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Post by HIM on Mar 4, 2024 21:11:12 GMT -5
Now that Sting's wrestling career is over and he's had so many different looks and runs, so many characters, which do you love the most? Here's my top 3.
1. Crow Sting 96-97 (WCW) - This is what made me a Sting fan. Sure, he was cool years prior but when he came out there with the silence, no nonsense, different presentation compared to everyone on the roster, hanging in the rafters, THE BAT. Then you get his Starrcade entrance with that kid talking which IMO has to be one of my top 5 greatest wrestling entrances ever. This guy was HIM.
2. Wolfpac Sting 98 (WCW) - The Wolfpac were just dope so seeing Sting join them, having fun, just chillin I really enjoyed that. The red and black look worked super well too.
3. Finale Run (AEW) - I was one of the ones who didn't care much about Sting in the matches and doing what not. As a Darby supporter, I thought it was cool but anything more than that? I didn't wanna see. By the end of it yeah man. This run to me is the perfect sendoff for wrestling legends of that level. His no selling, his aura, just everything about it was perfect.
Honorable Mentions
- Transitional Sting circa 96 (WCW) - This is when I first saw Sting. Surfer Sting ain't here because I didn't know of him then but this Sting was cool. He was growing the blonde out and he was battling for his honor against the roster who thought he was betraying them by joining the NWO. From a major babyface character standpoint I thought that was pretty dope. The guy being betrayed by the other guys? Clever.
- Main Event Mafia Sting (TNA) - Now, I didn't watch him in TNA at all but anytime I see this Sting whether it's in a picture or a clip or even a match I'm like "nah, this guy's pretty dope" so yeah he's going here based off of aura alone. He's got that "fighting game boss" energy.
- Surfer Sting - Again, I didn't know this Sting but anytime I saw him he had the It Factor so he's going here off the strength.
Who yall got?
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Mar 4, 2024 22:00:17 GMT -5
Should be noted, the dude has aged incredibly well
Some wrestlers just... don't, the roid era, the hard drugs era, Sting lived through both of those and you can see how rough it's made guys from the same generation... if not outright killed them at an early age
Dude is an example to live by for a number of reasons
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Post by Cyno on Mar 4, 2024 22:02:55 GMT -5
Ah, I see someone else appreciates the red-and-black Wolfpac Sting. His classic Crow look will always been my favorite, but the Wolfpac look was a lot of fun, too.
I also liked Joker Sting a lot. Main Event Mafia suit Sting was fun, too. It's funny because he looked the most like a legit crime boss out of the MEM members in the suit look, but he was also the most morally conflicted guy in the group. Like he'd jump you with a bat and participate in group beatdowns, but feel bad about it after. It was one of the few times I think Sting as a heel actually worked because he still wasn't an outright BAD guy, just more of an anti-villain if anything.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2024 22:13:14 GMT -5
97 Crow Sting IMO is best Sting.
That first pic though looks more like Colt Cabana impersonating Sting.
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J. Hova
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Post by J. Hova on Mar 4, 2024 23:03:33 GMT -5
This is going to be a generational thing.
Surfer Sting - Dude was over more than any other single act in WCW for 7 years. He was built as just the man in WCW and delivered with everyone (Flair, Luger, Rude, Vader, etc.). If you worked with Sting in WCW from 89 - 96, you were instantly elevated. This was the first incarnation I saw of him, so that will always rank tops with me.
Crow Sting - He didn't speak for 18 months and people were losing their minds. I remember watching live when he pointed to the sign that said "Sting wants Hogan" and it came through the screen the energy in the arena.
TNA Sting (until Joker Sting) - He gave the rub to TNA for years. He was always treated the way he should have been treated, the legend, the ICON, the instant credibility. I love the stories that are told about this era, he kept wanting to retire, but Dixie just kept uping the money until he couldn't say no.
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ppl591
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Post by ppl591 on Mar 4, 2024 23:06:47 GMT -5
3, 8 and 18. Sting is my all time favorite wrestler. Specifically crow sting. The crow is one of my favorite movies of all time. As I got older I appreciated surfer sting so much more especially his matches with vader.
And I loved Joker sting. It was so different from anything else he'd ever done
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Post by HIM on Mar 4, 2024 23:10:17 GMT -5
Man looking at this really puts things in context.
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Post by GOTHIC CHARISMA 🧊 🥶❄️FURY on Mar 4, 2024 23:13:40 GMT -5
crow, wolfpac and yes, count me in with the joker sting appreciators. almost anyone else you'd be like "oh here comes this idiot doing a dark knight impersonation way later" but he even made that work. pure pro wrestling stupidity that I love
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Lupin the Third
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Post by Lupin the Third on Mar 4, 2024 23:45:50 GMT -5
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Mar 4, 2024 23:52:33 GMT -5
I feel like Sting in 1999 combined the coolness of the Crow look with an incredible physique that made him look like such a badass. It's just sad that the company fell off right when he seemed ready to be the top guy again.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Mar 4, 2024 23:55:00 GMT -5
Him moving to the Crow look was definitely the right move, even if I feel like it looked sort of silly before his hair properly grew out. I get why he did it, though, since the "Surfer Sting" look was feeling fairly dated by that time, and Steve Borden as himself kind of feels like a low key kind of personality, so you do still need something to spruce him up. This did exactly that.
Speaking of Surfer Sting, I did always like his Sgt. Pepper jacket in the patriotic colors. Evidently, so did Cody Rhodes' costume designer, given the supposed "Homelander" coat looks MUCH more like Sting's look, minus maybe the epaulets. But, I get that one's shouting into the void.
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Post by sfvega on Mar 5, 2024 0:06:46 GMT -5
3/4, 6/7, and 9. I really wanted them to do something like this last night.
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Post by Vanilla Gorilla on Mar 5, 2024 0:14:07 GMT -5
When I was a kid I saw a pic of Sting (blond flat top) and his bulldog in a wrestling magazine. He looked so cool. By that point he was already my favorite wrestler. So whenever I walked my dog I pretended to be Sting. Surfer Sting was the total package (sorry Lex). So Surfer Sting was my favorite followed by Crow Sting. Being such a huge fan of him, I was so in on the whole story. His Starrcade 97 entrance was the absolute peak of WCW. I watched it today. Still goosebumps.
There is a ton that went wrong after that, but I am celebrating him and don’t want to go down the well trodden road of all the mistakes that killed WCW starting with the match itself.
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4real
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Post by 4real on Mar 5, 2024 5:20:06 GMT -5
91 Surfer Sting because that’s when I first saw him in WCW and thought he was so cool
97 Crow Sting is of cause iconic now.
Joker TNA Sting for the lols
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Post by Ryushinku on Mar 5, 2024 5:37:37 GMT -5
91-94, 97-99, and 21-24.
The 91-94 version of Surfer Sting is my favourite time for that particular version. 1992 in particular was a real star performance year for Sting, imo. Mixing it up with Vader, Flair, Cactus, Muta, Austin, Rude, two great War Games, tag with Luger against the Steiners.
Crow Sting, of course. 97 against the nWo was the coolest, but I agree with Evil Brood in that 99 Sting combined the look with his best athleticism in the Crow WCW years. Big bouts with Hogan, Flair, DDP, Bret, Goldberg, and so on.
And I probably would say the 21-24 AEW Sting, simply because it was an unexpected good run, with some real good matches, and ended up so very well. It added a real burnish to his legacy that the endings of his TNA and WWE runs couldn't do.
Honourable mention to his 06-09 TNA run (good shape and good matches).
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Post by THE FVNKER on Mar 5, 2024 5:57:01 GMT -5
My personal favorites are the usual Crow/Wolfpac looks but just to throw a different one out there:
I really enjoyed his Bound for Glory 2006 return look against Jarrett. No shirt with the long trunks. It was sort of an amalgamation of Surfer Sting and the Crow/Wolfpac look in itself. Not to mention it was just cool seeing him be in really good shape, probably the last time he was that fit in his career (that’s not a knock).
I refuse to believe Sting in WWE would’ve ever been anything but basically exactly what it turned out to be, but in my head this year would’ve been one of the better picks for when Stinf could’ve had a WrestleMania program with Taker. In 2006, Taker faced Mark Henry which I didn’t watch but I feel like the Sting match would be a no brainer to swap out for. They were both sort of on the tail ends of their prime but could absolutely still go. It beats having it in 98 for me cause you really needed these guys to have hit that Legend status before they do it.
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Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Mar 5, 2024 6:49:29 GMT -5
Being super old, i first became a little Stinger around the original Clash of the Champions so Surfer Sting has always held its own against Crow Sting in my book.
Which makes it weird that he was Surfer Sting for a relatively brief amount of time in the long span of his career.
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Post by Pooh Carlson on Mar 5, 2024 7:25:29 GMT -5
Number 1 is specifically Starrcade 97 Sting.
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Post by Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story on Mar 5, 2024 7:52:51 GMT -5
OG Crow Sting has to be tops for me but I liked BFG Sting too. As an aside, if you haven’t watched the WWE2K15 Sting commercial in a minute, go give it another watch, it’s a great piece of marketing that was better than the dude’s whole WWE run. I’m so glad AEW gave him his flowers.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Mar 5, 2024 8:05:57 GMT -5
1. Joker Sting, f*** you I loved It 2. 99 era Sting 3. 96-97 peak Sting
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