The Tragedy of The Man Called Sting

[Guest Sting Fanatic]

Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan.

 

Speaking of these two men is like speaking about day and night.

 

Ric Flair was "da man" of the 80's, owning the NWA from 1981 on.  No North American wrestler has participated in more highly rated matches than the "Nature Boy" with such a wide variety of opponents.

 

Hulk Hogan was the biggest draw of the 80's, able to sell out damn near any crowd against just about any opponent.  For some reason, Hogan versus said heel challenger always got over and did good business.

 

And this column is suppose to be about Sting your wondering?  Be patient, it is.  I just need some references.

 

Even though he is my favorite wrestler...even though I consider him to be one of the greatest of all time...Sting's name will likely never be mentioned in the same breath of Flair's or Hogan's.

 

Through all the differences, it is two specific similarities shared by Hogan and Flair that made them into household names.

 

Ego and an actual "love" for wrestling.

 

Sadly, Sting doesn't have either to the degree Flair and Hogan did and do.  Add in a severe knee injury at the point in time where you are MASSIVELY OVER, scheduled to win the World Heavyweight Title in a passing of the torch match, and progressively becoming one of the best workers, your in trouble.

 

If Sting had an ego, he sure never showed it when it came to wrestling.  I don't think there is a big name main event wrestler who has done more jobs than the Stinger (barring Ric Flair, who did the majority of them as a Heel mind you).  Want to see a track record?

 

The Great Muta - he spent the latter part of 1989 feuding with Muta, and it wasn't until Muta's booking self-destruction @ Starrcade '89 that Sting FINALLY cleanly beat Muta.  Still yet, a feud that never had the appropriate blowoff at any time (in '89 or '91).

 

Rick Rude - for every match Sting won against Rude, there was at least one or two that he lost to Rude.  Of all of Sting's feuds, his series with Rude never had that ***BIG*** match.

 

Vader - these two men spent close to four years wrestling some of the best matches of the 1990s.  The Sting/Vader series was simply awesome.  Ironically, Sting seemed to have made up for the lack of blowoffs previous with Vader.  They had 5-6 matches you could have considered "blowoff material".

 

Hulk Hogan - if there was ever a single match Sting should have simply kicked mucho ass in and won majorly, Starrcade '97 against Hogan is ~THAT~ match.  I don't think any opponent stiffed Sting with more bad bookings than Hogan.  This was a dream match damnit.

 

Sting always seemed to accept stupid booking ideas, regardless of the cost.  Black Scorpion angle anyone?  Maybe the poor feud with Jake Roberts?  Freaking mini-movies?  Anything post-98 is probably able to be listed here as well.

 

The lack of ego as a wrestler can probably be contributed to Sting's seemingly lack of love for pro wrestling.  Don't get me wrong.  I think Sting did love pro wrestling.  He spent close to 15 years in the sport/business/entertainment market.  He genuinely seemed hyped up always and did love his fans (or he IS a better actor than Shutterspeed proved), but Sting was a former body-builder who got paid much better to wrestle.  His mentality seemed to be one Bobby Heenan would favor (remember his comments about the option of $500 a night to be champ and $1000 a night to lose and how wrestlers would actually take the $500 given the opportunity?).

 

Want to know what is amazing?

 

Through all of this...

 

Sting is still considered the wrestler of the 90s primarily...he still wrestled in a high number of great matches...he still won multiple World Heavyweight Titles...and he still became one of the top five most popular wrestlers of all time (easily in the ranks with Hogan, Austin, Rock, and Flair).

 

Damn.  Imagine what could have been.

[Guest Tony149]

Good stuff. Sting was WCW's star, but he was never the Superstar he should of been.