The SmarK Rant for The Best of Sting (Blu Ray)

The SmarK Rant for The Best of Sting

So as mentioned in my Nitro repost, I got this from the WWE Network a few years ago as a “thank you for subscribing” gift and never really got around to watching it before now. But hey, with all the kids talkin’ about Sting again in AEW, now is as good a time as any.

We start back in Venice Beach, where Sting owned a Gold’s Gym and Hulk Hogan used to work out there. Sting didn’t know who Hulk was, but people in wrestling tipped off promoters to Sting’s look and recruited him as the Blade Runners with Jim Hellwig.

The Blade Runners v. Brett Wayne Sawyer & Sean O’Reilly (April 86)

From Mid-South in the very early career of Sting, who was still Flash at this point. Flash stands there while Sawyer bounces off him to start, but Brett gets a dropkick and it’s over to Rock, who is an immobile human LJN wrestling figure at this point. Rock gets a press slam and chokes out Sawyer in the corner, but he gets another dropkick and brings in O’Reilly. Rock drops a leg on him and goes to a bearhug, and Flash comes in with a big boot and his own bearhug. More choking from Rock and another bearhug as these guys are a tad limited in their moveset. And they finish with a Hart Attack clothesline at 4:45 to end this awful, awful squash. Man, it’s a good thing Hellwig changed his name, can you imagine a future World champion named “Rock”? DUD

Sting & Rick Steiner v. Mike Rotunda & Ron Simmons (May 87)

Off to Florida now as Sting is much more human-sized and rapidly improving now. Steiner and Rotunda trade wristlocks on the mat and we take a break, returning with Simmons working on Steiner’s arm while Eddie Gilbert argues with Shaska Whatley on the floor. Rotunda comes in with an armbar and Rick finally tags out to Sting, but Rotunda quickly takes him down with the armbar as well. Simmons and Rotunda switch off on the arm, but a cheapshot from Steiner turns the tide and they work on Rotunda in the corner. Sting with a fistdrop off the middle for two and a snap suplex, but Rotunda reverses to his own and makes the hot tag to Simmons. Ron runs wild and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA, but Shaska distracts Ron and Sting gets the rollup for the pin at 5:54. A perfectly cromulent tag team match that shows how much better Sting was getting already. **1/2

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Sting (January 88)

From NWA Pro Wrestling! Yeah, I remember this one. This was of course two months before Sting’s famous title shot at the first Clash. They fight for the lockup to start and Flair gives him the chops, but of course Sting shrugs it off and gets a press slam and they’re already like peanut butter and chocolate meeting for the first time. Flair tries chops again and follows with a suplex, but Sting no-sells it and slams him again, and Flair bails to the floor in frustration. Funny bit as Flair yells at Teddy Long and shoves him, so Teddy runs into the ring and hides behind Sting, who dares Flair to come pick on HIM instead. Back in the ring, Flair tries another chop, but Sting is all fired up again. Flair takes him down and tries a kneedrop, but Sting pops up and gets a sleeper and we take a break as Sting misses a splash. Back with Flair in control with an atomic drop and now finally the chops are having an effect on Sting, and Flair takes him down and works the arm. Sting counters by throttling him, but Flair waits for Teddy Long to move behind him and then gets an EPIC ballshot right on camera. Sting fights that off, but Flair takes him down with a kneecrusher and gets the figure-four, and then grabs the ropes, but Sting powers up while the crowd goes nuts, and reverses the move. So Flair tosses him and puts him on the post for some more chops, and that’s pretty nasty. Back in, Flair goes back to the knee again, but Sting gets a bodypress for two. Backslide gets two. Flair charges and Sting clotheslines him out of the corner and then suplexes him in from the apron as Flair tries to retreat. And they slug it out as WE’RE DESPERATELY OUT OF TIME and leave it there at 17:00. A finish would have been nice but this was a tremendous TV match. ***1/2

Next up, Sting is off to WCW and we get some highlights of his early days in the TBS studio and talking heads from Brodus Clay and Natalya. Were they just hanging around the recording studio that day or something?

Sting v. Stan Lane (October 2 88)

From NWA Main Event. We get a posedown to start and Sting grabs a headlock and frustrates Lane with that. Stan tries his own headlock and Sting escapes with a hiptoss out of that, so Lane stops for some advice from Jim Cornette. That advice? “If you’re going to be inviting ring rats to your room, for the love of god use a condom!” Sadly he didn’t heed that advice and we got Lauren Boebert out of it. Back in the ring, Stan works the arm and Sting reverses to his own armbar. Jim Ross discusses Sting’s tag team history: “Sting’s had a few different tag team partners in his early career. One of them I think really held him back.” BLOCKING OUT THE SUN WITH THAT SHADE. Sting misses a charge and hits the turnbuckle and Stan takes over with a superkick while Tony and JR continue burying “his first partner” and Stan chokes him out on the ropes. Lane tosses him and tries a suplex into the ring, but Sting falls on top for the surprise pin at 8:49. Not much to this one. **

Sting v. Butch Reed (March 24 89)

Also from NWA Main Event. This is a rematch from Chi-Town Rumble and I really appreciate that they didn’t just stick that match on here. Reed slugs away with the soup bones to start, but Sting gives him the Popeye windup punch to send him into the corner. They trade headlocks and Sting takes him down for a legdrop and then pulls him out of the corner for the old stomp to the midsection. So here’s something weird: Jim Ross is doing commentary here, but you can clearly see him on camera sitting at ringside with David Crockett and not saying anything! WHAT BLACK MAGIC IS THIS? Reed gets a cheapshot to take over and necks him on the top rope before choking him out on the ropes. Reed with the chinlock, but Sting fights out and walks into an elbow. Reed goes up to finish, but Sting slams him off the top for two. Sting hits the knees with a splash and Reed puts him down with a shoulderblock for two. Reed whips him into the corner, but Sting tries for an O’Connor roll and kind of settles for a rollup instead and gets the pin at 10:00. Yeah, this wasn’t much better than their dull match at the PPV. **1/4

NWA TV title: Mike Rotunda v. Sting (April 1 89)

This is a fairly notable match that I’ve never seen before. From World Championship Wrestling, airing the day before Clash VI, as the entire Varsity Club is at ringside. Sting quickly chases Rotunda with a hiptoss and then shrugs off chops in the corner, but Rotunda charges and falls over the top. Back in, Rotunda puts him down with forearms, and dodges an elbowdrop, but Sting boots him to the floor again. Back in, Sting grabs a headlock and holds onto that tenaciously, but Rotunda breaks free with a suplex and then misses a dropkick. And Rotunda bails again, so Sting finally hits him with a dive and then tosses him back in for a flying bodypress that gets two. So now the babyfaces come out to cheer on Sting while he squeezes on the headlock. Rotunda fights out of that with a wristlock, but Sting wins that battle and slugs away in the corner. Rotunda takes him down with an atomic drop and necks him on the top rope before tossing him to the floor, but Steamboat and Luger make sure there’s no monkey business and/or shenanigans from the Varsity Club. Sting fights back in with a sunset flip for two, but Rotunda drops the leg for two and goes to a sleeper. Sting fights out of that, so Rotunda hits him with an atomic drop and then gets an international object from Kevin Sullivan for a cheapshot to put Sting down again. Rotunda with a chinlock, but Sting fights out of that and then walks into a Write Off clothesline. So Mike slaps him around in delight, but Sting gets all fired up and makes the comeback. Clothesline and dropkick sends Rotunda to the corner, and Sting follows with the Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock while the babyfaces fight off the heels, but Sullivan sneaks in and knocks Sting out behind the ref’s back. Rotunda only gets two off that, however. So he keeps coming with a butterfly suplex for two and a snap suplex for two. The crowd heat here is just of the charts. Sting comes back with a rollup, however, blatantly grabs the tights, and wins the TV title at 16:34 while the babyfaces carry him out on their backs to celebrate. Tremendous match. ****

Sting v. Ron Simmons (August 18 89)

From the Power Hour, as we skip over Sting’s entire TV title reign. But you know what, I appreciate them going with the rarities instead of the same Flair-Sting matches we’ve seen a million times. This was still a couple of months away from Doom, as Simmons was kind of drifting aimlessly through the midcard as a heel. Sting chases Simmons with a dropkick as JR notes that Simmons has been “training with the Iron Sheik as of late” and wonders what he could be learning. Man, so many directions to go with that one. Simmons slugs away back in the ring and knocks Sting to the floor for a shot to the stairs. Back in for a powerslam as Simmons is looking unusually chunky here. Maybe he was training with JYD instead? Simmons with a clothesline, but Sting hits him with a bodypress for two, so Simmons chokes him out in the corner. Ron goes up and Sting crotches him to bring him down and then necks him on the top rope. Sting chases him on the floor and back in as Simmons hides in the corner and then takes Sting down with an atomic drop and stomps away. Slam gets two. Sting slugs away in the corner and follows with a suplex for two, but Simmons tosses him as JR keeps talking up the new alliance between Simmons and Iron Sheik that went nowhere. They fight to the floor and Sting runs him into the post and drops him on the railing, and back in for an awkward clothesline off the top that Ron didn’t seem to want to fully sell. Sting goes to the apron and Ron suplexes him back in, but Sting rolls him up for the pin at 10:42. This was pretty clunky but OK. **1/4

NWA TV title: Sting v. The Great Muta (September 1 89)

From NWA Power Hour, and I think this is on the WWE Network under Hidden Gems somewhere. The TV title had been held up since Bash 89 and this is where it was supposed to be settled. Sting takes him down with a headscissors and Muta quickly escapes that and slugs him down in the corner. Sting gets a rollup for two off that and a sunset flip for two, and a small package for two. Flying bodypress gets two and Muta bails to the floor in frustration. This brings out Terry Funk to yell at Sting and offer inspiration to Muta. Those inspirational words? “If you don’t win here, I promise I’ll retire!” Gary Hart chokes out Sting with the towel while the ref gets rid of Funk, and Muta tosses him and sends him into the railing. Muta slams him on the floor and Hart adds more choking. JR and Cornette on commentary are pretty funny here, as Cornette berates him for taking cheapshots, then admits that he might take some cheapshots himself but at least he has CLASS about it! JR: “He has class, I think those are Holiday Inn towels he’s using.” And then Cornette, without missing a beat, gets a one-liner about how Hart stays in hotels so crappy that they steal the towels from him. Back in the ring, Sting makes a comeback and tosses Muta for a brawl on the floor, as Sting drops him on the railing a few times, and then back in the ring for some shots to the mat. Delayed suplex gets two. Sting with a clothesline and he tosses Muta again. Muta retreats to the apron, so Sting attacks him out there and then stupidly tries the Stinger Splash, hitting the post and smashing his arm into the steel as a result. Back in the ring, Muta takes over with the handspring elbow, but Sting takes him down with a stungun that wipes out the referee in the process. Sting gets the Stinger splash and Scorpion while the ref takes a nap on the floor, and Gary Hart comes in and hits Sting with an international object and revives the ref. That gets two for Muta. Muta keeps coming with a suplex for two and goes up with the moonsault, but Sting gets the knees up and makes the comeback. Stinger Splash and he slugs away on Muta, but Gary Hart yanks him down for the DQ at 14:00, so the held up situation continues.

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Sting (July 7 1990)

So finally, after months of false starts and the most ill-timed knee injury humanly possible, it was time to finally put pass the torch and put the title on Sting once and for all so Flair could be moved down to the midcard and be a gladiator or whatever. Regardless, Sting’s red white and blue outfit is pretty much peak Surfer Sting and his most iconic look pre-Crow. Anyway, Jim Ross goes on this whole thing about how there’s only been three World changes to start a decade, citing matches in 1920, 1940 and then 1980, and wonders if we might get a title change in 1990. Yeah, and then WCW 2000 says “hold my beer”. So we’ve got Ole handcuffed to the Giant, and a million people at ringside. Flair comes in with chops to start and you can tell Sting is amped and ready. Sting with the press slam and hiptoss out of the corner to put Flair on the floor. Yup, it’s a Flair-Sting match all right. They head to the ramp and trade chops and Sting throws him back into the ring, but Flair goes to the eyes and drops a knee. Sting no-sells it and goes up with a high cross for two, and Flair bails to think it over. Back in, Flair finally kicks him in the damn knee and goes to work with chops, but Sting clotheslines him out of the corner, but then misses an elbow. Flair tries the figure-four, but Sting kicks out of it and they’re at an impasse. Test of strength and Flair pokes him in the eye to win that and chops him down, then they head back out to the ramp as they call the 10:00 mark at 5:50. Must be that new math they’re teaching kids in school now. Back in, Sting makes a comeback in the corner and hiptosses Flair again, but he misses the dropkick this time and Flair goes to work on the knee now. But then Flair drops the knee and misses, and Sting gets his own figure-four and Flair has to make the ropes. Back to the floor and Flair sends him into the railing, but Sting shrugs that off and they head back in as Sting slugs away on the mat. Flair goes up and gets slammed off, and Sting gets a backslide for two. And then Flair clips the knee right away and goes to work on it again. Sting fights off the figure-four, so Flair takes him back to the corner for more chops, and Sting no-sells them all and makes the comeback with another press slam. Clothesline gets two. Sting slugs away in the corner and we get the Flair Flip and clothesline on the apron, and a suplex gets two. Stinger splash and Scorpion Deathlock follows, but now the Horsemen all run in and brawl with the Dudes until Flair makes the ropes. Flair gets a pinfall attempt on the ropes, but Scott Steiner pushes him off and Sting rolls him up for two. They go into the pinfall reversal sequence and Sting gets the backslide for two. Flair with more chops, but Sting no-sells them, but then misses the Stinger splash and runs into his bad knee as the camera inexplicably cuts to the crowd during this big moment. Flair with the figure-four, but Sting rolls him up for the pin and the title at 16:07 and let’s just forget the rest of the year happened. Anyway, this was the high middle end of Flair-Sting matches, but every time I watch it I’m just waiting for the epic title match to break out and it just never quite gets there. Maybe next time. ***1/2 It’s somewhat ironic and yet fitting that both Sting and Ultimate Warrior beat the legendary champions (Flair and Hogan) to begin their first title reigns in synergy, but then both were such flops as champion that both titles were back with those same legendary champions by the same time the next year.

Sting v. Dutch Mantell (September 2 1990)

From NWA Main Event, as this is a non-title match. Sting works the arm to start while JR talks about “The Dirty Dutchman” and that sounds like something you’d look up on Urban Dictionary. The banners in the background reveal that we’re in Cobb County, GA, for this one, so hopefully everyone is watching their step and observing law and order while they’re there. So they trade armbars and Dutch misses a knee, allowing Sting to go back to his own armbar, which must have thrilling for the 300 people in attendance for this show. Dutch rakes the eyes to take over, which has the 80 year old ladies in the front row pretty upset, but Sting slugs back and beats on him in the corner. I really wish JR would stop calling him “The Dirty Dutchman”. He’s not Dutch, his NAME is Dutch! Dutch rakes the eyes again, but Sting gets a backslide for the pin at 8:45. This immediately brings the Horsemen out for a beatdown, but various babyfaces make the save. Thank god for the Candyman! Everyone had it firmly in first gear here. *

This was a great set of rarities that avoided all the usual stuff and wasn’t necessarily the best for in-ring action, but showcased young Sting in DIFFERENT matches and I really appreciated that.

Carrying on now, as Sting’s World title reign is over as the 90s begin proper…

Sting v. Nikita Koloff (June 14 1991)

From Clash XV, a show I’ve done twice and which still isn’t a very good review. I mean, it’s KNOCKSVILLE USA, how could I not get a classic review out of that? So it’s on the pile to do again. So oddly, the VQ drops to really poor levels for this, which is weird because you’d think the master tapes from a TV company on a nationally televised live show would provide better footage. But it’s noticeably lower resolution with all kinds of video artifacting, like a VCR dub. It offends me as the owner of an 89” 16K ultra-plasma TV. Nikita attacks to start and chases Sting to the floor for a trip into the railing and it’s like Putin beating on Biden in a summit meeting. Back in the ring, Koloff stops to gloat for Mother Russia and Sting hits him with a piledriver, but Koloff channels Hawk and no-sells it. Nikita beats him down and adds a tombstone, really making him think about how much he loves America before dropping him on his head for communism. Sting waits for him to pose and gets a sunset flip for two, but Nikita beats him down again and there’s an honest to god old lady in the front row waving an American flag. I swear she better not be a stunt granny or my world view will be shattered forever. Wait, is that the same old biddy from Nitro 5 years later? Actually they’re in Knoxville so I bet it is. Koloff continues pounding away on Sting and yelling at the (probable) stunt granny, which is more evidence that she’s a ringer. They fight on the floor and Sting whips Koloff into the railing this time, but Koloff keeps working him over. Another tombstone, but Sting reverses to his own, like John F. Kennedy reversing the Cuban Missile Crisis and laying the beatdown on Khruschev! Stinger splash misses, however, and Koloff thinks of PUTIN him away with the Sickle, but that misses and Sting gets a rollup for the pin at 9:37, unleashing democracy and McDonalds all over the USSR in the process! USA! USA! **1/2

The Steiner Brothers v. Sting & The Great Muta (January 4 1992)

Yes, it’s another show not available on the WWE Network, this one from the New Japan Supershow II, which I’m pretty sure is on New Japan World at least. Oddly the overdubbed commentary from JR and Schiavone completely blocks out the ring announcer. JR notes that Muta also wrestles in Japan under his real name, “Kenji Muta”. Swing and a miss. Muta’s face paint is color coordinated with Sting’s tights here, which is an awesome touch. Scott quickly takes Muta down with a double leg, but Muta dropkicks him down before missing another one. Over to Sting and he slugs it out with Rick, who quickly hits a clothesline and runs up to the top with a bulldog for two. Sting fires back with his own clothesline, but misses the Stinger splash and Scott comes in with a butterfly bomb. Tilt a whirl slam gets two. Scott tries a tombstone and Sting reverses to his own and drops an elbow for two. Muta comes in with the power elbow on Scott, but Scott hits him with a suplex and it’s back to Rick for a top rope suplex and then a release german for two. The audio is REALLY deadened here for some reason and it hurts the atmosphere a lot as all the “bangs” on the mat are more like a muted “thump”. Especially when these guys are throwing each other around out there. Scott goes to a dragon sleeper, but Muta makes the ropes, so Scott puts him in a backbreaker and Rick comes off the top with an elbow for two. Rick runs Muta into the corner for two and goes to a chinlock, but Sting and Muta double-team Scott for a bit in the corner until Rick catches Muta on the handspring elbow and drops him on his head AGAIN with a german suplex. Sting and Muta come in again and double-team Scott with a double bulldog in a nice touch, and Sting presses Scott onto Rick outside and then goes up with a dive from the top rope onto Rick on the floor! And then MUTA dives onto them as well. Sting and Muta celebrate in the ring, but the Steiners both come off the top rope with clotheslines. Scott hits Sting with a tilt a whirl slam, but Sting reverses to a rollup for the pin at 10:38. This turned into a hell of a match for the time. ****

BOUNTY MATCH: Sting v. Vader (February 9 1992)

Winner of this either gets a roll of paper towels or a chocolate bar. From WCW Worldwide as the parade of rarities continues. Back to the point about the video quality again, as this random Worldwide match is pristine quality, with crystal clear sound. Vader slugs away in the corner and Sting hits him with a clothesline to chase him to the floor, and then follows for a fight out there that leads to Vader dropping him on the railing. Oh Sting, when will you ever learn not to try the Stinger splash into the railing? It’s like Charlie Brown and the football with him. Back in the ring, Vader drops him on his head with a backdrop suplex and then CLOBBERS him with a clothesline and even the ref is like “Oh shit, I better check this poor fool”. Vader sits on him and then drops an elbow and he is giving no quarter here as they say. Vader with a corner splash and a powerslam, and a splash gets two. Vader continues working him over but Sting tries a slam and…no. Just no. So he goes behind and gets a release german suplex instead, and THEN gets his slam, and then goes up with the flying splash, but Vader kicks out with disdain. So Sting goes up with a missile dropkick and Vader bails for some fisticuffs on the floor. Vader puts him on the post and boxes his ears, but he charges and runs into the post, and Sting beats the count at 6:10 on his way to winning the World title at Superbrawl II. And then Race gets in his face so Sting fucks him up with a Stinger splash and then hits Vader with a dive as well. DID I JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS WITH THIS MATCH? I THINK SO! ****

Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko v. Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat (February 22 1992)

Um one guess who does the job here. I’ve got a fiver. This is from World Championship Wrestling. Barry Windham slugs it out with all the Dangerous Alliance guys and wins that battle. Eaton comes in and goes after Barry in the corner, but Barry backdrops him and so Arn comes in instead. He trades chops with Steamboat and loses that battle, and then Eaton gets pinballed in the babyface corner and the Dangerous Alliance backs off and regroups. Arn tries it against Steamboat again and gets his ass kicked, so Larry does his own martial arts and that goes badly for him as well. Dustin hits Larry with a lariat for two while JR runs down all the matches at Superbrawl II and I’m reminded that I haven’t watched THAT show in a while either and it rules until the main event. Come on, it had Pillman v. Liger, Steiners v. Anderson & Eaton, Windham & Rhodes v. Austin & Zbsyzko, Rude v. Steamboat and Luger somehow managed to drag down the show with his lazy ass? Rude comes in for the showdown with Sting and they throw down, leading to Sting backdropping him and of course following with an atomic drop, both ways. The Alliance tries to swarm Sting in the corner and he kicks all their asses and hits Arn with a press slam. Dustin and Barry double-team Larry with a clothesline for two. Eaton comes in and HE gets killed in the babyface corner, but finally Dustin tries a headscissors and Arn necks him on the top rope to end all this babyface shine at 10:00 and take over. Rude goes to work on Dustin’s knee and then goes up to the top with a missile dropkick, which is something you don’t see every day. That gets two. Over to Arn with the boot rakes and he catches Dustin with a DDT for two, but Sting saves. Eaton stays on the knee with the figure-four and gets an assist from Arn. Dustin fights back on Larry, but hurts his own knee doing kicks, only for Larry to let him lean a BIT too far back and make the tag to Steamboat. Steamboat runs wild and hits Larry with the big chop for two but everyone is brawling, and Ricky hits Larry with the flying bodypress at 15:35 and WE’RE OUTTA TIME. This DVD RULES. ***3/4

Sting v. Diamond Dallas Page (June 13 1992)

From WCW Saturday Night, the Bill Watts debut show in fact. Page attacks to start and Sting quickly slams him. Page goes after the ribs because they’re injured, and there’s some irony there, but he misses an elbow and Sting immediately makes the comeback and bulldogs him before putting him away with the Scorpion at 1:35. * Well that one certainly broke up our string of great matches.

Sting v. Barry Windham (February 4 1993)

From WCW Saturday Night again, leading into SuperBrawl III this time. Windham runs away to start, but thumbs Sting in the eye and they fight over a suplex, which Sting wins. Barry gets a backdrop suplex, but Sting pops up and slugs away, and then drops an elbow for two, but misses the Stinger Splash. Windham pops up with a lariat off the top and slugs away to set up a hiptoss and floatover suplex for two. They head to the floor and Windham gets some shots out there before choking him out in the ring. And we go to the chinlock as lazy 1993 Barry Windham rears his ugly head. Windham with a suplex and a kneedrop for two. Windham slugs away and follows with a gut wrench for two, but he tries the superplex and Sting fights him off with the ol’ ear clapper. Sting makes the comeback with a flying clothesline and slugs away, but the ref is bumped on a criss-cross and Windham hits the floor. So Harley Race brings Barry a strap, but Sting steals it and puts Barry down for the pin at 9:42. And then he tries to murder Windham by hanging him on the ropes! Well that turned dark. And indeed, the ref rightly reverses the decision for attempted murder. Barry was not super motivated here by any means but it was pretty OK. **1/2

Sting v. Stunning Steve Austin (January 8 1994)

From WCW Pro with Gordon Solie and Larry Zbsyzko on commentary, which is a sentence I don’t type very often. Oddly all the signs in the arena indicate that it’s WCW Saturday Night, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. Austin is fresh off winning the US title from Dustin but this is non-title. They fight over a wristlock to start and Sting puts him down with the shoulderblock and they trade hammerlocks. We take a break and return with Sting working a headlock and then moving to a headscissors. They do the bridge into a backslide and Sting gets two off that, as Austin bails to the floor to think it over and get advice from Robert Parker. That advice? “You might want to think about shaving your head, the hairline is receding pretty badly.” Harsh but helpful! Back in the ring, Austin boots him down to take over, but Sting gets a suplex for two and they go back to the headlock again. Austin moves to the arm and works on a wristlock, but Sting slugs back from the mat and reverses a slam for two. Austin works the arm in the corner again, but Sting fights out and slugs him down and follows with a backdrop before giving him some more of his fists. Brian Pillman runs down and chases Parker away while Sting makes the comeback, and that’s a DQ at 11:30. Lame finish to a pretty solid match between two fellas having a wrestling match. ***

Sting v. Ric Flair (November 6 1995)

From Nitro now, as this was the “special interactive match” where they did everything humanly possible to rig a “live vote” and make sure this match won. Like, they basically put 6 or 7 homeless guys in a dressing room with Sting to make sure there was only one option to vote for. Sting attacks and starts throwing press slams immediately, and we get a Flair Flip to put him on the floor. Sting no-sells the chops, but Flair gets a suplex and Sting pops up from that too, before missing his splash into the railing. And we take a break. Back with Flair in control via figure-four and some cheating, but Sting powers out of it. Flair throws chops and Sting is having none of that. Mongo: “Fear makes cowards of us all.” And obvious things are obvious. Flair pokes him in the eyes and tosses him, but takes a running charge with a chair and has it intercepted by the ref in a funny spot. Back in, Flair slugs him down and gets two via the ropes, and they go into the pinfall reversal sequence. Flair goes up and gets slammed off and Sting starts going crazy on Flair, but a well time pair of brass knuckles turns the tide. Flair’s crazy old man elbowdrop gets two and Sting starts no-selling again. How can you not love this match? Another press slam and a superplex set up the Scorpion Deathlock to finish at 14:00, but Sting is so enraged that he refuses to let go. We then get a major WCW-level botch as Bischoff starts yelling about Lex Luger coming down to break it up, when in fact Luger was nowhere to be seen due to missing his cue. Finally the other blue room losers break up the hold and finally Luger finishes rubbing one out in the back or whatever he was doing, and Sting then has to put Flair BACK in the hold so that Luger can talk him out into releasing again. He’s the Sting whisperer! The ending was WCW-riffic, but it was a hell of a match. ***1/2

Sting v. Arn Anderson (July 6 1996)

From Nitro as well. We get a bunch of nothing much and take a break with Arn stalling. Back with Arn choking away and using the abdominal stretch, but Sting fights out and then misses a splash. Arn with a Boston crab while the nWo limo pulls up, but Sting makes the comeback while the Outsiders join us at ringside. Sting with a flying clothesline for two while security geeks intercept Hall & Nash, and the Scorpion Deathlock finishes at 11:35. *

Sting & Randy Savage v. The Nasty Boys (July 27 1996)

From WCW Saturday Night to finish off this disc. Sags beats on Macho in the corner to start, and cuts off a comeback with a powerslam. So Sting comes in and beats on Knobs, and a dropkick gets two. Big splash misses as Knobs gets the knees up, and WE GOT CLUBBERING, TONY! WE GOT CLUBBERING! Sags with a backbreaker and Knobs uses a briefcase right in the belly welly, and a double shouderblock gets two. Blind charge misses and Sting bulldogs Knobs and makes the hot tag to Savage. Sting then retrieves the briefcase and knocks out Knobs RIGHT IN THE NOGGIN, and Savage drops the elbow to finish at 3:35 as Debra and Mongo steal the briefcase back again. This was a nothing sandwich with a side of nothing salad and a big glass of nothing to wash it down. ½* And then Randy does a promo where he promises to take out Hogan with a TIRE IRON before Hog Wild so he doesn’t make it to the title match with the Giant. Well they’d certainly have lots of those in Sturgis if he needed one.

Well the second half of the disc was a HUGE improvement, with more matches I’ve mostly never seen before and most of them were AWESOME.

Next up, the 1998 Nitro era, which I’ve never really seen before and I’m not really looking forward to that much.

Disc 2

We start out with a discussion of Sting’s transformation into The Crow, at the suggestion of Scott Hall, although they discuss it in kayfabe terms rather than bringing up the real reasons behind it like the contract and such.

Nitro October 21 1996 – nWo Sting is wrestling someone on Nitro, but the real Sting hits the ring with his new look and white facepaint, and declares himself to be a free agent.

And then we jump all the way to Starrcade 97…

WCW World title: Hollywood Hogan v. Sting (December 28 1997)

From Starrcade ’97. Y’all know the deal here, I’m sure. If you want to see the exact moment when Sting reached his peak as a star, it’s the moment just before he steps into the ring for the first time in 18 months. It’s all downhill from there, sadly, because once he started wrestling again everyone remembered that oh yeah, it’s just Sting. They do the power matchup and Hogan pounds him down to start, then slugs away in the corner and follows with the corner clothesline. He gets a slam, but misses a series of elbows and Sting dropkicks him to the floor, which gives Hulk the chance to stall. Back in, Hulk tries a headlock, but Sting fires back with another dropkick to send him out. They’ve just totally managed to kill the hottest crowd possible in the span of 5 minutes and it’s astonishing that people this incompetent somehow managed to make money for so long. Back in and Sting works on a headlock, but Hulk fires back with a clothesline and gets a suplex. Sting no-sells that (ooh, a suplex, what a superhero) and fires back in the corner, but Hogan rakes the eyes to kill the momentum yet again. They brawl on the floor and Hogan clubs him down and sends him into the post, basically making him look like a total chump. Sting charges and splashes the railing as a result, and Hogan brings him back in for an atomic drop. Big boot and legdrop finishes clean at 11:18 (although of course the count was supposed to be “fast”), and Sting looks like the biggest jobber who ever jobbed. And to make it worse, Bret Hart stops the bell from ringing for no reason, tosses Hogan back in, and restarts the match, allowing Sting to get the Stinger splash and fight off the nWo before finishing with the Scorpion deathlock at 12:56. So Sting looks terrible, Bret Hart looks like a whiner, and Hogan would go on to win the title a bunch more times. Just so awful on so many levels, but you certainly can’t deny the historic aspect of it. 1/2* Once again, this should have been five minutes long and featured Sting beating the hell out of Hogan like Luger did to him in August.

Sting & Lex Luger v. Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage (February 16 1998)

Man how did this match never happen until 1998? This is from Nitro during the buildup to the Sting-Hogan rematch after Starrcade. The nWo attacks in the aisle and they brawl at ringside and Hogan gets the corner clothesline on Sting in the ring, but Sting fires back with his own and chases him to the floor again. I’m amused at Tony calling Hogan’s version a “running lariat” when neither part of that statement is true. So the match starts properly finally as Savage gets heat on Luger but they’re already teasing dissention between Hulk and Macho as they switch off and beat on Lex. Hulk misses the legdrop and it’s hot tag Sting, who comes in with a pair of Stinger splashes and gets the Deathlock, but of course the nWo runs in for the DQ at 4:20. This should have been a Starrcade-headlining tag team main event and instead it was just a nothing match on a nothing Nitro with a nothing finish. ½*

WCW World title: Sting v. Kevin Nash (April 6 1998)

So Sting is now champion again after beating Hulk at Superbrawl to settle the “controversy”, and he’s about to lose it to Randy Savage at Spring Stampede later in the month. What an epic title reign, shunted to the backburner for the nWo white v. red bullshit. Speaking of bullshit, Nash cuts a lengthy promo about Hogan before the match (a feud that, of course, went nowhere) and whines about people getting fired because he wears their shirt. Michael Buffer introduces Sting as “someone whose allegiance is aligned with no specific designation”. Did someone actually get paid to write that and gave it to him to read? Oh dude you should put that on a t-shirt! But apparently don’t let Nash wear it or someone will get fired. Big Kev does the Nash Choke in the corner right away, really burning through his moveset early so they must be going short with this one. If he does the framed elbow we’ll know the nWo is running in right away. Sting fights back and goes up with a flying clothesline and dropkick to put Nash on the floor as Kev TAKES A BUMP IN 1998 so you know he probably got a bonus in his paycheque for this one. Sting follows him out and Konnan gets some cheapshots before Kev uses an array of choking back in the ring to take over. That gets two, complete with frustrated hair flip from Big Sexy so you know he means business. Kevin with a backbreaker and then he goes to a neck vice and follows with a corner clothesline and it’s back to the Nash choke again. Well to be fair it has been five minutes and he’s only got so many tools in the toolbox. Kev misses a running knee and hits the turnbuckle, which allows Sting to work on the leg and set up the Scorpion Deathlock, but Konnan pulls Nash to the ropes to break. The ref is like “Hey, don’t do that!” but he still breaks the hold and otherwise there are no consequences. Nash with the sideslam for two as Tony actually calls this “the biggest television program in the history of our sport”, which I kind of thought was a Mandela Effect deal of people only remembering him saying similar stuff, but there you go. Nash goes to a neck vice of sorts, which is mostly just Nash standing there with his hands on Sting’s head, but Sting somehow fights back from that and hits Nash and Konnan with the Stinger splash at the same time. Nash reverses him into the corner and tries the Poochiebomb, but Hulk Hogan runs in for the DQ at 10:00. And then the rest of the nWo runs in for the big schmoz. I will say, this was actually a real match before the usual bullshit non-finish at least. ***1/4 Now, just to clarify one of the nonsense points of the finish: At this point, Nash’s powerbomb was banned (at least according to Tony’s commentary here) and if he hit the move on Sting he would have been disqualified and fined $10000 or something. Anyway, so the finish of the match is Nash going for the powerbomb on Sting, while Tony screams “He can’t win the title that way! Why is he trying the powerbomb?” and then Hogan runs in and breaks it up and Nash is all mad because Hogan cost him the title. So Tony is suddenly like “Nash was about to do his big move and win the belt! Hogan cost him the World title!” Like, my dude, YOU JUST SAID that Nash would have been disqualified if he hit the move! This isn’t even WWE forgetting their storylines from week to week, this was Tony forgetting the storyline IN THE SAME MATCH!

Sting v. Scott Steiner (April 22 1998)

Off to Thunder now, super-early in the “Big Poppa Pump” phase of Scott’s heel run. Steiner attacks to start and beats on him with clotheslines, but Sting gets his own and sends him to the floor. They fight out there and Sting runs him into the stairs and slugs away in the ring, but Steiner goes low and hangs Sting in the Tree of Woe for some choking. Butterfly powerbomb and he goes up, but lands on Sting’s boot, and the Stinger splash sets up the Scorpion Deathlock for the nWo run-in at 4:20. You have to love that we’re at 3 matches in a row now on this set where the finish is an nWo DQ finish. Scott was still figuring out what his heel character was supposed to be at this point and just kind of worked like a normal midcard heel. * And then Sting does a promo afterwards challenging Hall and Nash to a tag title match at Slamboree with Giant as his partner.

WCW World tag titles: Sting & Kevin Nash v. Harlem Heat (June 15 1998)

From Nitro again, as Sting has now joined the Wolfpac and is repping lobsters on his gear and started painting his face red. Like why can he suddenly these guys? Just because they’re wearing red now instead of white? So in the previous match on this set, it was setting up a tag title match with the Outsiders defending against Sting and Giant at Slamboree, and the babyfaces won the belts there when Hall turned on Nash. And then Giant turned on Sting after winning the titles, so Sting won a singles match to claim both belts and then here he names Kevin Nash as his new partner in the tag team champions. And this wasn’t even the low point for the tag titles that year! I was way tuned out of the storylines at this point, with most of the character development coming from people switching between red and white t-shirts. Also Booker T was TV champion at this point so I’m assuming Stevie Ray turns on him here because everyone was turning on everyone all the time and it never went anywhere. Booker starts with Sting and they trade hiptosses before Booker bails to the floor and chats with his brother to regroup. Back in, Stevie gives Booker the gears over his performance and tags himself in, then chokes Sting out on the ropes and slugs away in the corner. Over to Nash for the corner choke and we take a break and return with Sting getting double-teamed in the Heat corner. Nash comes in and gets the sideslam on Booker for two, and Sting drops the elbow on him and gets a pump splash for two. Another splash hits knees, but Nash comes in and slugs Booker down and chokes him out on the ropes. Sting also chokes away while the announcers totally ignore the match and talk about Hogan and Piper and whatever they were doing in 1998, but to be fair this match is really dragging anyway. Nash tries Snake Eyes and Booker rolls him up for two as the Wolfpac seems to be working heel for some reason. Sting misses the Stinger splash and Stevie gets a hot tag but the fans don’t want to cheer for him, so that’s weird. He powerslams Sting, but then stops to trash-talk Nash and Sting pops up and hits the Deathdrop to finish at 12:47. What a thrilling start to that title reign. *1/2

Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart v. Sting & Ultimate Warrior (October 12 1998)

Yup, it’s the reunion of the Blade Runners on the Nitro leading up to Halloween Havoc 98, which to be fair had to be on a DVD set SOMEWHERE. But Michael Buffer introduces them as “together for the first time in professional wrestling history”, thus undermining the entire selling point of the match. This was in fact Warrior’s first ever match in WCW but the whole thing was already in the toilet and it was too late to salvage the run. Like, I know this is an incoming hot take, but how do you fuck this guy up? How did we go from “Warrior is the one guy Hogan could never beat” to “Warrior is appearing in mirrors and hypnotizing Hogan’s best friend and forming his own backwards version of the nWo and appearing from mysterious smoke via trap doors” and expect that anyone would give a shit? Also, this match wasn’t advertised in advance, so wrap your brain around that. Anyway, we get the mega-stall to start and Sting starts with Hogan and beats on him in the corner, so Hogan tags out to Bret. “Yeah, bring him in there, this is what we want to see, Sting and Bret!” says Mike Tenay without a hint of irony. Oh also Warrior is still wearing his stupid coat while standing on the apron waiting for a tag, so there’s that. Bret quickly gets a cheapshot in the corner and goes to work on Sting with the middle rope elbow for two. Hogan comes in and chokes Sting out while the camera does a closeup and you can clearly see he’s not even making contact with Sting’s throat. Usually Keith Mitchell was at least better about that stuff but everyone was getting pretty lazy by this point, including the production guys. Bret with a DDT for two as he’s been in the ring for 3:00 and the announcers act like he’s in serious trouble and desperately needs to tag Warrior. Bret with the backbreaker, but he misses another middle rope elbow and Warrior gets the hot tag and does a bunch of clotheslines on Bret. STILL WEARING THE COAT. And it’s an nWo run-in DQ at 5:30. Sigh. So they beat on Warrior, but the ring fills up with mysterious smoke but Warrior just goes to the floor instead of disappearing. Well that’s certainly less impressive. What a clown show this was. DUD

Sting v. Bret Hart (October 19 1998)

So this is the next week on Nitro and Bret is apparently US champion now? Anyway, he issues an open challenge to Sting, warning him “not to mess up his mascara”, and Sting attacks in response and chases Bret to the floor. Back in, Sting slugs him down and puts the boots to him, and drops an elbow for two. Sting tries the pump splash and it hits knee, allowing Bret to choke him out to take over. Sting comes back and gets the Deathlock, but Bret makes the ropes and Sting won’t let go so that’s a DQ at 4:00. This is an epic disc of classics. EPIC I SAY. DUD

Sting v. Randy Savage (June 7 1999)

Man we’re really into the weeds of this set now. So now Savage is into his mid-life crisis roided playboy phase, while Sting has ditched the lobster chic and is back to standard white and black again. Sting gets assaulted by Savage’s harem on the floor and chokes Sting on the ropes before slugging him down. As a reminder, this was part of the storyline with the Hummer that was leading to a tag match on PPV where Kevin Nash defended the World title against Savage and Sid in a match where Sting could also win it by pinning his own tag team partner. Not even making that up. Savage chokes out Sting and tosses him for more choking on the table and back in for some powder in the face. Yeah Sting liked the powder in his face at this point, is what we’ve heard. Meanwhile all three women distract the ref and then Miss Madness (Molly Holly) tries a rana on Sting, but he shoves her off and then the ref is bumped for some reason and another ref calls for the DQ at 4:20. Was there a goddamn MATCH in all this somewhere? -* And we haven’t even made it to Vince Russo yet! Oh and then the Steiners hit the ring and attack Sting, but Lex Luger makes the save to tease a match that wasn’t going to happen and would be pretty terrible if it did. Also, to remind you, this was all supposed to make you want to see Kevin Nash defending the World title against Savage, which was happening THAT WEEKEND. Fuck it, I’m deducting another star. -**

WCW World title: Booker T v. Sting (July 31 2000)

From Nitro again as we skip another entire year of stuff, including Sting winning and losing the World title to DDP and also winning it from Hogan. We’re now into the spiky logo era for WCW, and Sting quickly puts Booker down with a clothesline and goes for the Deathlock, but Booker makes the ropes, so Sting drags him to the floor and throws him into the railing. Back in with a flying splash, but Sting hits the knees and Booker gets the axe kick for two. They collide on a crossbody attempt and Sting bails to the floor, where he gets dragged under the ring by a mysterious arm and then sent back out again with a bloodied forehead. Back in, Booker rolls him up for two, but Sting gets the DDT for two. Bookend finishes at 5:12. So in the most WCW 2000 payoff possible, Sting checks under the ring and we discover that the assailant under the ring is in fact THE KISS DEMON and we get a beatdown with Vampiro until Jeff Jarrett seems like he’s going to save but then just beats Booker down with a chair instead. *

As a reminder, the DVD case literally advertises this as “THE BEST OF STING”. This is supposed to be the BEST stuff they could find.

Anyway, Sting gets locked in a coffin and the Demon spits fire onto it to presumably burn him alive. I assume he made it out because otherwise we couldn’t finish this DVD set.

Carrying on.

Two out of three falls: Sting v. Jeff Jarrett (September 13 2000)

From Thunder, as the promotion continues to spiral the toilet bowl. They trade headlocks to start and go fight on the floor, doing the empty Attitude era brawling where you walk from one place to another without doing anything, and head back into the ring for a flying splash from Sting that gets two. Sting goes for the Death Drop, but Jarrett takes out the ref, goes low on Sting, and finishes with the Stroke to win the first fall at 5:20.

Jarrett boots Sting to the floor to start the second fall and it’s more “brawling” on the floor, as JJ puts Sting on the announce table and hits him a few times. Back in, Sting gets a sunset flip to even it up at 6:42.

Third fall as I make sure to start a new paragraph so as not to overwhelm the reader with a wall of text describing this classic, and Sting tries a sleeper but Jeff escapes and gets his own. Sting fights out of that and reverses the sleeper AGAIN, but Jarrett suplexes out. Sting makes the comeback and OF COURSE the referee is bumped, so another ref comes out and he gets bumped as well while Sting gets the Deathlock. There’s no ref, but Jarrett is out, so Sting tells the timekeeper to ring the bell and he does so, so I guess Sting wins at 11:20? Well at least it wasn’t a DQ. **

Sting, Booker T & Goldberg v. Jeff Jarrett & Kronik (October 25 2000)

From Thunder as we get another random-ass midcard Sting match from WCW’s dying days. Booker hits Jarrett with a spinkick and it’s over to Goldberg, so Jarrett bows out and it’s over to Brian Adams. Apparently they were doing a storyline with Goldberg at this point where he was restarting the streak after the aborted heel turn disaster. Talk about closing the barn door after the horse was already escaped. In this case the horse escaped, fell of a cliff and died and they were still trying to close the barn door to fix the problem. Adams gets beat up by Goldberg for a bit and I’m MESMERIZED by his beautiful hair. Adams, not Goldberg. Over to Clark and he beats on Booker and Adams gets a piledriver for two and I’m officially checked out on this entire set. Wrap it up, it’s time to go home. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and Goldberg powerslams Clark, but misses the spear and Adams gets two. And then a whole bunch of people are fighting at ringside and Sting remembers that he’s in the match and pins Jarrett at 7:01. Thrilling. **

Ric Flair v. Sting (March 26 2001)

And finally, Nitro and WCW come to a close with this, the same place where it opened. Poor Flair has to work in a t-shirt here, and he trades shoulderblocks with Sting to start and then pokes him in the eye to take over. We get the chops in the corner, but Sting fires back and dropkicks him out of the ring. Back in, Flair begs off in the corner, but of course Sting gets the press slam and slugs away in the corner and we get the last Flair Flop on Nitro. He goes low on Sting to put him down and throws more chops in the corner as the crowd is more legitimately into this one than anything else on the show. Flair drops the knee and continues throwing chops, but he goes up and Sting slams him off and makes the comeback with clotheslines. Dropkick misses and Flair gets the figure-four and uses the ropes, but Sting pulls him to the middle and reverses it to force the break. Sting makes the comeback and no-sells the chops as they fight to the top rope, where Sting hits a superplex. And that sets up the Scorpion Deathlock to end their feud for good at 7:20. And they share a hug and say goodbye as we cut to RAW for the simulcast with barely even a second to take a breath and grieve. ***

The Bottom Line: Good lord this second disc was AWFUL. If you pick up this set, stop after the first one. There’s some extra promos and a couple of extra matches on the Blu Ray but I’m DONE with this one today, thanks.