[1998-02-23-WCW-Nitro] Scott Hall vs Sting

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

Steiner already has dyed his hair. Bischoff calls out Sting and promises if he comes out they will leave. Sting stops in front of the ring and all but Hogan file out of the ring. Sting Hall comes out and attacks Sting with a baseball bat. Sting gets laid out and they spraypaint NWO. Savage comes in to help out and gets beatdown by the NWO. Bobby calls him the most dangerous wrestler in the world today. Christ here is the Disciple. TOO MANY NWO MEMBERS! Luger is able to clear the ring with a chair but NWO has their heat back after SuperBrawl.

[Zenjo]

The NWO was stale by this point and needed an exciting new member to revitalise the group.

 

I know, how about Brutus Fucking Beefcake! Over the years there was an ongoing competition between him, Vincegil and Jimmy Hart to see who could ram their head the furthest up Hogan's ass.

[Loss]

The entire NWO comes out without Scott Hall (or Randy Savage) for this Sting vs Hall match. They are teasing that Hall will beat Sting then give the belt to Hogan, which would have been a great way to split the group since they had no clue what to do with Sting. Sting's reaction is awfully lukewarm by the way. The ring clears for Hogan to take on Sting in a match that means zilch at this point because they've ruined the feud. Meanwhile, a fake Sting shows up from behind Sting and it's of course Scott Hall. This isn't a terrible way to build up a Sting-Hall match, but I wish the match had been pushed harder. Savage ends up entering the ring and taking swings at everyone but gets beaten down. Hey, there's Scott Steiner and his new blond haircut. Then The Disciple (ugh!) shows up in a completely anti-climatic way and stands in the corner. Luger finally comes out with a chair and clears the ring. Wow did WCW need a new idea at this point.

[Childs]

Haven't gotten to the late February stuff yet, but I'm curious: At this point, do you feel Sting deserved to be trampled by politics and pushed aside? I know that was Hogan's POV, and I know it pissed me off as a fan at the time because we'd waited so long for the payoff of the Crow angle. But I have to say, with 16 years of perspective, I agree with the case against Sting more and more. As much as they undermined him with booking, he really didn't do shit to overcome that or change the narrative. You watch him side by side with someone like Austin and he was such an empty performer. I don't know, is that too harsh?

[soup23]

Sting had to have some evolution. There was so much mystique to his character throughout 1997 as to where he felt betrayed and owned nothing to no one. Now, he mostly just walks out to the ring like anyone else. By the time, they do add some more elements to him like him repelling up with Savage at that Thunder or coming to the ring from the helicopter at Club La Vela, he feels either foolish for being so trusting to Savage again after how betrayed he was initially or just grasping at straws and performing circus stunts just because he is Sting. I don't know what type of angle or character development would have worked for him, but this wasn't it. As we have seen throughout Sting's history, he is a go with the flow guy no matter how drek the shit he is involved with is.

[Loss]

Yeah, after the time off, it annoyed me that he was still doing the Stinger Splash when returning. The Scorpion Death Drop was a nice addition to his arsenal, but really he should have done even more. Then, on the rare occasions that he pulled out his old moves on big shows, they would have gotten huge pops.

[Migs]

Sting is just not dynamic at this point; part of that may be the style Hogan wanted to wrestle, but you guys are right that he's not doing anything that makes him feel different.

[Superstar Sleeze]

This is exactly the topic I wanted to discuss. I am glad I am not alone in at least contemplating Sting is more at fault than is historically presented. Sting just seemed so apathetic in the ring. It looked like he rather be anywhere else. His weird stand up, never fall down, staggered selling was annoying. His lack of emotion did not come off as cool badass, but just kind of sad. His one decent spot was the Stinger Splash to the railing to set up yet another one of his shitty heat segments. He could not even no-sell anymore properly.He would sometimes just sort of stand up and no sell, but not in a way to rile the crowd up. People go after Hogan for plodding, but Sting made Hogan look like Rey Fucking Misterio the way he was moving. The only argument I can see to explain for how Sting was acting was that he was trying to reinvent his wrestling style to match the new darker, edgier gimmick. He just does not portray silent asskicker. Sting just is not that person. I mean this as a compliment...Sting is excellent portraying the the overgrown child who is hopped up on sugar. Crow Stinger and Surfer Sting are just way, way too different for someone with limited acting ability to get both characters across. If Sting just literally wrestled the same he did before just in white face paint, he would have been way better off. Sure people would complain that he didn't change, but fuck it is better than shitty matches he was having. It was like white/black facepaint literally sucked all the charisma from his body. Still, this is all speculation, the simplest explanation may have been that he just could not have bothered to care. I have said it before I don't blame WCW one bit by resetting to Hogan. Hogan was clearly still trying in his matches and was invested in making the product work. I don't agree with all his decisions, but give me Hogan's effort over Sting's apathy any day. The Goldberg title switch was ballsy I'll give WCW that.

[thebrainfollower]

I think Sleaze has convinced me and made the case. What Sting needed to be was HITC Undertaker during this feud.

[PeteF3]

Have to agree that Sting did himself few favors with this run. The work has been uninspiring and he hasn't been able to translate his new character to the ring or even an extended segment. There's no oomph to him simply walking to the ring (without the title?? WTF?). This whole segment is kind of a mess and the storyline that should be being pushed to the hilt--Sting vs. Hall with Hogan wanting Hall to hand over the title and the question of whether Hall will go along with that--is ignored. With Savage as a guy being blackballed this feels like a big reset button has been hit and we're back to early 1996. And still no one gives a shit if Luger and Savage are together or not.

[TravJ1979]

Big overblown cluster of a segment. Tease Sting/Scott Hall and get nothing except a thousand nWo members. Schiavone casually asking, "Hey, who's that guy?" in regards to the Disciple is a pure example of the wheels coming off.