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 | of Sting part 2 | |
So, with the match signed, Rude had no choice but to battle Sting at Spring Stampede. However, an unexpected visitor showed up right before the match. It was Harley Race. On behalf of Vader, he challenged the winner of the match to meet Vader in a title bout. Sting gave his answer in the form of a right hand. As for the match itself, it was a pretty good encounter that ended when Vader and Race came back out. They tried to hit Sting with a chair but hit Rude instead. Sting quickly covered Rude for the win and the WCW International Title.
May 1, Rude regained the title in Japan but injured his neck doing so. This put him out of his Slamboree '94 match up with Vader. WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle wanted to give back the title to Sting, if he would take Rude's place against Vader. Sting refused to accept the belt unless he could defeat Vader. Bockwinkle agreed and Sting went on to face and defeated Vader to regain the title.
By June of 1994, WCW decided that there should be one world champion. So they signed Sting to face then WCW World Champion Ric Flair in a unification bout at a Clash Of The Champions event. Showing up unexpectedly was Sherri Martel, who had face paint on similar to Sting's. Everyone thought that she was on Sting's side but it turned out to be a ploy all along as she help Ric Flair win the match and unify both belts. The WCW had signed Hulk Hogan in 1994, and that sent Sting out of the World Title picture.
Sting injured his left eye in a match against Flair, when Sherri scratched Sting in the eye, this put Sting out of action for three weeks. In September 1994, Sting accepted a triangle match against Vader and The Guardian Angel to determine a top contender for Hulk Hogan's title. Sting, after giving a supreme effort, lost the match due to outside interference, a masked man came in and clipped Sting in his bad left knee, causing him to lose. Anyway, Sting made an appearance at Halloween Havoc '94 after the cage match between Hogan and Flair. Hogan was attacked by The Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, and Avalanche. Sting came in to save him and would help him on and off his feud with "The Three Faces Of Fear".
Sting used the first part of 1995 feuding with two useless wrestlers in the shape of Avalanche and Big Bubba Rogers, in these matches Sting carried the two to some OK matches. A Tournament for the vacant US Title was the next part of the Stinger's life, first he defeated Arn Anderson, and Paul Orndorff before he had to carry some dead weight in the shape of Meng in the final. Sting of course won the match and the WCW US Title for a second time. Sting then proceeded to battle Meng for months with the same result.
November 13th Sting lost his title to Kensuke Sasaki, and was not able to regain it in rematches. In the Horsemen ranks strange were happening, Flair was getting attacked by Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. Flair asked Sting for help, but he didn't trust him, eventually Sting helped Flair but he never should have done it. At Halloween Havoc Sting and Flair was supposed to take on Anderson and Pillman, but Flair didn't show up, because of an attack. Flair, pretending to be injured, came out to "help" Sting. When Flair was tagged in, the trap was sprung the Horsemen laid out the Stinger.
But Sting rebounded, two weeks after he wrestled Flair on Nitro, Sting put on the Scorpion Deathlock and refused to release it. Lex Luger then came to the ring and talked some sense into Sting, who released the hold. Luger had returned to WCW earlier in 1995, and he was welcomed back by Sting, but not by Hogan who didn't have high thoughts for Luger. After the incident Hogan accused Sting for being a traitor and challenged him for a match at Nitro, November 20th.
This was the time, when Hogan for the first time wrestled in black clothes, due to the Giant shaving of his famous moustache. Sting and Hogan at his mercy in the Scorpion Deathlock, when the Dungeon of Doom came out and caused the end of the match. Sting then settled his score with Flair at World War 3, where Sting came out on top.
At Starrcade '95 it was time for a the Triangle Match between Ric Flair, Lex Luger and Sting. The match ended when both Luger and Sting were counted out of the ring. The controversial part of the match was when Sting was trying to get back into the ring, Luger held on to him!!! Needless to say, it caused some friction and led insiders to believe that they were headed for another feud. That never materialised as Sting and Lex went on to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship in January, 1996, from the Harlem Heat.
Their five month reign was marked with controversy and confusion as Sting began to question Luger's true motives. In the end, Luger proved that he was on the level with Sting despite his shallowness. Sting and Luger were during their regain able to hold on to the title, despite challenges from teams like the Blue Bloods, and the Road Warriors. June 24, the Harlem Heat was able to win back the title.
In June Scott Hall and Kevin Nash returned to WCW and claimed that they were taking over. Sting was the first one to stand up to Hall, but nothing more happened until Bash at the Beach. Sting, Luger, and Randy Savage were going to face Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, and their mystery partner. Luger was knocked out in the first minute by Sting when he executed a Stinger Splash that had Luger in the pileup. The worst was yet to come though as Hulk Hogan betrayed WCW and formed the New World Order with Hall and Nash, when he came to ring and dropped his big leg on Randy Savage.
After his team lost to the nWo at Bash At The Beach, Sting and Lex Luger concentrated their efforts towards ending Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan's new organisation before it got off the ground. Unfortunately, that effort would turn in a bizarre chapter in the career of Sting.
At Fall Brawl '96, Sting and Lex Luger were scheduled to team with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson for the War Games. About a week before on WCW Monday Nitro, Lex Luger was assaulted by "Sting" and the nWo. Or so it would seem. Nonetheless, the nWo did what it wanted to do and that was put Team WCW in disarray before Fall Brawl. Luger and Co. was convinced that Sting had gone nWo. In fact, WCW had been convinced that Sting had defected.
Anyway, Sting returns from a tour of New Japan to find out that Luger doesn't believe him and that he had turned traitor. Later on in the match, the real Sting shows up and cleans house of the bogus Sting and the rest of the nWo. But, after assaulting the nWo, Sting leaves the cage, more or less saying "you finish them yourselves". Needless to say, the nWo won when Luger passed out from a "Scorpion Deathlock" and a front face lock by Hogan. This was Sting's last match for a long time.
The next night, Sting came out to address the crowd and told WCW to "stick it" and declared himself a "free agent". The nWo did what they wanted to do and that was to cause dissension in WCW. Sting disappeared for a few weeks and resurfaces with his "Crow" persona sitting in the rafters and doing drop ins, whenever the nWo thought too much of themselves.
The nWo Sting was wrestling, when the real Sting came out smacked the living daylights out of the fake. The nWo then came to ring and asked him to join them. Sting responded by saying "There's only one thing for sure with the Stinger, and that's that nothing is sure", then he left. Wrestlers who accused Sting for betrayal, paid for it, including Jeff Jarrett, Rick Steiner, Jim Duggan, and Lex Luger. Many thought that Sting had joined the nWo, and when Randy Savage returned to WCW in January 1997, Sting sided with him, shortly after Savage joined the nWo.
At WCW Uncensored the questions were finally answered, when Sting whipped the nWo again by himself, he laid out Hall, Nash, Savage, and Hogan, Sting pointed his bat at Hogan and made clear, who he wanted. But this was only the first of many Superman attacks against the nWo. WCW tried to get Sting back on their side by offering him contracts to wrestle different opponents, but not Hogan, but JJ Dillon and Gene Okerlund, where so stupid that they couldn't understand what Sting wanted, even if the fans yelled Hogan's name and Sting took a sign with Hogan's name on it.
Eventually a match was signed for Starrcade, December 28th. Sting showed some ring rust, but he still delivered a passable performance. In the end Hogan dropped his leg on Sting and the referee counted 1-2-3, rather quick, Bret Hart came to the ring and claimed the count was too fast and then decked the referee. The match continued Sting got Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock, and it was more than Hogan could handle. Sting became WCW World Champion for a third time.
The following night at Nitro, Sting and Hogan clashed again, with almost the same ending. Then at Thunder, January 8th, JJ Dillon stripped Sting of the title, because of the controversial way he won it. A new match between Sting and Hogan was going to be at SuperBrawl to find out, who had the right to call himself WCW World Champion. Sting defeated Hogan again. This time Randy Savage hit Hogan with a spray can to secure Sting the win and the WCW World Championship.
Sting then sided with Randy Savage to breakup the nWo. At Uncensored Sting defeated Scott Hall, and in a cage match between Savage and Hogan, the Disciple interfered, Sting then dropped down to the ring to help Savage. But Savage turned on Sting and hit him with a pile driver. The feud with Savage boiled up and down, because Savage injured his knee and it looked like he would have to miss the showdown with Sting. So Sting used two Nitro's to battle Kevin Nash, who on both occasions came close to the victory, only to get it screwed up by Hogan's interference.
Savage chose to participate in the match. Sting was dominating the match, when suddenly Hogan showed his ugly face, but instead of going after Sting he shoved Savage from the top rope. Later in the match Kevin Nash showed up and blasted Sting with a Jackknife Powerbomb and dragged Savage on top of Sting, and that ended Sting's WCW World Title regain.
Sting wants revenge on Kevin Nash for his actions, so he has joined forces with the Giant to challenge the WCW Tag Team Champions, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, to a match. Sting was in for a surprise at Nitro, May 11th, his tag team partner the Giant turned nWo, Hogan's fraction, looks like Sting is having problems at Slamboree.
At Thunder, May 14th, the Giant stated that when he and Sting wins the WCW Tag Team Title, Sting have to decide if he is nWo or an enemy. Will a Blade Runner come to save Sting?
Sting and the Giant won the WCW Tag Team Title from Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, when Hall brained Nash with the title belt. As the Pay-Per-View ended, the Giant asked Sting to choose side. After the pay-per-view went of the air, Sting showed the bird to the Giant and Hall. The next day at Nitro, Sting made his decision, by spitting the Giant in the face, a fight then started with Sting on the receiving end, but Kevin Nash came to the rescue.
At Nitro, May 25th, Sting and Lex Luger had a match against the Giant and the bogus Sting, after the real Sting had disposed the bogus Sting, the Wolfpac offered Sting a place in their group. Sting was hesitant, but before we could get his answer the program went of the air. After the show went of the air, Sting accepted the shirt and gave the Wolfpac signs to the rest of the members, and with that the Wolfpac and Sting stand strong. On Thunder they didn't say anything about Sting joining the Wolfpac and that he still had to make his decision.
At Nitro, June 2nd, we finally got our answer, as if we didn't know. After a match between Nash/Luger and Giant/Hogan, Sting came down from the rafters, first he revealed a black and white nWo shirt, when Hogan and the Giant were happy Sting attacked knocking Hogan down and slamming the Giant. Sting then went on to tear the nWo shirt up and reveal a black and red Wolfpac shirt, which means that Sting has joined the Wolfpac as if we didn't know.
The Giant wasn't too pleased with Sting's decision, so at Thunder, he declared Brian Adams as his new tag team partner and champion. Later that night the Giant and Adams lost a match to Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page, when Sting showed up with red face paint and distracted the Giant. JJ Dillon ordered a match at the Great American Bash between Sting and the Giant, where the winner would be declared to be the legitimate Tag Champ and will have the right to name his partner as the other half of the Championship team.
At Nitro, June 8th, Sting had an interview, where he again showed up with red face paint, he also gave a big howl before the interview, just as we were used to for almost two years ago. For me it looks like Sting will return to his old gimmick sooner or later.
At the Great American Bash, Sting went up against the Giant, and they put on an excellent show, but the Giant couldn't stop the Stinger who won the match and the right to name his tag team partner as WCW Tag Team Champion. At Nitro, June 15 Sting teased who his partner would be, but in the end he picked the leader of the Wolfpac, Kevin Nash, together they took on Harlem Heat, but they were not able stop the champions. Sting has teamed with Lex Luger lately, because Nash has problems with his back.
Nitro, July 20, Sting and Kevin Nash lost the WCW Tag Team Title to the team of Scott Hall and the Giant, during the match Bret Hart came to the ring and distracted Sting, who then got pinned and thereby lost the title. Thankfully this will be the start of a program with Bret Hart and a chance for both of them to shine in the spotlight.
At Nitro, July 27, Bret Hart claimed to be Sting's friend, but when Sting fought Scott Hall, Bret wanted to attack Sting, but Sting saw the attack coming and instead delivered a low blow to Bret, who then bailed after he escaped a Scorpion Deathlock attempt.
Bret Hart isn't the only thing on Sting's mind also Goldberg want to get some of the Stinger. At Nitro, August 3, Goldberg stated that he wanted to go everyone, including Sting to get the Giant, this brought out Sting, who questioned Goldberg's sanity. Sting and Lex Luger were supposed to face Scott Hall and the Giant for the WCW Tag Team Titles, but Luger was knocked down, this got Bret Hart to say that he would team with Sting. When it was time for the match, Sting came down from the rafters with the white and black face paint and a baseball bat, during the match Bret whacked Scott Hall with the bat, but who knows who he wanted to hit. Sting then pinned Hall but the referee reversed the decision. Bret then walked away with both belts, but he got the crow image of Sting back. But at Thunder two days later Sting was back in his red and black gimmick, I wonder where the WCW wants to go with this.
Sting hasn't had much luck since his feud with Bret Hart started, at Road Wild he was eliminated and at Nitro, August 10, Sting and Kevin Nash only defeated the Giant and Scott Hall via disqualification. Since Lex Luger has won the US Title from Bret Hart it will be interesting to see what the WCW wants to do with the Sting vs Bret feud.
Sting has recently signed a three year extension with the WCW. The newly signed deal was for over $1 million a year, and one of the conditions of the contract was that he would not have to work on Thursdays, which means we will not be seeing him on Thunder. At Nitro, August 31, Sting and Lex Luger took on the team of Bret Hart and Hollywood Hogan, during the match Hogan started whipping Sting with his belt, but Bret stopped him and the two started arguing. Have Bret Hart spoken the truth all along, is he really Sting's friend, Naah I don't think so, but it is kind of interesting the way WCW develops this feud.
The next week Diamond Dallas Dallas took the offer to join the Wolfpack as a threat and stated that he didn't trust Nash, because of his past in nWo, neither could he understand how Sting and Lex Luger could do it. This brought out the three members of the Wolfpack, Luger tried to persuade DDP, but to no avail. Sting then suggested a tag match pitting himself and Luger against DDP and Rowdy Piper, which was accepted. Later Bret went to the ring and shortly he was followed by Curt Hennig, Stevie Ray and Vincent. Sting then showed up with a baseball bat in hand and chased away the thugs. He handed the bat to Hart then turned his back on him, an old ploy from the "Crow" character days, Hart didn't do it though. Sting then left leaving Hart in the ring. Sting and Luger lost the tag match by disqualification, when Nash came to the ring and Jackknifed DDP. Sting entered the War Games Match at Fall Brawl but wasn't able to get the duke.
At Nitro, September 14, Sting got to tangle with Goldberg in the main event, Sting hit Goldberg with everything he got, but it had no effect, this frustrated Sting, but eventually he got Goldberg in the Scorpion Deathlock, but then Hogan came to the ring and kicked Sting in the head, Goldberg then hit the Spear and Jackhammer for the win. Bret Hart then came to the ring and told what had happened, Goldberg then helped Sting to his feat.
The next week at Nitro, Sting paid Bret Hart back, Bret was being punked by Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell, when Sting came to the rescue. At Nitro, September 28, Hogan challenged both Bret and Sting to a match, which Bret, on his own and Sting's behalf, accepted. During the match between Bret and Hogan, Sting came to the ring, when Hogan started working on Bret's "injured" knee, which got Hogan to back off. Sting then took Bret's spot in the match, and had Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock, when Bret hit Sting with a DDT and then put him in the Sharpshooter. Hogan and Hart continued to work over Sting until they had had their laugh.
At Nitro, October 5, Sting was out for revenge, when he found Bret Hart he beat the daylights out of him, until security got him to back off. Later Sting and Bret squared off in the main event, they fought all over the place, using tables, trash cans, chairs, and metal poles, Bret worked on Sting's leg. The end came when Sting put the Scorpion Deathlock on Bret, and then released the hold and walked away with a bad leg. At Thunder, Bret challenged Sting to a match at Halloween Havoc.
The next week at Nitro, Sting accepted the challenge, but also called out Bret and Hogan for a match the same night, this brought out the Ultimate Warrior, who wanted relive the old team with Sting, which he of course accepted. During the match Sting made all the work, suddenly the ring was full with nWo Hollywood's henchmen, but the ring filled with smoke after it cleared away, Sting stood in the ring with two baseball bats and together with the Warrior, he ran out the thugs.
At Nitro, October 19, Bret issued a challenge to Sting, since the only way Bret could get the respect of the fans was to kick Sting's butt. Sting came to the ring and completely dominated Bret until he missed a move, Bret then had the advantage, but Sting got Bret in the Scorpion Deathlock. Bret made it to the ropes, but Sting refused to let go, this brought down referees, which had no effect. Then Stevie Ray and Vincent attacked but Sting held on, until he suddenly creamed his attackers. Bret then made a run for it, but Sting went after him as the show went off the air. At Thunder Sting was on the way to defeat the Giant when the rest of the nWo thugs hit the ring and started working on Sting's leg, Rick Steiner then threw a bat to Sting, who cleared the ring.
At Halloween Havoc, Sting and Bret classhed in a good entounter. Hart used his illegal tactics to keep the advantage and Sting fought all that he could, with the crowd behind him. Bret used the bat that Sting had brought to the ring to score the victory. After the match Sting was put on a stretcher and carted away.