I talked with Vince McMahon, he was really good to me. I just got this feeling. Put it this way, all the guys from WCW that went to WWE when the acquisition happened, by then to me there wasn’t a real WCW. WCW was for so many years was Hall and Nash and Hogan, Savage, it was Sting, it was Luger, it was The Steiner Brothers. It was a certain package of guys who were gone. The package that he (Vince McMahon) had left had dwindled down to just a small group of guys, great wrestlers, phenomenal talents, but they weren’t with WCW for all these years, you know mainstay kind of names and all that.
Then I was watching what he (Vince McMahon) was doing storyline wise and he had WCW against the WWF and the hostile takeover thing and the whole deal there and I’ll never forget Booker T, making his first appearance on their show and he came in the ring and he’s making this big huge fight, guys are flying all over the place and then The Rock comes in the ring. The Rock is hitting guys then they come back to back and The Rock turns around and they look at each other, The Rock looks at Booker T and says ‘Who are you?’ That one little comment is all it took to just bury someone, in my opinion, someone like Booker T. You know lets let the world know that you’re a WCW guy and you’re a peon here. It was going to require lots of work for Booker T to try to come back and you know he did because he’s a talented guy. After all the years I’d put in to wrestling at that point it seemed like a gamble to me, I didn’t trust how I’d be used.
– Sting on why he never signed with WWE.
Back in early 2001 one of the biggest professional wrestling companies in the world was in the stages of fighting for its survival. World Championship Wrestling was WWE’s greatest rival for many, many years, stealing their talent, having better matches, promoting better angles, you name it and WCW for the longest time was not only WWE’s equal but better than them in so many different ways. WCW was steeped in rich professional wrestling history dating back to its former days as Jim Crockett Promotions. Some of the greatest stars and wrestlers in the world performed in WCW names such as Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Diamond Dallas Page, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Goldberg and the list goes on and on. When WWE finally conquered their arch rival and bought out WCW many of those names if they hadn’t already had begun to make their way over to Stamford, Connecticut. Every one of those names have competed both for Vince McMahon and Ted Turner/Erich Bischoff in WCW. Right up until 2014 the one name synonymous with WCW who had still never worked for Vince McMahon was Sting.
There’s much to be made of what ultimately led to WCW’s demise however that is another story for a whole other day. However one of the main criticisms was their lack or inability to make stars. There were very few home-grown stars in WCW, they were often made elsewhere and a fresh coat of paint if you like kept their act alive in Atlanta. Sting was one of the only guys with the exception of Goldberg whose star was solely created and nurtured in WCW. From his early days with the bleach blonde hair and face paint to the latter day gimmick, patterned after The Crow movie, the long black trench coat with the new black and white face paint and the baseball bat. Sting became a much darker, more current character. When WCW closed its doors many jumped at the chance to work for Vince McMahon as the prospect of an invasion type angle was just too good to pass up. As noted in the quote above Sting was initially reluctant to sign with WWE and when he saw the alliance angle begin to unfold he didn’t trust how he would be used and neglected to sign with WWE. Instead he opted for TNA and completed a ten year run which saw him wrestle the likes of Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christian and more. He was often one of TNA’s highest paid performers and was treated like a huge star from the moment he walked in right up until the moment he left. Vince McMahon certainly tried many times to sign Sting to a contract. After all Vince was certainly used to achieving any goal he set his mind too, he had conquered the wrestling world, surely he could get Sting to sign with his promotion? For the longest time it seemed as if Sting would never compete in a WWE ring and he was destined to be the most famous professional wrestler ever to never work for Vince McMahon. That all changed in 2014 when Sting debuted at Survivor Series and cost The Authority their jobs helping Dolph Ziggler get a win over Seth Rollins to score the winning pinfall for his team. Whilst the match was great the debut of Sting 13 years after WCW had closed its doors was all anyone could talk about. The visual of the black and white face painted warrior went around the wrestling world in minutes.
The dream match that fans had been clamouring for, for decades (even the two competitors wanted the bout) was Sting vs The Undertaker. The idea of the man who symbolised WCW stepping up to challenge The Undertaker for the coveted undefeated streak was an incredibly exciting prospect that many fans had yearned for and would’ve plunked down a hell of a lot of money to see. However fate intervened and The Undertaker’s famed streak came to an end last year at the hands of current WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Still if Sting was coming to WWE he needed to be used in the right way. He is quite clearly a special attraction and one that shouldn’t be squandered so if he was going to compete it needed to be against a big name and one that carry him to a good match given his current age and potential ring rust. Given Triple H’s current heel status the natural fit was for Sting vs Triple H and at Fastlane last month Sting issued the challenge by directing his baseball bat first at Hunter and then at the giant WrestleMania sign hanging at the top of the arena. Triple H accepted and we immediately knew the match was booked.
What has become incredibly interesting, and almost ironic in many ways, is that its no secret that the build up to this years WrestleMania hasn’t been quite as impactful as it has been in many years. Whilst there are a lot of wrestling fans who are arguably being overly critical about it this year’s line-up doesn’t immediately scream “best ‘Mania ever!” However if nothing else the one match that has everyone talking is Sting vs Triple H. The idea of Sting competing in a WWE ring is incredibly intriguing for a number of reasons. After all these years it’ll be interesting to see if Sting can still go on a big stage. No disrespect to TNA but WWE is a whole different ball game and WrestleMania even more so. The most rabid, loyal, hardcore fans attend WrestleMania and will scrutinise Sting’s match as much as possible. WWE has played up on television that this is WCW vs WWE and whilst in 2015 that might just seem a tad silly given WCW has long since been dead and buried but in many way it IS WCW vs WWE. It’s well known how WWE management have felt in the past about stars they never created. However given over the years the successes of former outside acts such as CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens it seems WWE finally has grown up and realised there might just be a different way of doing things after all. Most of the entire WWE locker room are huge fans of Sting and will no doubt want to see his match. Given that Sting was arguably the standard bearer and symbol of WCW for many years it seems so ironic that he is in a WWE ring and is positioned in one of the top matches that to many is the only reason to buy WrestleMania this year! Say what you will about Sting but without question he is a man with integrity and honour which should be respected beyond reproach. After all he’s had Vince McMahon throwing the big bucks at him for years to wrestle for him and he has shown true character by sticking to his principles and doing what he believed right. Now in 2015 times are different. WWE has changed and is no longer the same company as it was in 2001. Will Sting be the saviour of WrestleMania? This Sunday vs Triple H, the wrestling world finds out.
