| Wrestler: | Sting |
|---|---|
| Real Name: | Steve Bordon |
| Birthday: | March 20, 1959 |
| Hometown: | Venice Beach, California |
| Marital Status: | Married to Sue |
| Height & Weight: | 6’3″ – 252 lbs |
| Trained by: | Red Bastien |
| Debut: | 1985 |
| Previous Names: | Flash (Surfer) Sting (The Crow) Sting |
| Finishing Move: | The Scorpian Deathlock |
| Favorite Moves: | The Scorpian Death Drop The Stinger Splash |
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Notable Feuds: The Fantastics Ric Flair Terry Funk The Great Muta Lex Luger Scott Hall Hulk Hogan The Giant Rick Steiner Vampiro Scott Steiner Lex Luger Abyss Kurt Angle Samoa Joe A.J. Styles Matt Morgan Jeff Jarrett Rob Van Dam |
Sting Title History
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.
written by Bruce Bostwick
