necessary (cheating). When Ziggler hit Rollins with the Zig Zag, I thought that he might actually pull this off. But when HHH entered the ring, I knew all hope was lost. I was bummed. But just as Scott Armstrong was getting ready to hit the three count, that crow sounded. Keep in mind, I'm in my room, door closed. My parents are asleep across the house from me. When the crow sound hit, the room went dark for half a second, and then the music sounded...I JUMPED OUT OF MY CHAIR SCREAMING! STING! OMG IT'S STING!!!!!!!!! I was screaming so loud my parents could hear me in their room with their door shut. My dad even called my cell phone to see what I was screaming about. No one could understand. The part of me that always loved him was having a panic attack!
I didn't watch the match he had at Wrestlmania to be with HHH. I don't think anyone did. Bray Wyatt or Taker would have been better. But the build up, the mind games that occurred was all perfect. It worked. That match was built up much better than the main event. To be honest, I didn't know if Sting would still be able to go. But he could. And he did. I think the inclusion of the NWO into the match made NO sense considering Sting's height of popularity was when he was AGAINST the NWO. To have the NWO come to his rescue...I get what they tried to do. The WCW vs. the WWE. But how do you have Sting's first WWE match as a loss, especially at Wrestlemania. And against HHH? He didn't need that win! I even saw an interview with Scott Hall after that match where he was questioning the decision of Sting losing.
"So we’re all in there again, and I’m next to Hulk [Hogan] on the ring apron and Triple H is going over the match and then he goes, ‘OK, he’ll break the sledgehammer, then I’ll hit him with the sledgehammer, and cover him, 1-2-3."
I looked at Hulk, and Hulk looked at me, and I was thinking, “Sting, what kind of lawyer do you have, bro? You’re coming in the door doing a job? You weren’t even guaranteed to go over?'”Obviously, guys that were friends with HHH even thought that it was weird that Sting didn't win that match. But as Scott Hall also said "Vince is never going to go with something he didn't create". This actually makes a lot of sense if you look at what is happening in that company right now.
Anyway, onto the set up for Night of Champions. Seth Rollins is a helluva wrestler. I watch him and I'm like "This guy is so good". I feel the same way about Dean Ambrose. But the set up of his match with Sting was great. It was the old school vs. the new school. It was a tried and true veteran and he goes out there and has a much better match than anyone thought he could and with one of the best in the business.
Then there's tragedy. First, I'm shocked he took that bump through the announce table. It looked terrible when he took it because it looked like his head bumped off the monitor. But then the first buckle bomb he took, you could tell something had happened. With the way he kept opening and closing his hand, it just didn't look right. But the second one, I told my dad then and there that he was actually hurt. And I have to hand it to Seth Rollins because he sold it like the great heel he was, but even I could tell there was genuine concern on his face. It's one thing to accidentally break someone's nose, but for someone to lose the ability to use their body is terrifying. I can't imagine how badly he felt, and everyone said as much. But Sting finished the match and Rollins went over. They said that Rollins was standing at the ambulance after the match apologizing over and over again. Sting has even gone on record and said that it was his own fault about how he landed into the buckle bomb that was the problem, that nothing Seth did was a cause of the injury.
And now, he's being inducted into the Hall of Fame. I wish it was by someone other than Ric Flair, because I just don't like Flair and I feel like he'll find a way to make it about him. But I think it's about time, though. Yes, Sting went to TNA where he was arguably the biggest name they had for a long time. But I think, of all the things he's done, that period in the 90s, The Crow gimmick, will go down as one of the best changes that a wrestler could ever have. He was more over than almost anyone at that time. Seeing him, even being teased with the possibility of him being there was enough to put people in the seats. WWE can try to play it off all they want, can try to tarnish Sting by allowing his only two matches in WWE to have been losses, but during the height of Sting's popularity the WCW was crushing WWE.
With all that being said, it is a sad day for me. I always hoped that he would be able to come back, just one last match. But his health is more important. I know that. His legacy, outside of the WWE, will probably stand the test of time. I mean, it's twenty years later and I remember watching him walk to the ring at Starcade and the goosebumps like it was yesterday.
Sting is my favorite wrestler of all time. Others will come and go and impress me, but a part of my adolescence was dedicated to my love for Sting. I only hope will always get the recognition he deserves for what he's done for the wrestling industry.
Scott Hall Quote from Scott Hall on Sting - Inquisitor
Photocredit to ringsidecollectibles.com
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